In response to the reading on Ableism, I feel burdened for the people who grew up in situations in which their parents were not at a place with their own self-worth that they could help their child grow to their full potential despite their disability. I know that it is much harder in real life than for a person who has no experience with raising a disabled child, but the reading did prove that children whose parents were able to adjust with the loss of the "perfect child" were more equipped to be a better parent to the child.
People who are disabled make up the largest target group, at 43 million people when this article was written and I am sure that that number has increased in number since then. It's important for me to assess how I would handle the situation if a. I had a child who was born disabled, b. had a child with a disabled friend, and/or c. worked with someone who was disabled in some capacity.
While I was reading this article over the weekend, I was on a high school youth retreat as a leader and I observed the interaction between students who were disabled with their peers during sporting events. One of the students was able to involve himself in a game of basketball despite the fact that he was in a wheelchair. There were other students with different levels of disability and their involvement was different as well. I wondered how much the parent's role and support during the developmental years of the child played into their adjustment/mal-adjustment on the retreat. It is hard to say definitively the role that the parent had to play and the effect of the child's own personality on the situation, but it was interesting to think about in light of the situation.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Personal Journal #5: 3.31.09
During class I was coping with the feelings that I had about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender in a way that I never thought about them before. I realized that I do have slightly homophobic feelings and get uncomfortable in situations with people who would consider themselves Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender. Growing up in the church, we do not discuss sexuality much beyond what is expected of each gender, as far as roles within the church and when you come of age, how you were created in God's image. Sexuality is discussed as far as male and female bodies and coming into their own. Topics that are never discussed, but probably should be, are those about sexuality, what to do with the new feelings and hormones you are experiencing, rather than label them as sinful and to shun them from your thoughts.
I appreciated the dialogue in class because the class has become a comfortable and safe environment for me to discuss my feelings with the other students. Also, I think that society has not yet realized how to approach the issues of sexuality, because of the way in which Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual's rights are instated in governmental issues. We have been discussing the conflict between conservatives in the government trying to "retain" their rights as heterosexuals and ban the rights of those to practice differently. Also, there have been many shows portraying the parody of the gay community (such as Will and Grace) and not necessarily any shows portaying GLBT in a non-joking manner. If there are shows to that nature, I am unaware of them. The media in general does not portray this particular community in a positive light and our views usually stem from what the media feeds to us, which is also not positive.
To combat these negative feelings, I believe that I need to not only address the stigmas I am feeding my views off of, but also I should try to engage with people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. I am sure that eventually I will be in contact with/need to help someone who has a sexual preference other than what I have considered "normal," so I must address my feelings and figure out how I can set my feelings aside and engage with the person to give them the help that they are seeking, to treat them as I would any person. I need to pray for discernment in this area and for compassion and grace, because I am not perfect and will need to Lord's strength for situations that I'm not comfortable with.
I appreciated the dialogue in class because the class has become a comfortable and safe environment for me to discuss my feelings with the other students. Also, I think that society has not yet realized how to approach the issues of sexuality, because of the way in which Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual's rights are instated in governmental issues. We have been discussing the conflict between conservatives in the government trying to "retain" their rights as heterosexuals and ban the rights of those to practice differently. Also, there have been many shows portraying the parody of the gay community (such as Will and Grace) and not necessarily any shows portaying GLBT in a non-joking manner. If there are shows to that nature, I am unaware of them. The media in general does not portray this particular community in a positive light and our views usually stem from what the media feeds to us, which is also not positive.
To combat these negative feelings, I believe that I need to not only address the stigmas I am feeding my views off of, but also I should try to engage with people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. I am sure that eventually I will be in contact with/need to help someone who has a sexual preference other than what I have considered "normal," so I must address my feelings and figure out how I can set my feelings aside and engage with the person to give them the help that they are seeking, to treat them as I would any person. I need to pray for discernment in this area and for compassion and grace, because I am not perfect and will need to Lord's strength for situations that I'm not comfortable with.
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