Networking Forum

As persons with disabilities we are always on. Teaching is an every day all day exercise. I also believe this everyday/always is the most effective way of teaching. We can lecture in a class but it does not have the impact of people experiencing us.

I think my role in 'teaching others' is primarily to simply accept & communicate that we all have differences that make us special. We're all more 'able' in various areas than others. If I accept and recognize the value that others with differences bring, then I teach others to 'see' differences as something we ALL have, not a burden that only a few must bear.

I find I'm not completely comfortable with the term 'disability' despite not having one. We're simply all more 'able' than disabled...I'm less able at math, more able at lots of other great things. Our physical abilities are no more important than our intellectual ones, and the more we focus on the abilities of others the more we realize what we have to gain by including them in the workplace. If you are a knowlege worker, what matters most is your knowledge and this is not in any way affected by any physical limitations you do (or don't) have. Asssistive technology provides a multitude of easily implemented accomodations that allow businesses to benefit from the talents & knowledge of those with physical differences. Differences in how we communicate or read another's 'body language' are good areas for diversity training, since we all need to be aware of our own preconceptions and expectations around the subtleties.

I agree that the best 'education' most of us able-bodied folks will ever recieve is the invaluable inclusion of those with physical limitations living and working amongst us. With this, we learn to be inspired by what others have had to overcome just to walk through that door we've always taken for granted. We learn that we too have our own limitations, and that starting out able bodied doesn't guarantee that we always will be. I, for one, want to know that those doors will still be open for me should I find myself obviously disabled one day. I feel honored to have known those willing to 'swim in the mainstream', despite the difficulties they've faced to do so. They daily open the minds of those around them to the talent that would be missed were we to focus only on those who fit our able-bodied expectations.

Whilst it is important to stay as positive as possible about the education role we all have, I believe it is also okay to feel frustrated at times. One's ability to cope with the same silly comment or asumption several times in one day often depends on how we are feeling and what else is going on in our lives.

One of the things my husband and I sometimes do is go out for dinner without taking my guide dog -- just so we can have some anonimity and not be pestered by people wanting to know the dog's name and how old it is!

Despite all that, I take my education role seriously and constantly make the point to friends and colleagues that if there were 100 blind or vision impaired people in the room, we'd all be diferent, due to our individual personalities, level of ability to manage regular life tasks and how well we have integrated disability into our daily lives.

All excellent points. Having a disability does give us an unique position in teaching one another, but yes it can be very frustrating, when due to your disability you're not acknowledged or recognized for your abilities and not just your education.

My mother on her death bed apologized to me for not understanding about disability- she became disabled later in life with MS. She said I pushed you too hard, I sometimes overlooked your limitations and pushed your strenths and I said to her thank goodness you did. You prepared me well for the world I have to live in. You didn't allow me to be a victim, you enouraged my independence and interdependence and you taught me how to advocate for myself from a very early age.

There is physically teaching that we all do -disabled or otherwise to show others how to understand our differences, whether in a playground, a schoolyard, a campus green or work.Some people get it some don't, but that's true no matter what "classroom" you're in.

But there's also teaching one on one that we all do with our spouses, our friends , our children, accidental lessons we teach them about life and living with a disability. It's called living life, falling down and starting over again and it's not just limited to those of us with disabilities. Able-bodied people do it all the time , think Donald Trump, think of Einstein who was never recognized by the Nobel prize team for his theory on realitivity but his life work. Think of Thomas Edison how many times he tried and failed and we all have experienced the same thing.

Each one teaches one whether we realize it or not.

What a great topic. Let's take it a bit further and ask what has our disability taught us? What have we learned that we can share with others?

Teaching others about living with a disability is as Tom stated about people experiencing who we are. Experiencing who we are as people through interactions, activities, being involved in the community, working or volunteering.
I know there are situations where this is difficult but it what we do with the lemon called disability that will determine the quality of our lives.

How many flavors of lemonade are possible?
I believe in the course of life we are all students and teachers--when we are not teaching we are students and when we are teaching if we are good we are learning from our students.
Life is the eternal classroom with so many opportunities that we simply have to decide which ones are ours.
I am working on how many flavors of lemonade I can create--it is a work in progress.

At times, I have found myself sad and angry at the people who have very good intentions, but who seem not to want the "education" I offer no matter how subtle it is. I teach because I truly want to help others feel comfortable with my blindness and the different methods I use to do the same tasks that others accomplish. I suggest that there are limits to how much we can teach without going crazy and limits to how much of our "teaching" others will accept. Isn't that where fear and resistance come into play for us and for others? If I'm afraid to educate others because it highlights my differences I miss out on an opportunity that may be useful to others as they think through what I've said or done. If I go into teaching mode to the extreme, some will put me on that dreaded pedestal and see me as "unreachable" and others will turn me off and say, "Oh, my God, here goes Ms. know-it-all again!" So I hope all of you readers have learned something from all this chatter and will never judge or be prejudiced or resist this awesome educational prose! Now, I'm off to find something that looks decent to wear...oh, and if it gets stained will someone PLEASE let me know instead of just staring at it??

I agree that people learn far more about us by how we handle ourselves than lecturing in some sort of formal setting. I also think it critical that we yield control to those who we are "educating" about what they want to learn; for me, this means only answering questions asked and not volunteering too much additional information.

I suspect the best learning I get and the best teaching I do are both by example rather than explicit. I think explicit teaching by a person with a overt bisability may, in many cases, actually increase others' sense of discomfort and build barriers rather than achieving a goal of accepting me as a fellow human being. It emphasizes my differences if I overtly teach much and makes others feel put on the spot. That is my objection to political correctness. I think it actually prevents people from speaking honestlr with courtesy and instead lets people get hung up on what the "right" word to use is. We need to be honest and respectful of people, particularly the ones who do not know about disability while expecting the same from them as our due. I also think too much explicit teaching by a disabled person leads to burn out and emotional exhaustion. Be sure to make time for ourselves and to be alone is what I do. I have the right to privacy and my own life as anyone does. Teaching someone I need to be aware of my own needs in the longrun since it is, after all, my life experience. I also need to remember that not all folks can or want to learn, frustrating as that may be. I need to know when to walk away. Not all experiences are occasions for teaching. Learning to balance these elements is a life's work for me.

I agree with all of you. I think we as disabled people have to set as good an example as we can for those who want to learn from us, yet at the same time we need to be careful not to divulge too much information. Let me give an example. I have recently started giving computer lessons to a neighbor of mine who is not visually-impaired but who happens to have some other hidden disabilities. One of the core areas he needs to work on, according to his mother, is word processing. I don't want to confuse him with all the other components of Windows at once, so I have tried to focus these first few sessions strictly on word processing. I have briefly gone online with him, but I haven't delved into it much. I am happy to report that he is learning very quickly and is enjoying the lessons. He is also very mindful of the fact that I use a screen reader and I have to listen to what it is telling me. Also, I have been and will continue to be very patient with him and let him learn at his own pace, and ask all the questions he wants. After all, no question is a stupid question despite what some people might try to tell themselves.
Jake

Hello,

This is Betty Banks, I hope I am reading this correctly, excuse me! diabled people are very brilliant in what we do, because you must remember, we try harder than the next guy and excell all the way, I am a DeafBlind person and I have my limitaions, but I can do anything I put my mind to.

Hello,

I believe that we teach every day whether we know it or not. Just by how we work, become involved in our community and church, and interact with others. I work 40 hours a week and I believe the best lesson I can teach the clients that I work with is that I can get out there and work full time and so can they. I do not work with visually impaired clients but that is by choice. I work with people with all other types of disabilities except for those who are hearing impaired or visually impaired. But we lead by example.