Argument about physically disabled people. We choose a Essay

Argument about physically disabled people. We choose a subject(physically disabled people) on which to alter people's thinking - Essay Example This greatly affects the quality of life people with disability can lead. The negative attitude stemming from the society leads to denial of opportunities for the physically disabled. Physical disability is not distant from everyone of us. Personally, I underwent a major surgery at 16 on my legs which forever changed my understanding of physical disability. The surgery culminated into a rare condition called Miserable Malalignment. Eventually, matters became so complicated for me that the doctors tried to perform a correction by aligning my legs through sawing both of my legs' bones in half, twisting them to the right place and eventually using screws to keep them in place. This condition prevented me from going on with normal life and every aspect of my life was interrupted including my studies. I had become a physically disabled person. Coping with the situation was hard because I had always believed that physical disability was a condition one was born with. Therefore for me becoming physically disabled at age 16 was something I least expected. Of all facets in life, it is my schooling and social life that was worst affected. In terms of schooling I had to change from school based learning to home based schooling just because the school I had been attending had not put in place facilities for the physically disabled. This negatively affected my performance in school. During this time I came to understand how the society had been unfair to the physically disabled. The fact that my school lacked or did not have elevators or ramps dawned on me. It led me to look around and I found that very few schools had in place facilities for the physically disabled. Although the government has come up with reforms specifically those aimed at integrating special education to regular schools this has not been widespread as many schools, churches, hospitals, cinema theatres, shopping malls as well as other public places lack facilities for the physically disabled. My social life was equally affected considering the fact that prior to my surgery I had made friends. This enabled me to understand how society views people with social disability specifically how the society lacks important information on physical disability. The fact that friends deserted me was a clear indication that the society has formed very baseless attitudes towards people with disability. The mere sight of a physically disabled person in a wheelchair is enough to cause people to run away from those they are supposed to offer care to. I realized that there are very many stereotypes which have been formed by the society about physical disability. The society does not understand th at disability is not inability. Therefore it is not rare to hear cases of physically disabled people who are qualified being denied opportunities because the stereotype that; disabled people cannot perform like non-disabled people, is very rife in the community. There is even belief in some communities that physical disability is communicable or contagious and therefore if one is physically disabled, friends and foes alike tend to keep a 'safe' distance. The stereotypes formed around physical disability go in as far as making some parents or caregivers to fail to take physically disabled children to school because they hold the belief that physical