The World of Disabilities Through the Journeys of Helen Keller and Oscar Pistorius

Disability is an illness, injury or any condition which makes it difficult for someone to do the things that other people do. In other words, according to how World Health Organization (WHO) describe, disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments (a problem in body functions), activity limitations (a difficulty task or action), and participation restrictions (a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations). (“Disabilities”, 2019, para. 1). Almost %15 of the world’s population experience some form of disability. (Schrader-King, n.

d., Para.1) However, only half of those people has access to aided education/exceptional education. Besides suffering from discrimination, they are also not provided special care which satisfies their need and development. Yet, the role of exceptional education is definitely crucial for disabled in terms of their social skills and acceptance into society.

Types of  Disabilities and Their Education Methods/Tools

Vision Impairment

One of the disabilities is vision impairment, which means an eye disorder or losing the ability to see properly.

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It has been proven that there are 285 million people in the world living with a vision impairment. (“Visual Impairment”, n.d., para. 1) The main concern is how do visually impaired people educated. The very first institution built for the blind was “The Hospital Royal des Quinze Vingts”. It was set for the soldiers who had lost their sight during a war. Also, some asylums were established for them.( Blindness and education, 2019, para. 10) Today, these institutions has been replaced with modern ones where the students can get special training and meet their peers.

The modern intitutions provide them to gain all the basic and necessary skills. Depending on their age, students also have the chance to learn languages and get basic math knowledge with the help of technology innovations. Some educational products make blind students’s life easier and better. One of these products is “Virtual Pencil Math Software”. Virtual Pencil is a software used to solve math problems. When used with a screen reader, the numbers and actions that a student make are read out loud which makes the process considerably easier. The program enable the student to know where he or she in the problem

and it allows them to navigate through it. It also provides the steps needed to solve the problem, the answer both. The other tool considered as useful is ‘’IVEO Hands on Learning’’ which is a touchpad with software for reading and creating tactile-audio diagrams. Plus, it converts existing electronic files such as maps and graphs to make the speak when touched on the IVEO touchpad.(Szczerba, n.d., para. 50)

Hearing Loss

Hard of hearing or hearing loss is another type of disabilities. A deaf person is someone who has little or no hearing. If a children in question, hearing problems can affect the ability to learn languages on a large scale. At this point, the education of deaf children is critical.

There are different ideas in the way deaf schools are set up for. One of the education example focuses mostly on benefitting from ASL (American Sign Language) and teaching English through reading and writing. (Smith, 2014, para.38) When teaching literacy and language, there are some helpful tools used such as guided book. These tools also includes Deaf Teachers as ASL storytellers in the classroom.(Mekonnen, Hannu, Elina & Matti, 2016. Pp. 345-351) Making good use of mentioned tools is significant.

Physical Handicaps

Physical disability may be considered as the hardest situation to be handled. It is a restriction on a person’s physical functioning mobility, dexterity or stamina. It may affect either temporarirly or permanently a person’s physical capacity or mobility. Epilepsy, dwarfism, acquired brain injury are some of the types of physical disabilities.

Students with physical disablities may have problems related to movement, posture, grosping or manipulating objects, communication, reflex movements an perception.In addition, they have difficulty receiving information by hearing or sight. This can lead problems with reading and writing such as moving from left to right. (Supporting Students with Disabilities, n.d., para.7) The methods used should be determined by considering these factors.

A teacher of a physical handicapped students must avoid making assumptions about student’s disability or capabilities; many persons with disabilities express that they are frustrated with people assuming what they can or cannot do which is quite understandable. Other than this, the classroom should be organized in a way that everyone can move around eaisly since using a wheelchair or other medical equipment already restricts their mobility.Moreover, the teacher should know that a student who has difficulty with speaking may need an alternative presentation format rather than oral presentation. (Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities, n.d, para 29.)

Barriers Which Disableds Face

Although only three of them has been mentioned, there are nearly ten type of disabilities and every type neccesiate dealing with seperate obstacles. The problems which a blind and deaf faces are not identical. To illustrate, architectrual problems makes a child with wheelchair suffer while a deaf one does not affected. Gender is also a crucial factor. According to statistics, girls and women with disabilities may considered as ‘’doubly disabled’’ since they are less likely than boys to receive care and food and more likely to be left out of a family interactions and activities. (Lake, 2013, para. 44) This means not only the type of the handicap but also traditional gender roles and barries affect a disabled’s life. Even so, there are some common problems which concerns all.

Discrimination Against Disableds

One of them is discrimination. Even though it is a common issue, children suffer more. Due to some reasons, they generally stay some and can not socialize as much as their healthy peers do. This may result in a lot of serious pyschological issues. They might feel alienated and isolated. To prevent this from occuring, parents should look for an institution specialised in disabled education where a student would not feel alone and given the chance of leading a successful life.

Many of these children can not even be aware of their talents. This is exactly why all the handicapped people (regardless of their age) should be educated, socialized and join social events. These are the only way for them to join society and feel that they are actually able to do all the things which a regular person do.

Looking For a Job

The other barrier faced when getting a little bit older by a disabled is unemployment. Employers are generally unwilling to hire a handipacced worker. According to a research, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is the highest out of all other minority groups. (Kim, 2019, para. 19) They generally complain about not being able to afford their needs which is not surprising when educated disabled rates are considered. Their not being able to find a job is slightly related to their not being educated well.

Inspirational People With Disabilities

From time to time, one can witness a discussion concerning whether these people should be called “disabled” or not. Some might strongly agree with the thought of calling them so is insulting, humiliating or unethical and they are actually able to succeed many great things. This idea is even more agreeable when one realise there are countless gifted and renowned disabled in the world who has wonderful skills or has made major contribution to humankind. These extraordinary people include sportsmen/sportswomen, artists, scientists, comedians or even historical characters. Every single of them proves that having any kind of disability is not end of the world and does not prevent them from being accomplished person.

Excellent Woman, Hellen Keller

To begin with, Helen Keller is such an excellent example for inspiring and successful disabled. She was diagnosed at the age of only nineteen months with an illness –called brain fewer by the doctor- that caused her to become blind and deaf. However, her illness could not prevent this marvellous woman from being the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree and being aouthor, political activist and lecturer. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Her family was not that wealthy one. Keller began speech classes at the Harace Mann School for the deaf at the age of sixteen. There, she worked on improving her communication skills and studied some regular academic subjects. Keller’s teacher, Anne Sullivan helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate and Keller went on to college. After a while she wrote her first book, The Story of My Life. It covered her transformation from childhood to twenty-one years old college student. (“Helen Keller Biography”, 2014, para. 75) After she graduated, she became influential compaigner for social, political and dsiability issues. Her public profile help de-stigmatise blindless abd deafness, and she was seen as a powerful example of someone overcoming difficult circumstances. (“Helen Keller Biography”, 2014, para. 4)

Oscar Pistorious, Also Known As Blade Runner

Oscar Pistorious is another renowned worldwide and succeeded person. Born in South Africa in 1986, Oscar Pistorious endured the amputation of both legs as an infant but still became highly successful in sports. (Oscar Pistorious Biography, 2014, para. 4) His family encouraged him to join sport activities when he was just a teen. Thanks to that, Pistorious also known as “Blade Runner” has not had a isolated and full of felling of inability life when he was young. He took up running at the age of sixteen and within a few months he had captured gold at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Blade Runner began competing in the field of able-bodied athletes and in 2012, he became the first amputee to compete at the Olympics. Even though born with a missing fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knees before his first birthday, he won countless gold medal. Another key thing to remember it that his life has been filmd by name “Blade Runner”.

To sum up, education is already vital, but when disabilities are being talked about it is even more important. There are varied types of disability and each of them requires different ways of dealing. Thanks to mentioned educational tools, handicapped people have the opportunity of being taught properly. Still, the truth is undeniable. The number of educated disabled people is unfortunately low.

Depending on their disability, they face some sort of problems which does not comprise only of education. However, this does not necessarily mean that they will spend tehir life as a lowerclassman. There are lots of renowned and achieved disableds in the world, and they all should be a reason for handicappeds to get inspired.