The Effects of Different Disability Labels on Life - Essay Example

The Effects of Different Disability Labels On Life A research proposal Analysis on the effects of labeling the differently disabled people. Disability in a person is generally misunderstood by the people. A person with disability is like any other normal person with some sort of difficulty. Each disability is being named and the people carry that label throughout their lives. A person labeled with disability is given certain privilege over the others. They are given preference in education, employment and medical facilities. If a person is labeled with some disability, the society sees him differently. They are not allowed to mingle with other people. Labels may provide support from others, but it may lead to unexpected situations. A child labeled with disability may face several drawbacks at the school. The child may receive special attention from the teacher, but the students studying with him may not mingle with that child. This will create a sort of depression in that child's mind which may gradually affect his performance. Labeling may help in some cases while it has negative effects in most of the situations. Disabled people are not treated like normal ones in the society. Labeling is done to differentiate the disabled from the normal. The major drawback is many do not understand that they are also human beings like others. Labeling may seem to be advantageous, but it has an emotional impact on disabled people. Labeling affects people's self-esteem and they unintentionally convey a message that they are inferior thereby influencing others to look down at them and treat them in a different way. Labels are often used by professionals with the clear intent of understanding them but it's disheartening to know that none of these descriptions are of use in knowing them as an individual. Descriptions of that kind create stereotypes which result in isolation. In spite of all these concerns, students are still being labeled for a variety of reasons. It is mainly because, people feel that such categorization is being widely used as it has more advantages than disadvantages. Labeling has another advantage in the sense that labeling helps to create groups known as special interest groups. One can obtain various information regarding a particular disability with the help of certain groups. Such groups are often referred to as support systems. These systems help the students by providing state level legislations and also to achieve federal funding. Process of Labeling The most important role is played by the language used by us while communicating with the disabled people. It reflects our character and the attitude towards them thus indicating how we conceive the importance of others in this planet. Words are the most powerful weapon. They can turn people on or off depending on the way they are used. If a person is often referred to as a lazy person, then that person may start trusting it and thus he may become that way thus proving the label to be true. On contrary, if one encourages the person by saying that he/she is very active, then the impact that it would have on them will be in a very positive way thereby making the person work towards becoming active. The differences between the disabled and the normal people are far less than the similarities that exist between these two categories of people. For instance, many of us know that those who suffer from autism find difficulties in generalizing but even normal people find such difficulties as well. In general, labels serve as identifiers. When we go to a supermarket, the process of identifying the products becomes easy with the help of their labels. It helps us in the process of decision making by enabling us to identify the best out of the better products. This is very useful in case of purchasing the products but when the same approach is being used to categorize people into various sectors by labeling them, it affects those people both physically and mentally. The general human tendency is to separate people who are not normal. People do not realize they are also human beings. Each disability is named and people tend to call them with that label. A disabled child studying in a school often gets depressed as not much of the students talk with him. The teachers give special attention if a student is having some learning disability. This may sometimes turn against the child because he may feel odd as he is specially taken care of. Not all the schools provide admission to disabled children. Before some years there were not schools for these types of children. Now there are some schools which are run for these special children. Many children feel they are not normal and people will not mingle with them. Psychologically they are affected and this will lead to depression. This in turn will reflect in their educational performance. Although special schools are available, not all the children are given admission. If given, after some time they are being sent home due to various reasons like they find it difficult to manage such children. This affects one's self esteem. Most of the children discontinue from schools due to these reasons. Labeling is done on the basis of disability. Disabled people are not treated like others in the society. People segregate them from others and hence this creates a feeling of insecurity in them. These people face problem not only in school and society, but also among family and friends. Some families where a person is disabled, the family members isolate them and this creates a fear in them. Families do this because they feel the whole family might be separated from the society itself. Outcomes of Labeling The person with disability will have no relationship with their family members. Labeling a disabled person can be of advantage at some situations, but is actually a disadvantage. Once a person is labeled with his disability, they are seen as useless and people think they cannot do things like others. People refer to them with these labels and not by their names. Due to this they feel dejected and at times it may lead to severe consequences. Labeling a person does not mean they should be called by that disability. The common disabilities are autism, learning disabled. Nowadays many children are being identified with disabilities and government says labeling will certainly be of help. People do not seem to realize the consequence of labeling them. After a person is labeled, others think they do not have the capability to do anything and always need some assistance. This is not true in all the cases. Some disabled people can do things on their own and they do not require any special attention. People who are severely disabled need somebody to take care of them. As people around them treat them as patients, they develop some sort complex due to which they find it difficult move well with others. In some countries people are labeled and given special preference right from the education till employment and other extra facilities. Parents of disabled children feel the children are emotionally affected if they are being separated from others. Proper diagnosis plays a major role before labeling a child. If they are not correctly diagnosed, it will spoil the life of the child because once a child is labeled it cannot be withdrawn. People may not believe that child is no more disabled. Disabled children may differ in terms of learning and behaving but the rest of their activities may be similar to others. Although this is the difference, they are not considered as a person with needs like any other human being. As they are not permitted to study in regular schools, they develop psychological depression. Their other capacities or capabilities go unrecognized. Some disabled children who are not good at studies may have some other talent. Schools does not concentrate on this, instead they just concentrate on educating them like other children. If these unique talents are identified and developed they also can become experts in such fields. Teachers think if a student id disabled he will not be able to do anything. A common misconception is that a disabled person cannot be active or intelligent like normal people. This concept is totally wrong. Schools must have faculty who find these hidden qualities in a child and should try to put them on that line. Some teachers have the mentality of scolding or discouraging disabled children. If they do such things in front of other students, the disabled child will have a feeling of complex. These special schools have some limits and the disabilities of the child are not taken into account. Such schools must have flexible conditions so that the student can be accommodated easily. The schools should make sure they get the proper information regarding the student. They must include parent's ideas and options while giving admission to a disabled child. Most of these schools lack in consulting the parents after the child is given admission. They should communicate with the parents regularly to know the child's improvement and should get the medical advice as and when needed. The needs of such disabled student must be properly known and teachers should act according to that. Some teachers tend to segregate these children from others. This will create an aversion among the remaining students towards a disabled child. The school officials think a separate environment will help in dealing with such students in a better way. They should realize the academic concepts are the same but the approach needs to be different. Hence a separate environment will not be of any help. Curriculum must be flexible to suit the needs of disabled children. Parents play a major role in the life of these children. Parent teacher communication is important to improve the performance of the student. There are many negative impacts if a child is labeled with his disability. Many surveys say labeling help in classifying them and providing treatments. Although this seems to be an advantage, there are many negative effects too. When such children are isolated either in separate place or in separate environment, this indirectly says these children are not normal. Many institutions does not include these children any other extracurricular or special activities. These negative effects have to be understood and school and government should take proper measures to resolve all these issues. Teachers should play a significant role in taking care of these special children. They should not talk any negative aspects about these children either to parents or the children themselves. In most of the countries labeling is considered as a best way to deal with disability. But the negative effects are more. Disabled people are not given due respect and consideration in the society. They face many hurdles which they find it difficult to overcome as people who support them are very less. The children feel labeling them or putting them into a special school does not make them feel special, instead it completely differentiates them from the normal people. The students studying with disabled children treat them in a different way. Some students pass unwanted comments which will obviously hurt the feelings of such disabled children. Hence school authorities must make sure that such children are handled with proper care. Labeling is done to help the people and does not aim at creating any complex. Labeling might make the students to feel that they are being looked down at because of their disability; there exist certain methods which help in reducing such effects. This is achieved by "people-first language". It means that one should not refer to the disability, instead the person should be referred first. Due to the various traditional practices and social values which serve as the building blocks of our society, labeling people still continues to harm them. Thus it is our responsibility to prevent the harm that is caused by these practices. This prevention can be done if and only if we are aware of the effects of labeling and concentrate in our work by actively participating in all the activities. Such involvement will teach us that labeling of people should be avoided and the approach of labeling of our problems should be adopted. Tentative list o references to be used Scheff J., (1966). Being Mentally ill. Published by New York Aldine De Gruyter. Mindell A., (1995). Sitting In the Pressure. First Edition. Publisher Lao Tse Press. O'Brien J., (1989). What's Worth Working For. Georgia Responsive System Associates. Kendrick M., (2000). Initial Thoughts on Establishing Right Relationship. Canada Plenary Presentations. Wolfensberger W., (1991). Introduction to Social Role Valorisation. Third Edition. NewYork Training Institute for Human Service Planning. Read More