Introduction
Since time immemorial, sensory disabled people especially have been in the background of society, and not being encouraged to follow whatever dreams they have because of the lack of concept about that dream. See, people with sensory disabilities want to live a normal life or be seen as normal, and not just some freak in a wheelchair or some last dating resort. This essay will discuss the importance of sensory disabled people’s abilities human rights, their needs and getting them met, their life plans and how they are capable of living like a normal person despite their disability.
Body
Angrily, people who are related to people with sensory disabilities do not take the time to fully understand what is going on in the mind of the disabled. Close-mindedness and pity are at the forefront in every person’s brain that will not go out with a disabled person because of their disability. Disabled people including those with sensory disabilities are stripped of their human rights because the next person chooses to not look past that person’s disability, and in turn, destroy the disabled person’s confidence in themselves. In an article titled Human Rights of persons with disabilities, the article states this, persons with disabilities are still often invisible in society either segregated or simply ignored as passive objects of charity.
Some people would argue that disabled people do not have human rights because they technically are not human because they were not built, or created as everyone else. Inanely, there are people who believe this, and what is sad is that these same people are ignorant to what a disabled person can do. I argue that a person with a disability can live a full, fulfilling life as much as an able-bodied person can. The size of their brains or the measure of their common sense are the real X factors, not whether they can comprehend what a shirt is.
A person with a sensory disability is often denied certain human rights because of their lack of sight, and they are pushed into the background of any crowd because most people are quick to judge them because they cannot see, they cannot comprehend. Well, I say that is totally wrong, and what makes it so is that just because a person with a sensory disability cannot see does not mean that they cannot comprehend the simple things like love.
Every disabled person has a dream, something or someone that they want to aspire to or to be. However, because people quantify their disability instead of their common sense, people underestimate them about the aspect of things that other people experience every day. Case in point, a young woman named Virginia Anne Mahler has spent her entire life being able to see out of one eye and the whole left side of her body is paralyzed; her depth perception is a little below average.
However, this has never stopped Virginia from having the many boyfriends that she has had, plus she knows the concept of love better than anyone on earth. She is a successful kindergarten teacher, and she is married too with a 4 year old and another one on the way. She never lets people even certain family members trample on her human rights because even though she is disabled, she is very intelligent and educated; she never gave up her human right to find love as well as someone to love her.
In an article titled Communicating with and About People with Disabilities, the article says this, the American with Disabilities Act, other laws and the efforts of many disability organizations have made strides in improving accessibility in buildings, increasing access to education and opening employment opportunities. The above statement coincides with everything that is right with the disabled world, they have human rights too like the right to a good education, a good college, the right to get married and have children; ultimately the human right to be happy.
Despite the odds that disabled people face, they still manage to live their lives; they should too because they deserve to be happy even though there are some that would say differently.
Often, people will tell a disabled person that they are meant to live their lives different from everyone else which can be true to the extent that the disabled person allows the person dictating that let them. People with sensory disabilities have needs too just like everyone else, and they are just as capable of them as anyone else.
The sensory disabled have the human right to have their needs met, and that includes sexual needs, as well. Most people will argue that a disabled person cannot possibly comprehend what sex is or even how to have it or how it is done, and the irony of it is that the disabled person has more of a concept of sex than the abled bodied person. According to the article titled Signs of a sexual nature: Do deaf people wear hearing aids in bed, the article states the following, deaf people have sex.
Incredibly, people who are blind or paralyzed on one side of their body still enjoy having sex and getting their human needs met. Evidently, whether a disabled person can or can’t is not an issue, what they want as well as how bad they want it; that is. A hearing disabled adult woman will make it known that she wants a guy that treats her as a queen, and show her as much affection as she would show him. Even though she is hearing disabled, she still wants to fulfill her human need of love, and an active love life.
She is no worse off than she would otherwise be if someone never gave her a chance to be who she is because she is going to be that way no matter what, and that will not stop her from doing whatever it takes to get her human need met. Arguably, people who choose to not educate themselves on the disabled are usually the ones who are following age old stereotypes about the disabled. Stereotypes such as blind people cannot get their exercise because they cannot see, people who are wheelchair bound will never be able to experience love, marriage and a successful love life.
Thanks to the ADA, those stereotypes have been thrown out, and they should be because a disabled person’s disability does not define who they are; they know it deep down too.
One of the basic human rights that the disabled ask of us is so basic that most ignore it, and sweep it under the carpet like it does not matter. The human right that disabled people ask of us is for us to understand, and acknowledge them. For many of us, that is hard to do because we only see someone who cannot tie their shoes or even go to the bathroom on their own.
Make no mistake, these people are capable of doing everything, and more. Disabled people have a right to live in their own home, and own their own home. Sadly, we live in a society where these people are forced to put their dreams on hold because someone is telling them that they cannot accomplish those dreams because of their condition. According to the article titled Don’t look past my disabled body-love it, the article states this, realizing that disabled people are not wrong for the world we live in but that the world is simply not yet right for us, was enormously liberating. Simply, someone who did not let society tell them that they could not do or have something. I argue as I always have that disabled people are the smartest, brightest, most intelligent, and open-minded people you will ever meet.
Nothing about them is strange or off or even out of place, they are normal just like you and me. Disabled people can cook their own meals with minimal help, and there are some that can play video games just as good as or even better than the actual pros. It seems to me that all of the disabled people in the community just want a chance to showcase their talents, and abilities.
Why should we not let them, they are capable of getting a job and working for a wage as the rest of us; who are we to discourage them? In the world today, it is easy to look at a disabled person, and judge them based on appearance alone. None of us take the time to get to know a disabled person because we have all of these preconceived notions about who they are, and who they are not. Well, I want to make it known that I grew up with several disabled people who became a success; that is proof they can make things happen.
Work Cited Page
"Human Rights of persons with disabilities." United Nations of Human Rights. N.p., 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/Pages/DisabilityIndex.aspx>.
Feeny, Katherine . "Don't look past my disabled body-love it." The Sydney Morning Herald-Life & Style. The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/blogs/citykat/dont-look-past-my-disabled-body--love-it-20120712-21ycy.html>.
"Signs of a sexual nature: Do deaf people wear hearing aids in bed?." <i>The Limping Chicken</i>. N.p., 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://limpingchicken.com/2012/04/10/love-and-sex-do-deaf-people-wear-hearing-aids-in-bed/>.
"Communicating with and about people with disabilities." United States Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/comucate.htm
