Disabled People are Just Like Us

Stereotyping is a huge problem happening in the world and it needs to stop. There are many people in the world who have disabilities that control their lives. Some of these people are unresponsive and could never live on their own. A big amount of the kids that go to school with them and live in the same community as them make fun of the things they say and do that they can’t control, even if they make fun of them silently. There are even adults who still make fun of other adults who have disabilities and things that control their words and actions. It’s not fair to the people who were born with something that is a weight on their lives for all of eternity.

A college wide receiver joins a little boy with autism who is eating by himself

These people use words to explain themselves such as different, confusing, unpredictable, and some even use the word weird. Being apart of this social group has perks and it also has cons. A little boy named Bo Paske has autism and sits alone at his lunch table, (Associated Press, 2016, paragraph 7.) Because he was sitting alone, a football player from Florida State, Travis Rudolph, who was visiting the boy’s school, grabbed some slices of pizza, and decided to eat lunch with Bo. Bo’s mom was overcome with joy when she saw pictures of Bo and Travis. According to Newsela.com, the article explains how the mom felt about this situation. She said,  "Sometimes I'm grateful for his autism. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but in some ways I think — I hope — it shields him." She felt bad that Bo always sat alone, but he seemed to enjoy it. Many people never sit with kids like Bo because of their autism or disabilities. They always sit far away from them, but after Bo ate with Travis, he was swamped with new friends. When I was little, I had a neighbor with severe autism. Although he was my neighbor, his brother happened to be my best friend. I was always at their house so I grew up with someone who has a case of autism. Sometimes I couldn’t understand him, but went along with what he was saying so he didn’t get frustrated with me.  

Baby Model with Down’s Syndrome:

The people in this social group differ from each other because there are so many disabilities that people have. Some people have a disability where they don’t have legs or limbs. Others have a mental disability. Take Hasaan Hawthorne. He lost his legs at just 4 months old. At around age 2 or 3, Hasaan began wrestling his father and babysitter and became very into the concept of wrestling. According to Washington Post, adapted by Newsela, despite disability, he wanted to play sports. At age 5 he played baseball, and at age 11, to him his disability was no longer a big deal. He is different from a little boy named Rio Williams who was born with down’s syndrome and half of his heart wrapped around his windpipe. According to Metro News, Rio had breathing problems and a handful of other conditions that kept him in the hospital for 45 nights. The hospital Rio was staying in eventually found that Rio’s windpipe was being severely compressed and he only had 2 millimeters to breathe from. Months after that he had cardiac surgery to pull the vessels away from his windpipe, making it a bit easier for him to breathe. After he came out of the hospital, Rio was Zebedee management, an agency specialising in models who are different. Rio is now modelling for a big company called Primark.

Teenage surfer gets arm bitten off by a shark

People without these challenges can begin to be nicer and hang around those with disabilities even if it seems weird to them. Though people assume that humans with these disabilities will never understand things that they do, they can still try and do other things that come easy to them. People like Hasaan Hawthorne and Bethany Hamilton have no limbs and everyday, household things come difficult for them. People like Rio Williams and Bo Paske are still responsive, but other things come difficult to them. Such as, school, social activities, sports, and holding long conversations. Stereotypes negatively affect this social group because people jump to conclusions based off these people’s disabilities. When someone sees another person with autism or even aspergers, they think they can’t hold a simple conversation because it could be “too complex” for them to grasp the sentences being said.

Though we see people with disabilities as different, they are still our neighbors and should be treated like anyone else. There are many different identities within the group of people with disabilities, and even though they share similar struggles, each one is unique to their own character. The assumptions people are making based on things they’ve seen or even heard can be completely different then what is actually going on in people’s lives. It’s important to get to know an individual before stereotyping their well-being.