Disability in Society
Students with disability have to confront many different barriers throughout the years they spend at school. Focusing on the issues relevent to one impairment group: 1) Clearly illustrate the effect that these barriers may have on the quality of education that they receive, and 2) Suggest steps and measures that can be taken for these disabling barriers in education to be minimized.
Impairment can be defined as when one is unable to perform certain things due to being physically or mentally unfit. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) regards disability as neither purely biological nor social but instead the interaction between health conditions and environmental and personal factors.
Disability can occur at three levels:
• an impairment in body function or structure, such as a cataract which prevents the passage of light and sensing of form, shape, and size of visual stimuli;
• a limitation in activity, such as the inability to read or move around;
• a restriction in participation, such as exclusion from school.
The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) states that “persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”
In the past, students with any type of impairment have been marginalised from society. Parents did not send them to school and they spent most of their days at home hiding from society. This was especially visible in those students who suffered from a physical impairment. Being physically impaired was considered to be a stigma. Nowadays the situation has improved. Students with a physical impairment are joining local schools and are no longer being hidden at home. The mentality within society that physically impaired people are some
Impairment can be defined as when one is unable to perform certain things due to being physically or mentally unfit. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY) regards disability as neither purely biological nor social but instead the interaction between health conditions and environmental and personal factors.
Disability can occur at three levels:
• an impairment in body function or structure, such as a cataract which prevents the passage of light and sensing of form, shape, and size of visual stimuli;
• a limitation in activity, such as the inability to read or move around;
• a restriction in participation, such as exclusion from school.
The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) states that “persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”
In the past, students with any type of impairment have been marginalised from society. Parents did not send them to school and they spent most of their days at home hiding from society. This was especially visible in those students who suffered from a physical impairment. Being physically impaired was considered to be a stigma. Nowadays the situation has improved. Students with a physical impairment are joining local schools and are no longer being hidden at home. The mentality within society that physically impaired people are some
References: Books and Articles * Camilleri, J.M (2007). Disability, inclusion and human rights. * Corker, M and French, S (1999). Disability Discourse, Open University Press * Hunt, P (1966). Stigma : the experience of disability, Michigan USA, G. Chapman Websites * http://www.eenet.org.uk/resources/docs/barriers%20to%20education.pdf * http://www.knpd.org/ * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkTOuDDF29c -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkTOuDDF29c