I had to write this essay for my English writing class and I decided to share it with you before I hand it in. As you know, English is not my native language, please excuse any mistakes. Feel free to contact me with any kind of advice! A big thank you to Philip for giving me a couple ideas.
April 2 is World
Autism Awareness Day, which highlights the frequent exclusion of
autistic people from school and work opportunities. To what extent do
you agree or disagree with integrating disabled people into our
everyday life?
Many people think people with disabilities should be separated
because they are a “burden” to society. Every single person, with
or without a disability, is unique, but that doesn't mean someone
should be discriminated against because he doesn't fit in society's
idea of normal. It is very important to include every person in
everyday life and everyone can contribute to society if they are
given the chance to. For example, autistic people are often
considered “stupid” or “worthless” because of their unusual
behavior, but this is just a prejudice caused by ignorance.
Autistic brains work differently from neurotypical brains. Because of
the way their brains work, autistic people may need to move their
body or avoid eye contact to be able to think and avoid sensory
overload, but that doesn't mean they are mentally challenged. Many
autistic people can't talk or communicate in a reliable way, so they
are often put in special education. Teachers think they can't learn
just because they can't demonstrate understanding in a “standard”
way. This is not a solution. Society needs to give these kids
accommodations to be heard and teach them in a way that they feel
accepted and valued. Just because they can't speak, it doesn't mean
they can't think or feel just like anyone else. There are methods
such as RPM (Rapid Prompting Method) that allow non-verbal kids to
communicate through typing, which allows them to be considered smart
and reach their full potential. Such methods could allow inclusion of
autistic kids in mainstream schools.
The
problem of inclusion does not only apply to autistic people but to
people with disabilities in general. The main obstacle to inclusion
is society's perception of disability. Disabled people are seen as
unable to achieve, they are considered a burden instead of a
resource. This mindset leads to one of the biggest problems that we
have to overcome in order to achieve full inclusion, that is pity.
Pity is an obstacle to inclusion because able-bodied see disabled
people as an opportunity to be nice and they feel good because they
helped the unlucky ones. People who care about and love someone with
special needs are often considered heroes, in the same way as people
on wheelchairs, for example, are considered heroes just for getting
out of bed and remembering their names.
This
is a very dangerous way of thinking because it implies someone
doesn't deserve to be loved and accepted as much as anyone else just
because of their disability and that disabled people are expected to
spend their lives at home doing nothing, so it is surprising to see
people on wheelchairs living a normal life.
Many
people with disabilities, especially if they are mentally challenged,
are given jobs “just to give them something to do”. In many
cases, people with special needs work very hard and are often
underpaid. The people hiring them take advantage of the fact that in
some cases they can't advocate for themselves and they don't have a
strong support system to “exploit” them.
In
many countries, the school system doesn't do much to include kids
with special needs in mainstream education. Let's try to figure out
what the obstacles are and what we could do to remove them: different
kinds of disabilities mean different kinds of obstacles.
Kids
with developmental disorders may find it hard to attend a mainstream
school because of their lack of social interaction (as in the case of
autism), but they could be gradually included if the school makes an
effort to help them overcome their challenges, for example by testing
them in a way that they can demonstrate understanding, which may not
be the typical way. Some kids, for example those with Down Syndrome,
have intellectual disabilities that may prevent them from keeping up
with the other kids' schoolwork, these kids will have different tasks
if necessary, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to do
their best and be around their non-disabled peers.
Kids
with physical disabilities may have trouble attending school because
of physical obstacles, such as stairs or lack of equipment
(computers, special desks and so on). These problems are really easy
to solve and public schools should make an effort to make the school
buildings accessible to kids of all abilities. Inclusion does not
only benefit kids with special needs, it also teaches other kids
respect for all people and increases their understanding and
acceptance of diversity.
People
are only disabled when the environment around them doesn't enable
them to reach their full potential. By eliminating the obstacles to
inclusion, we turn the disability into a distinctive feature, which
is not something bad, it is just part of a person and it has to be
embraced. If we make an effort to fully include people with special
needs in society we will learn to see the world from a different
perspective and free our mind from prejudice. Inclusion is something
we could all benefit from.
