Schools Equating Disability with Inability to Learn :: Education Disabilities Teaching Essays

Schools Equating Disability with Inability to Learn One need not consult a scholar of direction to learn that each and every individual experiences the educational system in a different way. Most people would even be able to stage to the factors that most influence our differences in the way we are taught--race, class, and gender. In focusing in on those three, however, some factors which are pretty influential are sometimes ignored. One of these is physical and other disabilities.In an interview with a disabled individual, Phillip, I learned a number of things. To begin with, I was ignorant virtu tout ensembley the extent of discrimination that disabled individuals face in the formal educational setting. Secondly, the discrimination that disabled individuals face is similar to that which economically disadvantaged individuals experience. In Phillips case, the similarities were seen in the his being tracked in the lower level and the presumption that deaf is synonymous with in educable. So although Phillip and I are of the same race, and our families are relatively conclusion in socioeconomic status, we experienced school in a drastically different way--simply because Phillip has a hearing disability.Phillip has a profound sensorineural loss, which essentially nub that he can hear very little of conversational speech, even though he wears a hearing aid in one ear. Although Phillip communicates without subscribe language and other augmentative communication, he has experienced many trials throughout his life, especially in the educational setting. He understands language only by version lips and using contextual cues according to his environment.Phillip doesnt remember much of his elementary school experience, but for the most part, his language was very poor, from a developmental perspective, and he was kept in classes where there were only deaf students present. He refers to his elementary school experience as positive, but isnt really sure whether it was just the fun and ferment of his youth which overwhelmed the barriers that he would later experience in his life.Phillips true experience with discrimination in the school setting began when he entered junior high, where he was mainstreamed, and took subjects among all of his peers, whether they were hearing or not. In high school Phillip was partially mainstreamed. He took English and other required courses with his deaf peers, but for his electives and physical education, he was fix in classes where the majority of the population was hearing. In junior high, Phillip has vivid memories of not being able to understand teachers.