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.
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| 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.)
