I work with special need adults and when were in the community people either back away or give me that your such a special person to work with them. I get very offended their not animals. Everyone is one trama away from being like them because the brain is the powerful but delicate.
2007-09-02 11:20:02 · 8 answers · asked by Dutchess 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
I work in a group home with MR/DD men. They are absolutely wonderful individuals. I have come to know them as "my other family" because I do spend so much time with them in their home. When I first started my job I was unsure how to react to my guys. How to interact with them. How to be around them. I quickly learned that they are just like me and the rest of the world. They indeed set me straight right off. My guys have been my best teachers!
Over the last 14 months I, too, have realized how people stare or say, "it takes a special person to do your job". No, it doesn't. It takes a heart and a little understanding. A whole lot of patience, too. lol In response to the stares and comments, I smile really big and wave or say, "Thank you.. I love my family." I figure eventually one of those people who stare or say something is going to take what I do or say and think about why I did it. Then they're going to realize we all have some handicap or disability and these individuals are just as normal as yourself and me and are living life to the fullest!
2007-09-03 03:57:27 · answer #1 · answered by Jennifer E 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I totally agree with you. I worked with a therapeutic riding center in my teens and taught physically and mentally handicapped to ride horses. I think that work helped me shape my attitudes towards the disabled. I think that people who seem afraid are responding to their primal instinct to fear what is different. I also think some are just afraid because seeing disabled people makes them aware that it could have/or could some day happen to them.
Too many people assume that the physically and mentally disabled are "angelic and sweet victims" and that those who work with them are so "special" for doing it.
People who are physically disabled are just people. Some are nice, some are not, they are just people.
The mentally handicapped also have the same differences between them. If someone chooses to work with physically or mentally handicapped, they are working at a job, just like someone who is a lawyer or a doctor or a burger flipper. I never felt "special" when I worked there. I did get a lot of job satisfaction, but I wasn't a martyr or anything.
2007-09-02 15:03:47 · answer #2 · answered by tanilioness 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Personally I can appreciate what you're saying, but for those of us that don't get to work with the disabled on a daily basis, maybe we're not quite sure as to how to approach and work with them. To put it into perspective, I work as a sales assistant and I treat all my customers the same - with a bright, friendly attitude and will glady chat to anyone. I would hope that behaving this way wouldn't stigmatize the disabled and encourage the breaking of barriers. But I will admit that its difficult sometimes.
2007-09-02 11:30:40 · answer #3 · answered by afterbirth07 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We're uncomfortable with what we don't know or understand! In a perfect world everyone is smart, healthy and beautiful. We're afraid of falling short of this ideal. We are taught this repeatedly by our media driven society. That's why so many students here are stressing out about their appearances, capabilities, and performances. We reward those that measure up and are offended by those we judge less worthy. What happens if they should fall short of measuring up physically and mentally to these societal expectations??
2007-09-02 12:11:25 · answer #4 · answered by Pinyon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my suspicion is that there are a variety of reasons, depending on the person and even the occasion. There may be discomfort and fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. There may be discomfort precisely because there's a recognition of something that could happen to ourselves from which we want to distance ourselves. There may also be a sense of superiority (people often congratulate themselves for things they didn't earn) and a desire to preserve a sense of distance from one feels superior to, to isolate it. There may also be an irrational fear of something like contagion. And there may be a mixture of guilt seeing someone less fortunate and resentment of that guilt, not wanting to have to acknowledge one's own good fortune or that others may be less fortunate (assuming they are, which maybe we shouldn't assume).
And there's also good old fashioned fear of the unknown.
No easy answers here.
For myself, I feel a sense of not wanting to be inauthentic, of not wanting to be stand-offish but also not wanting to be a phony and make a show of how friendly I am (which is condescending and may make them feel like they're being made a spectacle), but that very unsureness and hesitation may seem like rejection on my part.
Generally though, I try to smile but keep to myself with everyone.
2007-09-02 12:06:21 · answer #5 · answered by Gnu Diddy! 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not scared of them, I know a few with mental disabilities...
2007-09-02 11:26:41 · answer #6 · answered by {*Kiterya A.k.A Ms Caramel*} 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
B/c there is a 83.394556434543% chance they might hurt you.
Yes I did the math for you......your welcome.
2007-09-02 12:21:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
THEY ARE IGNORANT ON WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW.
2007-09-02 11:27:11 · answer #8 · answered by sparkles 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋