The most common stereotype of persons with disabilities is the victim, a character who is presented as a helpless object of pity or sympathy. But on the flip side of the victim stereotype is the hero, the character who proves their worth by overcoming their disability. In the essay: “Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change,” Charles A. Riley II suggests that disabled celebrities are deprived of feelings of normalcy. But the media raises awareness by telling the stories of the disabled; they show the public what the disabled really goes through.
The public has been taught that if you don’t look like everybody else — for want of a better word, the norm — you are not normal. Sarah Fraas — “Trans Women at Smith: The Complexities of Checking “Female” — states that “we are all — myself included — a product of the ideologies we have been taught to believe are common sense”. Buy this is not the care, no matter what anybody looks like or how anybody behaves or how society thinks someone should look or how they think someone should behave, every single person in society is human. Andrea Lunsford expresses that “all human beings are mortal”. The media shows the public that whether an individual has a disability or not everybody is the same.
Before the games were called Paralympics they were known as the Stoke-Mandeville Games. The purpose of these games at that time was to assist the large number of war veterans and civilians who had been injured during wartime. Dr. Ludwig Guttmann was the founder of these games. Guttmann had realized that bedrest for his patients with spinal cord injuries were causing them more pain and so he began programs to help strengthen these patients “simple games of ball, then wheelchair polo and basketball, darts and archery.” These games later became the Paralympics.
The Paralympic Games are multi-sport events involving athletes with all different types of disabilities including impaired muscle power (e.g. paraplegia and quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome, spina bifida), impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency (e.g. amputation or dysmelia), leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are many different types of events these athletes take part in which include athletics, football, rowing, cycling, swimming, tennis, wheelchair curling, and wheelchair basketball. The Paralympics is formed for those persons with disabilities to portray their skills, confidence, and strength.
People with disabilities in the developing world do not have equal and adequate access to education, employment, or medical care. Their physical or mental condition, compounded by a lack of financial and technological resources, imposes a burden on both the family and the State. A wheelchair is a form of assistive technology which eases that burden for many.
According to the World Health Organization, there are currently 1 billion people in the world living with disabilities, many of whom do not have equal access to medical care, education, and employment. This is particularly true for those living in low and middle income countries. Lack of resources in developing countries prohibits the disabled from participating to the fullest extent in society.
There is little published data about the lifestyle of the disabled in the developing world. According to a World Bank report, in India, which has 40–80 million people with disabilities, children with disabilities are 5 times more likely to remain out of school. Disabled adults are less likely to be employed; they represent a higher percentage in the lowest quintile of income. Families with a disabled member fare worse financially and are 25% less likely to have three solid meals per day.
In Chile, 15.4% of the overall population and 23.4% of people with disabilities are considered below the poverty line. According to Chile’s First National Bank, in 2005, 81% of the disabled believed that their disability had affected their family’s economic status, and 39.5% of them were in poor socioeconomic conditions. Ten percent of the disabled did not have even one year of education approved, and only 13% had finished high school.
According to a survey released by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in Vietnam in 1994–95, “56% of persons with disabilities were in need of assistive devices but cannot afford to pay for them, even though the Government of Vietnam has demanded in a number of legal documents that they be provided free or the price be reduced by 30–50% for persons with disabilities”. It reports that, although 1.3 million people with severe disabilities received allowances and assistance from the government, a large number with less severe disabilities were relatively neglected, and that in particular, in mountainous or rural areas, they were marginalized from the state’s welfare program. In 2003, according to the Institute of Social Developmental Studies, almost 8% of Vietnamese households had a member with disabilities and most of these households were considered poor. Up to 80% of the disabled were dependent on support from their family, the State, or their community.
Even if income levels of the disabled were similar to those of their peers, there exists a “conversion handicap” according to Sen, a decreased ability to convert money into an adequate standard of living. Because of increased costs associated with a handicap, people with disabilities must earn more to have a similar lifestyle. If, however, they are unable to access employment, they are pushed into poverty or reliance on the State.
For many of the disabled, a wheelchair is a critical source of mobility which aids independence and integration into society, including their ability to earn a livelihood. For disabled children, a wheelchair aids their cognitive and psychosocial development.
Although it is the responsibility of individual nations to care for all of its citizens, limited resources in low or middle income countries force decisions regarding allocation of resources, which may leave the disabled in need. Assistance has been provided by various international “for profit” and “not-for-profit” organizations. However, in 2003, even with outside help, an estimated 20 million world citizens required a wheelchair but did not have access to one.
Even when outside assistance is given, not all donated products meet international standards for quality. Many low income nations, for example, do not have regulations about wheelchair donations. There is a lack of background research by some manufacturers and distributors into the needs of recipients, causing many donations to fail or to be abandoned. The recipient’s lifestyle remains unchanged despite the presumed effect of the donation.
In general, studies on people with disabilities have focused on environmental or medical/rehabilitation issues rather than on lifestyle, integration, and social participation. A systematic review of 7 data bases by Salminen et al. agrees. They found that mobility devices, such as a wheelchair, increase the mobility of the user and improve their activity and participation. They cautioned, however, there is a lack of high-quality research on this topic and more is required.
Disabled people experience the lack of access to medical care and inadequate nutrition complicated their physical state. Lack of mobility inhibited their interaction with society. Limited access to employment and education prohibited their fullest contribution to society, and burdened the family. Wheelchair users experience humiliation, embarrassment, pain and undue anxiety as a direct result.
Over the years, perceptions towards disability have varied significantly from one community to another. The desire to avoid whatever is associated with evil has affected people’s attitudes towards people with disabilities simply because disability is considered to be associated with evil. Most of these negative attitudes are mere misconceptions that stem from lack of proper understanding of disabilities and how they affect functioning. In addition to other perceptions, social attitudes towards persons with disabilities are reflected in the family, which teaches by example customs and institutionalized values.
Perceptions towards children and adults with disabilities have changed significantly. From every standpoint, whether that of human rights, economic efficiency, or social desirability, the national interest should be to serve children with disabilities equally with all others. Putting this concept into practice means turning away from the traditional segregation of persons with disabilities. Critical to the mainstreaming efforts is the necessity of change, not only on the part of the individual, but also in the social and cultural atmosphere that promotes helplessness on the part of people with disabilities.
The terminology used to describe people with disabilities has been changing along with changes in society’s attitudes. Very old terms include; idiot, imbecile and moron. These terms were replaced with “mentally retarded” and “disabled”. In recent years, it has become important to emphasize the individual, not the person’s disability; e.g., “individuals with mental retardation” rather than “mentally retarded people”. People with disabilities want to be recognized for their abilities, not their disabilities. Some individuals prefer the term “differently abled” rather than disabled.
Everyone deserves to be rightfully treated, whether we are disabled or not. Society leads the nation to believe that if people look and behave out of the norm they are not normal. People are human beings no matter what they look like or how they behave.