What are the facts and myths about disabilities people have?

Question

keep each disability to 5 points on each please.
and if you think people need to learn more about disabilities and their talents please star this question.

I said 5 for each one because their are heaps of disabilities. All different. I have learnt that when you think someone has one disability you sometimes learn they have another.
And please say what type you are addressing

Answer 1

Everybody's fighting some kind of stereotype, and people with disabilities are no exception. The difference is that barriers people with disabilities face begin with people's attitudes — attitudes often rooted in misinformation and misunderstandings about what it's like to live with a disability.

Myth 1: People with disabilities are brave and courageous.
Fact: Adjusting to a disability requires adapting to a lifestyle, not bravery and courage.

Myth 2: All persons who use wheelchairs are chronically ill or sickly.
Fact: The association between wheelchair use and illness may have evolved through hospitals using wheelchairs to transport sick people. A person may use a wheelchair for a variety of reasons, none of which may have anything to do with lingering illness.

Myth 3: Wheelchair use is confining; people who use wheelchairs are "wheelchair-bound."
Fact: A wheelchair, like a bicycle or an automobile, is a personal assistive device that enables someone to get around.

Myth 4: All persons with hearing disabilities can read lips.
Fact: Lip-reading skills vary among people who use them and are never entirely reliable.

Myth 5: People who are blind acquire a "sixth sense."
Fact: Although most people who are blind develop their remaining senses more fully, they do not have a "sixth sense."

Myth 6: People with disabilities are more comfortable with "their own kind."
Fact: In the past, grouping people with disabilities in separate schools and institutions reinforced this misconception. Today, many people with disabilities take advantage of new opportunities to join mainstream society.

Myth 7: Non-disabled people are obligated to "take care of" people with disabilities.
Fact: Anyone may offer assistance, but most people with disabilities prefer to be responsible for themselves.

Myth 8: Curious children should never ask people about their disabilities.
Fact: Many children have a natural, uninhibited curiosity and may ask questions that some adults consider embarrassing. But scolding curious children may make them think having a disability is "wrong" or "bad." Most people with disabilities won't mind answering a child's question.

Myth 9: The lives of people with disabilities are totally different than the lives of people without disabilities.
Fact: People with disabilities go to school, get married, work, have families, do laundry, grocery shop, laugh, cry, pay taxes, get angry, have prejudices, vote, plan and dream like everyone else.

Myth 10: It is all right for people without disabilities to park in accessible parking spaces, if only for a few minutes.
Fact: Because accessible parking spaces are designed and situated to meet the needs of people who have disabilities, these spaces should only be used by people who need them.

Myth 11: Most people with disabilities cannot have sexual relationships.
Fact: Anyone can have a sexual relationship by adapting the sexual activity. People with disabilities can have children naturally or through adoption. People with disabilities, like other people, are sexual beings.

Myth 12: People with disabilities always need help.
Fact: Many people with disabilities are independent and capable of giving help. If you would like to help someone with a disability, ask if he or she needs it before you act.

Myth 13: There is nothing one person can do to help eliminate the barriers confronting people with disabilities.
Fact: Everyone can contribute to change. You can help remove barriers by:

* Understanding the need for accessible parking and leaving it for those who need it
* Encouraging participation of people with disabilities in community activities by using accessible meeting and event sites
* Understanding children's curiosity about disabilities and people who have them
* Advocating a barrier-free environment
* Speaking up when negative words or phrases are used about disability
* Writing producers and editors a note of support when they portray someone with a disability as a "regular person" in the media
* Accepting people with disabilities as individuals capable of the same needs and feelings as yourself, and hiring qualified disabled persons whenever possible

Answer 2

Myth: Physically disabled people are off in the mind. Not true. I am physically disabled but I went to college more than once. With honors. I am also a freelance writer.
Myth: The mentally disabled are crazy. Not true. The brain and Central Nervous System are as mysterious as the universe. They thought Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were crazy and look what they gave back to us. Now, some people are classified as legally insane, but that is rare. Those with mental disabilities mostly just need a little extra help.
Myth: The disabled are lazy whiners. Not true. Maybe there are a few but for the most part, we've come along way as to working, being married and functioning to a degree.
Myth: The disabled have nothing to offer. Not true. I know a paraplegic that is the Controller at a major Univeristy in California. He just has a special van and lots of girlfriends. Good looking guy.
Myth: People with disabilities have a chip on their shoulder and a grudge to bear. Not true. Luckily, I can walk but I am not allowed to drive so I take the bus. The wheelchair people are super friendly.

I think sometimes the disabled are misunderstood. There are brilliant autistic artists, people with MS teaching school, armless people teaching others how to live without arms, people with one leg dancing. It's just a big world out there and we can't all be athletes. It's just like riches. We can't all be rich, we can't all be poor, we can't all be blonde movie stars and we can't all function physically and emotionally. It takes all kinds and we will accept some of the most outrageous things before we will accept a Senior Citizen limping down the street. It's crazy. I'd rather be with the limping Senior who gets made fun of than the mean-spirited people who actual jeer at the physical and emotional weaknesses of others. The funny thing about me? None of my friends are disabled except the paraplegic. Most of us are pretty normal except for bad legs, knees, blindness, deafness, etc.

Answer 3

Myth 1 - If someone has a physical disability, they must have something wrong wth their mind too.
Myth 2 - Physically disabled people can't have sex anymore.
Myth 3 - All disabilities are visable. The person who has a handicapped parking placard may not look like they need it but that doesn't mean they don't need it.
Myth 4 - All disabled people should have to park in the handicaped parking areas. This would never work, there's never enough handicapped parking.
Myth 5 - All disabled people are sick.

If anyone's interested, I've written an article on what it's like to go to the mal as a disabled person. Here's the link if you want to read it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/246107/handicapped_accessible_being_disabled.html

Answer 4

I could say a few things here but I won't. It looks like the first answerer said everything that was ever written is every text book on disability already.

But if I read you question right (you said "each disability"), then I will answer it using a specific disability.

MYTH: People who have developmental disability:
1) are too dumb to learn anything., therefore not teachable and unemployable
2) are a product of parents who are also developmentally delayed or imperfect in some way (which gave rise to the argument that they shouldn't "breed")
3) are affectionate, loveable and are forever like children mentally (eg ever heard of people say "Aren't they cute?" to a child with Down's syndrome)
4) have shorter live span
5) are all child molesters

People can be so bigoted and dumb, can't they? When I hear people say things like that, I wondered... who are the uneducated, ignorant ones here?

Answer 5

Myth - if a person is in a wheel chair it means that he or she cannot stand up or walk.

Myth - a person with a disability have a low quality of life.

Many people need to learn more about disabilities and diseases. Also a bit of common sense will go a long way. I was once invited to a lunch where the conversation in my honour was all about someone who had the same disease as me, but who was doing very poorly. It was tasteless and inconsiderate. Imagine a cancer-patient being "entertained" with stories of all the cancer patients people knew who had not made it.

My advice to people not knowing how to deal with people with disabilities or serious diseases is to not simply assume something, and to keep their mouth shut about stating facts of a disease or disability or treatment methods unless they are 100% sure that it is indeed a fact. I've lost count of the times, I've been treated as if I had one foot in the grave, been told that my disease is similar to muscular dystrophy, been asked how I feel about knowing I'll end up in a wheel-chair etc.

I prefer that people just come straight out and ask me what they want to know or need to know. I'm more than happy to answer questions. It's not awkward. It's a lot more awkward to be told that you (generic you) have been wrapping people in cotton wool or inadvertedly pushed them beyond their abilities. Also I'm confident people will feel much more relaxed around a disabled person or a person with a serious disease if they know what they're dealing with.

Answer 6

57.7 million people suffer from mental disabilities, the number one reason for loss of productivity in the workplace, the two main diseases being depression and bipolar disorder. The myths are that these aren't true disabilities because they can't be seen and we're just too lazy or stupid to snap out of it. The facts are that these diseases are real and tremendously difficult to cope with. They are the leading cause of suicides in the U.S. and cost billions of dollars in medical care and treatments.

Answer 7

I am disabled from birth. In a wheelchair and also missing limbs....


MYTH: A person with a disability is sick, or has something wrong with them.

FACT: Disability is a natural part of the human experience, and it is not the same as being sick. Individuals with disabilities have varying degrees of need, and are sometimes sick, just as non-disabled are sometimes sick. Mistaking a disability for sickness not only fails to sometimes sick. Mistaking a disability for sickness not only fails to respond to a person's needs, it perpetuates a negative stereotype and an assumption that the person can and should be cured.

MYTH: People with disabilities have a poor quality of life.

FACT: This is one of the most common and damaging stereotypes, because it discourages social interactions and the development of mature relationships. People with disabilities have needs just like those who are non-disabled, and they strive for a high degree of quality of life as other individuals. Society handicaps individuals by building inaccessible schools, theaters, homes, buses, etc. The attitude that disability is a bad thing and that disability means a poor quality of life is often viewed as more disabling than the disability itself.

MYTH: People with disabilities are inspirational, brave, and courageous for living successfully with their disability.

FACT: A person with a disability a simply carrying out normal activities of living when they drive to work, go shopping, pay their bills, or compete in athletic events. Access to community based, long term service such as attendant care, access to buildings, public transportation, sidewalks, etc, access to quality health care, and necessary equipment enables them to carry on the same as non-disabled necessary equipment enables them to carry on the same as non-disabled people.

MYTH: People with disability always need expensive and high-tech assistive devices or services.

FACT: Simple inexpensive devices are often the most critical in helping people with a disability live independently. Assistive devices can be as affordable as an eating utensil or Velcro strap.

MYTH: People with severe disabilities need to live in nursing home or rehabilitation hospitals or under constant supervision so that they do not hurt themselves.

FACT: Unfortunately, this myth has created a system of long term care in our nation that relies on institutions such as nursing homes and other facilities. Even those with the most severe disabilities could live in their own home given adequate community based service, and at the very least, they should be given that choice.

Answer 8

I dont know much about dyslexia, i have never been tested for it either but i do see words on the page kinda funny.I am at uni and its only now that i am realising i dont see like everyone else. I have been to an optomitrist and my actual vision is ok. but i have never got into reading and i am a bad speller. It is also rumoured that einstein couldnt spell. I guess no one will ever conclusivly know if he was dyslexic but it wouldnt suprise me if he was because most of his work was with science and maths which is effected differently by dyslexia. I should have googled dyslexia before i answered this question so this is just what i have heard and my own oppinion. My yr 9 english teacher used to try and comfort me by saying "dont worry einstein couldnt spell either."

Answer 9

Are you a freelance author who would like to learn far more about how to earn excellent income performing what you enjoy? If you want to advance your writing career

Answer 10

Um they don't comprehend normally... and drool on themselves.