Hi I'm Meredith and I blog over at disability diaries, my special needs blog. I did FlutistPride's challenge and she asked if I wanted to do a guest post. Today's guest post is on stereotypes about intellectual disabilities and those who have them including myself. These are mostly based off of my experiences so I can not speak for everyone.
1. Oh S/He can't understand so it's fine. I get this one a lot from people I also get something similar about my hearing loss both of are wrong in my case. I can hear and understand you! If someone says this and the person with ID actually doesn't understand then now your just being a jerk and a coward.
2. I don't trust them with that, they might get hurt. Sometimes people think that those with ID are stupid and don't let them work on a group project or let you get materials even if you are perfectly capable of it.
3. Aww what a cute little kid.
Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities tend to act younger than they are. One time a friend of mine when he was 10 a person at the hotel he was staying at thought he was 6.
4. Ok you color in this picture and we're going to go talk about this. I have had other people including peers tell me to do something for a much younger child while they go talk or do something.
5. Oh them they're retarded they can't do anything. Um no and don't say the R word it's offensive. This is basically my thoughts on this stereotype.
Image Description: An aptly selected photo showing a scene from the film The Hobbit captioned "#Excuse you." in a yellow sans-serif font |
(Blog Owner Note: Meredith is one of my regular commenters; this is her content. I made some minor edits for grammar and readability, but not enough to kill the essence of her writing. The voices of self-advocates with intellectual disabilities often go unheard despite the fact that they are much needed. Meredith enlightened me with her voice; I highly suggest reading her content.)
Good job Meredith. I don't have an ID but people have treated me younger than I am because they think people with hearing loss aren't smart. I hate the r word so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you noticed my first guest post.
DeleteI have had me treat me differently/younger after they find out about my disabilities. I hate the R word,when ever people say it or jokingly call themselves or others deaf it always makes me kind of annoyed because their not deaf and don't have hearing loss probably.
DeleteOh yes the deaf thing. HATE that because people use it as an insult or a way to insinuate lack of intelligence.
DeleteThank you for letting me guest post. A little mistake I found though, the film is The Hobbit. Not lord of the rings with thorin saying #excuse you.
ReplyDeleteI fixed that. Thank you for pointing it out.
DeleteYour welcome.
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