Individuals with Disabilities

Have you ever wondered what having a disability would be like? Maybe the struggles you might have to go through? People in this group often are viewed as someone less than a person, as someone completely different than themselves. In this essay I will be talking about the struggles of finding an identity, the diversity in certain groups and justice among people with disabilities.

People with an identity or background often have a story of their struggles or difficulties. Some experiences I share with people with disabilities are that I used to have a blind friend at the beginning of 5th grade and sometimes it was a struggle because he spoke mostly Spanish. There’re many people with different stories and backgrounds, and according to Newsela and the Washington post, there was a wrestler with no legs who went 37-0. Here’s the link to the story. This article shows that the young wrestler found his identity in wrestling.

Source

People with disabilities are different from other groups because everyone goes through different hardships in life. People with disabilities have different challenges that most face every day. Perspectives are a large part of individuals with disabilities, ranging on what someone with a disability goes through compared to what others see going on in the life of someone with a disability. A great thing about being someone who helps individuals with disabilities is seeing them grow into a person who can conquer anything. Below is a picture where someone is making the best of their condition. Here’s a link to the article about this photo.

Source

I think some challenges that some individuals have, are meeting someone with a disability is not being able to completely understand what a disability is. I think someone who spends at least a day with someone with a disability, will make that person get a glimpse of what happens in that person’s life. Assumptions that people might have about people with disabilities is that they can do less than themselves. Stereotypes about people with disabilities can often lead to a single image of those specific people, and often surprise when they realize that what someone told them isn’t true or their only trait. Stereotypes that don’t have a single story or perspective will help give off an effect that no one person is any single thing. Below is a picture of a person showing that not all stereotypes are true.   

Source

Overall, people who have had similar struggles in life usually don’t have the same backgrounds or stories. Identity shows others who individuals really are and what type of person they would like to be later in life. Diversity shows that people are all not alike, have their own stories and cannot be compared to other groups. While justice mostly shows hardships individuals go through to get the job done. I support people with disabilities and you should too.