Hehir: Ending Ableism in Education

Quotes: Picture: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gse.harvard.edu%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2F16x9__image_scale_and_crop__sm%2Fpublic%2F1500x750-tom_hehir-2017.jpg%3Fitok%3DBndPCcCk&tbnid=RFXvFAfFE0O-xM&vet=12ahUKEwiZ2oWa2qOCAxXBM1kFHSkRCIcQMygBegQIARBW..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gse.harvard.edu%2Fdirectory%2Ffaculty%2Fthomas-hehir&docid=s-dpqrFF_oGUiM&w=750&h=422&q=hehir&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwiZ2oWa2qOCAxXBM1kFHSkRCIcQMygBegQIARBW Hehir "However, ableist assumptions become dysfunctional when the educational and developmental services provided to disabled children focus inordinately on the characteristics of their disabilities to the exclusion of all else, when changing disability becomes the overriding focus of service providers and, at times, parents' '. This quote relates to the main idea. Hehir’s main idea is that a disability is not something to overcome. It is something to be celebrated. Disabled can people can be just as successful as people without disabilities. And sometimes, they are even more successful. We need to be aware of the implicit bias and cultural prejudices against disabilities, such as they need more support, attention, and need to be “babied”. “In her landmark study of the impact of a high percentage of deaf people ;living in a Martha’s Vineyard community in the 1800s, Nora Groce, found that graduates of the Hartford school had achieved higher levels of literacy than many of their hearing neighbors.” Deafness is just one of the many disabilities that people are discriminated against. In Groce’s study, she learned of the severe prejudices that people had against the deaf. They are capable of just as much as those who can hear. The study above proves that. Judith Butler, Sunaura Taylor Video “There is a difference between disability and impairment. Impairment would be my embodiment right now. The fact that I was born with arthrogryposis, … my joints are fuses together…And then there’s disability which is the social repression of disabled people.” Sunaura explains that there is a cultural aversion to disabled people. And because of that disability is not a physical status, but a social status. This reminds me of Delpit’s codes of power and the rule that the culture of power is a reflection of those who have power and their idea of what [power is. Society tells us that there has to be social groups that dominate others. In this case, the able-bodied dominate the disabled. Article: https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/disability