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The Processing
Processing, or reflecting, on the experience begins immediately following the re-establishment of the typical classroom environment and is meant to link their feelings with the topics about to be discussed. Processing the activity comprises the majority of the lesson, lasting approximately 40 minutes for a 60-minute class. The first series of questions posed to the class revolves around their feelings upon entering the classroom, finding their seats, and being told that it was their fault that they could not hear or see the lecture. Most students report feeling helpless and agitated with the change in their familiar surroundings. We then acknowledge their feelings and parallel their experiences to students with a disabilities who have to face such challenges on a daily basis. I provide the example of one student in a wheelchair whose only option was to sit in the far back of a huge lecture room because there was no access/ramp to the front of the class. As one student noted:
By rearranging the classroom setting in an uncomfortable way with chairs backward, tables overturned, overhead information blurry, and teacher voices too soft, we [the students] were able to experience the frustration, anger, and discouragement (and a host of other emotions), that might be experienced by a student with a disability in a non-adapting or inflexible classroom - this was much more effective than simply lecturing on the issue.
After summarizing the general emotional reactions to the activity, I then conduct a lecture focused on the Social and the Medical Models of Disability. I discuss the history of the Disability Rights Movement and the various laws that have been passed to protect individuals with disabilities. I focus a great deal of attention on the stereotypes and negative public views about individuals with disabilities and how these views work to segregate and deny full 'human-ness' to individuals with disabilities. We explore the notion of what is and is not considered "normal" in American society and demonstrate how cultural messages privilege the whole, fully functional, able body. As an example of such bias, I show a short video clip from the 1996 Paralympic Games television coverage that centers on Paralympic swimmer Trisha Zorn. The piece depicts Zorn as someone who deserves pity and suggests that viewers (who are assumed to be able-bodied) should be in awe of her accomplishments because of her visual impairment. As one student summarized the video, "The piece [video] focused on what she could and could not do. When she spoke about herself she made it clear that she isn't suffering from her disability but that she lives with it and knows her own limitations as a human being but doesn't dwell on having a disability." I conclude the class by asking the students to brainstorm possible environmental and attitudinal changes that must be made at both the personal and global levels in order to give individuals with disabilities access to full and equal participation in society. One student noted:
Today we learned about the challenges individuals with disabilities face and how we can make the environment fit them instead of them fitting, or not fitting the environment. We also talked about how teachers should offer respect not pity, and opportunity rather than charity. Assumptions have a lot to do with how we view individuals with disabilities. Signs or emblems that depict individuals with disabilities are affecting our view. Instead of 'fixing' the person to make them 'normal' we need to respect other ways of moving, learning, and living.
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