Quote for week 9
The quote for week nine involves a conversation between two individuals with the Down’s syndrome. The quote personifies the saying that disability is not inability. The two individuals use the Down’s syndrome to show how some things cannot changed, our great need for them to change notwithstanding. However, we see the positive nature of Mitchell when she calls the situation change syndrome to underscore the need to change their outlook. The quote asks us to embrace that which we cannot change and instead of getting disillusioned, we change our perspective and our way of thought towards it. The quote castigates those who get resigned to the inevitable situations they find themselves. It encourages them to find the silver lining in the cloud hanging over them.
Children are not the most sensitive of beings, especially in the midst of their peers. Where adults would treat some situations with sensitivity and restrain, children may not. I remember the half hour breaks we had in kindergarten after lessons. This was the time allocated for games in the school field. The able bodied children would run ahead to play soccer in the field. However, there was this child in a wheelchair because his appendages were malformed. The student was sidelined by others in most activities.
However, he tried all he could in order to fit in with the rest of the student. Over break time, he would roll his wheel chair to the field to skip rope with the other student. Due to his inability to actually jump rope, he would volunteer to hold the rope on one end. He would try to get involved in activities that even the other students would have under stood if he did not. After I befriended him, he confided that he envisioned being an athlete in the Paralympics when he grew up. He further told me that his positive outlook was inspired by a senior with a paralyzed left hand but plays basketball very well. His positive outlook even when faced by the handicap of malformed appendages inspired me to look beyond the disability and see the human being in everybody.
Quote of week 10
The quote that “well-meant protectiveness gradually undermines any autonomy” is an apt description of the life most of use leads during early childhood. Autonomy refers to the freedom to think and act independently of others. The quote means that this is eroded when our caregivers act protectively even if it is informed by good intentions and will. Children may not understand why their guardians prevent them from participating in certain activities. While the guardians have the foresight of experience, the children are blinded by myopia.
In cases where children do not heed to the caution given, coercive force is at times used. The second part of the quote says that the use of coercive force overpowers any internal struggles by the child to do that which he is warned against no matter how powerful his inner convictions are. Knowing this too well, sometimes parents employ the tactic in order to condition a child towards certain ways. While I was growing up, I attended day public schools where pupils would saunter to school in the dawn and back in the sunset.
After school, my buddy and I would pass by their home to play computer games. This did not auger well with my parents. The cautioned me against passing by my friend’s home, or anyone else’s home for that matter after school. I was given stern instructions to walk home expeditiously after school. It was hard to identify with my parents decrees since I did not know what their rationale was and the fact that I enjoyed bonding with my friend after school over computer games and hearty laughter. For the next week, I defied their orders and their incessant pleas fell on deaf ears.
A point came when they must have had enough of my disobedience. My mother whacked me on the buttocks with a cane while reprimanding me for defying them. At this point, I realized how serious my parents were when they asked me to come back home from school. I still did not get their premise for asking me to do that. However, the memory of the beating was enough motivation to get me home every evening after school.
