1. Persons With Disabilities
Rebecca Comeau
EDU 627 Multicultural Education
Spring 2012

2. Chapter 16 Review
 There is no real definition if disability.
 Nagi (1969) defined disability consisting of four
elements:
 1. Pathology that interrupts physical or mental
processes
 2. Impairment that limit’s a person’s ability to
function and that may result in,
 3. Functional limitation relative to the ability to
perform or engage in life tasks, and
 4. Disability or the inability to perform socially
expected activities.

3. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
 The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about
52.6 million Americans live with disabilities and 33
million live with severe disabilities.
 It is estimated that the poverty rate is more than
three times the poverty rate of nondisabled
individuals. (McNeil, 2001)

4. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
 In the 2007 Census, it was estimated that 14.9% of Americans, age 5 years and above live
with disabilities.
 Prevalence of disability types was estimated as follows:
 Sensory: 4.2%
 Physical: 9.4%
 Mental: 5.8%
 Self-Care: 3.0%
 Go-outside home: 5.4%
 Employment: 7.1%
 The prevalence of disability for working-age people (ages 21-64) was:
 12.6% among Whites
 17% among Black/African Americans
 6.3% among Asians
 22.5% among Native Americans
 11.7% among persons of some other race
 Prevalence of disability increases with age:
 14.9 % for persons ages 5+
 6.3% for persons ages 5-15
 6.8% for persons ages 16-20
 12.8% for persons ages 21-64
 29.7% for persons ages 65-74
 52% of persons ages 75+

5. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
 Culturally competent practice can be viewed as
embracing five dimensions of knowledge of skills.
 1. Disabled individuals live in a nondisabled world and
usually nondisabled families and communities.
 2. Exposing disabled persons to other disabled persons
and allies aids social workers in helping disabled people
develop alternate attitudes.
 3. Language evolution creates conundrums for social
workers who strive to use politically correct language
relative to disability and other diversities.
 4. Assert and demonstrate respect for the disability
perceptions of the disabled participants.
 5. Social workers need to respect the disability
perspectives and identities of participants.

6. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
Historical Oppression and Current Social Issues
 Ancient Greeks saw disabled persons as
inhuman
 Within Christian contexts disabilities were seen as
a sin, demonic possession, or curse.
 The Enlightenment Period- The Elizabethan Poor
Laws defined disabled persons as “worthy” poor
compared to lazy people.
 Late 1880s-Social Darwinists developed the
practice of eugenics that promoted policies like
sterilization of undesirables including non-whites
and disables people.
 In late 1960s disability rights movement arose
 1990- Americans with Disability Act (ADA)

7. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
International Disability Rights
 France
 Law 75-534 made disability integration a national
obligation in 1975
 Argentina
 Passed a disabilities right law in 1981
 Chile
 Passed a disabilities right law in 1994
 United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India, Russia,
Bolivia
 Passed a disabilities right law in 1995

8. Chapter 16 Review (cont.)
 Three models of disability
 Moral
-Assumes disability is unnatural and out of order with nature
 Medical
-based on reason and rational thought
 Social/minority
-an element of diversity

9. Teaching About the Population:
Project Promotes Understanding of Living With Disabilities Written by
Kristen Gaydos
This article is about a professor, Dr. Alysha
Nordstrom, who created a special program for her
students called “The Voices Project: Disability.” This
is the second in a series that “aimed at
comprehending and understanding cultural attitudes
toward groups of difference (Gaydos, 2012).”
“Nordstrom asked some of her psychology students to
interview a cross-section of community members and
their families about living with disabilities such as
deafness, blindness, dwarfism, spinal cord
injury, stroke, stuttering, spina bifida and cerebral palsy
(Gaydos, 2012).”
Nordstrom believes that many people may feel unsure or
they may experience an unneeded discomfort when
dealing with people with disabilities.

10. Teaching About the Population:
Project Promotes Understanding of Living With Disabilities Written by
Kristen
Gaydos (Cont.)
 The students took what they learned wrote
memoirs in the first person to capture how the
disability affected that person’s lives.
 After doing this activity, students felt more
knowledgeable. One student, Taylor
Burak, replied,
“I always knew that people with disabilities had
challenging lives, but I didn’t know how challenging…I
just felt like I knew her so well after I was done.”

11. Teaching to the Population
 The following summarizes an article Disability
Awareness in the Classroom, written by Monica J.
Foster. As a former student with disabilities,
Foster gave some great advice for having
students with disabilities feel more comfortable in
their classroom. Her tips also would help make
fellow students who do not have disabilities feel
more at ease by understanding more.

12. Practical Ideas for Providing An
Appropriate Educational Experience
 Monica J. Foster wrote Disability Awareness in the Classroom and listed many
ways to make a child with disabilities feel more included:
 Room Placement
 Rather than cramming and segregating them all in the back, disperse students with
disabilities around the classroom as their needs and preferences dictate.
 Activities and Communication
 Encourage students to participate
 Turn in own papers
 Help teacher pass out papers
 Be patient for students with speech impediments
 Don’t finish their sentences
 Discuss this with other students to help them understand that it is important that each
student has a voice
 Call on them for answers just as often as the rest of the class
 Peer Buddy
 Depending on if the student has an aide and/or IEP needs, peer buddies could assist
children with a physical disability
 Help with papers and books
 Push student in a wheelchair
 Take turns rotating peer buddies

13. Practical Ideas for Providing An
Appropriate Educational Experience
(cont.)…
 Education
 A key to success
 Talk to students with disabilities about college and career opportunities
o Ask what they want to be when they grow up
 Encourage and challenge them to do their best
 Suggest books, activities, and more to encourage their growth, development of
future goals, and more
 Startle Reflex
 “When a student jumps easily at a noise or sudden action (Foster, 2012).”
 Can be frightening, painful, and unnecessarily embarrassing
 Prepare a student if you know something sudden will happen
 Such as a fire drill
 Prepare other students by asking them not to come up suddenly to the student or too
quietly
 Books on Tape/Book Holders
 Some children with a physical disability may be unable to hold a book due to strength
and tremor issues
 Things you can try:
 A book holder
 Page-turner
 Books on tape

14. Practical Ideas for Providing An
Appropriate Educational Experience
(cont.)…
 Computers
 Encourage students to learn about computers and how to use computers
 Excellent tool for independence
 Useful for a career
 Develops good technical skills
 Typing aids
 Screen readers
 Disability Awareness
 Teach every student and their families about disabilities
 Answer questions students have about disability to encourage curiosity and
understanding
 Invite guest speakers who have disabilities
 Promote:
 Disability history talks
 Books about people with disabilities
 Classroom Activities
 Pair students with disabilities up with students without disabilities for class projects
 Each student’s strengths are used
 Will help the student with the disability showcase their strengths
 Builds friendships in class

15. Makes You Think…
 “…the last 40-45 years have seen a burgeoning disability rights movement and
an embracing of disability as an attribute, disability community for support and
validation, and a validation, and a disability culture that celebrates disability and
the lives of disabled people (Lum, p. 440).”
 “Capitalist societies place value on people according to their economic output
while making it difficult for disabled people to work (Lum, p.451).”
 “Everyone, with or without a disability, deserves the opportunity to set goals
(Foster, 2012).”
 “The more students know about people with disabilities and their countless
abilities, the more accepting they will be with their classmates and peers who
have disabilities. And seeing that adults with disabilities can be successful
monumentally boosts a student with disabilities’ self esteem (Foster, 2012).”
 “As a college professor, that was an important thing to address in the classroom,
so that student’s don’t graduate and act negatively toward groups they don’t
know a lot about (Gaydos, 2012).”

16. Let’s Discuss…
 What have you done/would do to make student’s
with disabilities feel more comfortable within the
classroom?
 How do you explain to your students without
disabilities about students with disabilities?

17. References
Foster, M. J. (2012,). Disability Awareness in the
Classroom. BellaOnline: The Voice of Women
Retrieved Apr. 19, 2012, from
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29483.asp.
Gaydos, K.. (2012, Apr. 21). Project promotes
understanding of living with disabilities. The Citizens'
Voice Retrieved Apr. 22, 2012, from
http://citizensvoice.com/news/project-promotes-
understanding-of-living-with-disabilities-
1.1303141#axzz1tObv3iJI.
Lum, D. (2011). Culturally Competent Practice: A
Framework for Understanding Diverse Groups and
Justice Issues. Belmont, CA: