1 Point out types of disabilities and identification mechanisms?
There are many types of disabilities but they are generally divided into the following categories:
Visual Disability
This disability refers to people who have partial or no vision at all. Only 10% of the people are
totally blind and the rest 90% have a visual impairment.
This is caused by various reasons like accidents, diseases and congenital illness to name a few,
and can lead to problems like blindness and ocular trauma or other problems.
Hearing Disability
This includes people who are completely or partially deaf as well as people who are partially
deaf and use a hearing to assist them. Many of them use a sign language to communicate
Physical Impairment
A physical disability is the kind which affects the person’s mobility and dexterity. A person with
this disability may need to use equipment to move around and carry on their daily activities.
Specific learning disability
Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest
itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical
calculations.
AUTISM
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized
by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication
generally evident before age three that adversely affects a child‘s educational performance.
Intellectual Disability
People with intellectual, learning or cognitive disability have a difficulty in learning tasks and
processing information i.e. it becomes difficult to take in information and communicate what
they know.
2 As inclusion education is a new phenomenon in Ethiopian context for implementing in
the regular setting, what do you think the challenges and opportunities for a person with
and without special needs?
Some of the major Challenges of Inclusive Education includes the followings:
Attitudes of the community towards persons with disabilities and inclusion;
The inclusive school special classes are not adapted, not provided with necessary equipment
Children with special educational needs are seen as unhealthy and unfit
Lack of advanced training courses for teachers
Limited understanding of the concept of disability;
Negative attitude towards persons with disabilities and a hardened resistance to change are the
major barriers impeding inclusive education. (IDDC,1998) cited in Tirusew.
Generally, according to professor Tirusew, the challenge towards inclusive education could
emanate from different directions such as attitudinal factors, resistance to change, rigid school
systems and learning environment, lack of clear educational strategies, lack of instructional and
learning materials and inadequate budget.
Some the opportunities to provide inclusive education in Ethiopia context includes: “It provides
students with disabilities access to students without disabilities access to curricula and
textbooks to which most other students are exposed” (Disabilities in Ethiopia 2005) “It
developed out of a strong belief in human rights and social justice, it perceives separate special
education as dehumanizing, labeling, ineffective and expensive /disability in Ethiopia It makes
an opportunity of a job for many persons to teach a person with disabilities and work in an
organization concerning about them.
3 What are the definitions given for the term impairment, disability and vulnerability by
WHO, Special Need Educators and other international organizations which are working in
the disability area?
The terms disability and impairment have been used synonymously within the education,
counseling, and health literature. Although, they are different words. According to WHO
Impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure
or function of human body.fo instance loss of limb, metal health
Disability any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the
range considered normal for a human being that may result from impairment. For instance
inability to think inability to walk and so on.
According to world health organization 2001defined disability as an umbrella term for
impairments, activity limitation or participation restriction. Conceiving a person’s functioning
and disability as a dynamic interaction between health and contextual factors including the social
attitudinal and physical environments and personal attribute
Vulnerability is nothing but it’s defined by susceptibility, exposure and resilience.
According ADA (American with disability act organization) which is defined by the ADA as a
physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person
who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as
having such an impairment.
While social security administration defines disability as the inability to engage in any
substantial gainful activity (SGA) by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental
impairment(s) which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected
to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months .
4 What are models of disability and how knowing them is very important for defining
terms like disability and impairment?
Models of Disability are tools for defining impairment and, ultimately, for providing a basis
upon which government and society can devise strategies for meeting the needs of disabled
people. Models of disability provide a reference for society as programs and services, laws,
regulations and structures are developed, which affect the lives of people living with a disability.
Models reveal the ways in which our society provides or limits access to work, goods, services,
economic influence and political power for people with disabilities. Since the concept of
disability is complex concept, dynamic, multidimensional and evolving concept there are no
precise and universally accepted definition of the word disability and impairment thus we should
define this term from different vantage of point.to define from different vantage of point we
should clearly understand different model of disability for instance according to The medical
model of disability, Disability means functional limitations due to physical, intellectual or
psychic impairment, health or psychic disorders on a person and it says that people are disabled
by their impairments or differences. Disability is seen as a medical problem that resides in the
individual. It is a defect in or failure of a bodily system as such is inherently abnormal and
pathological. This definition is from the perspective of biological make up of PWD. Social
model presents disability as a neutral characteristic, not a medical/biological problem requiring a
cure and not a representation of moral failing. In this model disability viewed as social
construction.
Defining words like disability and impairment only from one perspective or only from one
vantage of point is narrow definition therefore understanding of model of disability gives us
general insight and clue to define the word like disability in general sense.
5 What kinds of services need to have a person with disability and or do you think that service
provision vary from disability to disability, if you believe so how could it be?
Yes service provision is vary from disability to disability since the way the service is provided
depends on the person’s needs: so people with low support needs will require only a small
amount of support and the service will be less structured (behavioral, medical, specialized
equipment etc.)While people with high support needs will need a high amount of support and the
service will be more structured around those needs (behavioral, medical, specialized equipment
etc.).
Each person with a disability has different needs and comfort zones, but all have similar basic
personhood needs. A person with disability need many service among that some of them are
listed below
Full access to the Environment (towns, countryside & buildings) ,An accessible Transport
system, Technical Aids and equipment ,Accessible/adapted housing ,Personal Assistance and
support, inclusive Education and Training
6. Point out disabling built environments and disabling natural environments that affect
the day to day activities of persons with disability?
Before pointing out disabling built environment first what is built environment? The term built
environment refers to the man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity,
ranging in scale from buildings to parks. It has been defined as "the humanitarian-made space in
which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis." The "built environment encompasses
places and spaces created or modified by people including buildings, parks, and transportation
systems. Here are some list of disabling environment that affect the day to day activities of person
with disability. A person’s environment has a huge impact on the experience and extent of disability.
Inaccessible environments create disability by creating barriers to participation and inclusion.
Examples of the possible negative impact of the environment include: a Deaf individual without
a sign language interpreter, a wheelchair user in a building without an accessible bathroom or
elevator, a blind person using a computer without screen-reading software
The barriers in public transportation and poor street conditions, homogeneous land use, traffic, and
ambient hazards, absence of traffic light, Lack of continuity in the travel chain, poorly designed
building and infrastructure, such as slopes and ramps without handrails or resting places and
dropped kerbs which are not adjacent, Handrails not provided on ramps, Insufficient designated
road-crossing places, inaccessible toilet with sufficient space, Steep gradients or ramps, Uneven
paving slabs, Rough or cobbled surfaces, Slippery surfaces, Narrow pavements ,Street furniture
poorly placed, Congested pavements Steps without adjacent ramp, Deep gutters along roadside,
impeding crossing, Busy roads, uneven or rough surfaces, narrow or congested paths, steep
gradients. Counters in banks and post offices that are designed for the height of a standing adult,
and so on
The natural environment also have a major impact on whether a limitation is disabling. For
example, a person who has severe allergies to ragweed or mold, which can trigger disabling
asthma, another example might be that a person who has limited walking ability will be less
disabled in a flat geographical location than he or she would be in a hilly location, although the
person would also be more.
7 How early intervention and rehabilitation services are very important for a person with
Special Needs
Early intervention and rehabilitation is important to adapt with the condition of treated impairment
since Child’s brain devel opment happens before age 5 so this is the ideal time for intervention
since this is the time where the brain is most likely to adapt and learn. Hence it is necessary to
prevent children from falling behind developmentally, academically and socially .
it is so important because High quality early intervention programs for vulnerable person and for
infants and toddlers can reduce the incidence of future problems in their learning, behavior and
health status, Intervention is likely to be more effective and less costly when it is provided earlier
in life rather than later. And they get Positive early experiences which are essential and
prerequisites for later success in school, the workplace, and the community. Services to young
children who have or are at risk for developmental delays have been shown to positively impact
outcomes across developmental domains, including health, language and communication,
cognitive development, and social/emotional development. Families benefit from early
intervention by being able to better meet their children’s special needs from an early age and
throughout their lives. Benefits to society include reducing economic burden through a decreased
need for special education.
8 What are barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities and how we can
tackle those barriers?
Barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities take many form that operated both within in and
beyond the work place. Person with disability could lose the opportunity to be haired at work place for
many different reason. For instance due to level of skepticism and doubt that comes with the
decision to hire a persons with disabilities, lack of accessible information and
communication service, the discouragement of family and community member ,etc. there are a lot of
barrier to the employment of person with disabilities here some of the major barriers are described down
below.
1 environment
For people with physical disabilities, environment is a major factor to whether or
not an employment site is accessible. This ranges from wheelchair ramps, elevators
and everything in between. If a business is not located on the ground floor and the
building doesn’t have a working elevator, a person who relies on crutches or a
wheelchair cannot work there.
2 lack of assistive technology
Employees with visual impairments or hearing loss need assistive technologies in
order to succeed in the workplace. This also includes closed captioning on training
videos and increased font size for those with visual limitations. If a job requires a
person to use a phone and computer it needs to be designed to accommodate
employees with these needs
3 the benefit trap
The social protection designed to encourage them indirectly can be another obstacle
to the employment of person with disability by encouraging individual to stay out of
labor if they have disability such social practice indirectly making the dependent on
the benefit they are gating from the society.
There are a number of strategy that is available for the government to tackle this obstacle in
addition to government-driven strategies private a number of private-sector initiatives also serve
to illustrate the need for action to be taken not only by governments, but by employers
themselves.as individual employer someone can tackle this by giving priority or affirmative
action for them during employment program. Government can tackle by formulating law of antidiscrimination legislation, the law that make illegal to discriminate against an individual on the
basis of disability in a range of areas including: employment; education; access to public
buildings and so on. Not only are this but also there a lot of strategy that one can follow to tackle
the barrier of employment of people with disability such as Vocational Education and Training,
Wage Subsidies, Supported Employment, Workplace Accommodation Schemes and so on.
9 How do you think countries promote inclusive culture?
To create an inclusive culture in which everyone feels they belong and is comfortable expressing
their uniqueness, a country promote inclusive culture by formulating policy and law which
encourage the society through different mechanisms
In inclusive culture there are four key inclusive leadership behaviors: Empowerment: Enable
team members to grow and excel by encouraging them to solve problems, come up with new
ideas and develop new skills.
Accountability: Show confidence in team members by holding them responsible for aspects of
their performance that are within their control.
Courage: Stand up for what you believe is right, even when it means taking a risk.
Humility: Admit mistakes, learn from criticism and different points of view, and overcome your
limitations by seeking contributions from team members.
10 What kinds of human and material resources are needed for a person with disabilities
and what kind of management system do you suggest so as to use them effectively as
well as efficiently to implement real inclusion in any setting?
Kinds of human resource that are needed for a person with disability is numerous among that one
is resources in school such as Sign language interpreter, Braille specialist ,Mobility and
orientation expert ,Special needs educators , Speech and language therapist , Physiotherapist ,
Behavioral therapist and so on .Material resources that are needed by person with disability are
Various magnifying lenses , Slate and styles ,Perkins Braille writer ,White Cane , Blind folder ,
Tuning fork , Audiometer , Hearing aids , Sign language books and videos , Various
instructional videos related this unit and so on. Real inclusion occur when resources meet the
need of all members of communities, when society is given all necessary services according to
the needs of divers ‘population in the community irrespective of their of diversity so I suggest
Strategic management looks at an organization's overall strategy formation and execution with
the goal to include people from different backgrounds, with differing needs and abilities by
modifying our environment to all people in order to be accessible for all. Some the resource
should be considered for people with disabilities in workplaces, social gatherings, recreational
and in school to help them.
References
Module of inclusiveness, www.WHO.com, annals of epistemology volume 24, Effective
Assessment for Students With Special Needs, https://talentculture.com/ team human
Distance EducationCentreof for Psychotherapeutic Studies
University of Sheffield.
https://www.nationaldisabilityinstitute.org/reports/banking-stat-fin-behav-2017/