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Journal of Course Related Reading
Topic A: Disability from a parent’s perspective
Source 1: Taub, D. (2006). Understanding the Concerns of Parents of Students
with Disabilities: Challenges and Roles for School Counselors. Retrieved March 18,
2013 from Readingrockets.org: www.readingrockets.org/article/26464
Summary of content: This article examines the main concerns faced by parents
of disabled children, including: losing their vision of the ‘dream child’; safety
anxieties; attitudes of other parents and children; friendship-making; and
educational development. Taub suggests ways in which school counsellors ought
to deal with each issue.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: The article taught me that, through
empathy, school counsellors can effectively help the parents of disabled children.
It put me in a parent’s “shoes” by describing the main concerns they face – every
day. For example, parents might worry that their child is struggling to make
friends, or is vulnerable to danger. I learnt that school counsellors ought to
reassure parents by nurturing their child’s welfare and encouraging their sense
of independence, however limited. I learnt that parents and staff must act as
‘partners in their children’s education’. School counsellors can help parents to
not mourn the loss of what their child can/cannot do, but instead, develop what
they can do – in quoting Klein & Shive, Taub teaches the reader that parents need
to ‘dream new dreams’. I learnt that before non-disabled and disabled children
can interact with each other, their parents must learn to do so – all parents
involved must be patient and overcome their prejudices.
Source 2: Clarke, H. (2006). Chapter 2: Material Family Resources and
Implications for Inclusion. Preventing Social Exclusion of Disabled Children and
Their Families , 11-14.
Summary of content: Unlike Taub, Clarke explores the reasons as to why
families with disabled children often experience economic hardship.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: This article widened my awareness
of the extensive financial obligations a parent must fulfil if they have a disabled
child. Although they receive benefits, these are not enough to cover all the needs
of their child. A parent who needs a lot of time to care for their child may not
have enough time to pursue a well-paid job, so they often struggle financially,
and I learnt from Clarke that the parents are often in part-time work or even out
of employment altogether. A link has emerged, therefore, between disability and
financial hardship. Though based on old data, this could explain why disabled
children are more likely to be from middle-class families. To support his theory,
Clarke has referred to Gordon’s (2000) calculation that children are three times
more likely to be disabled if their father is an ‘unskilled manual worker’. This, of
course, could be a coincidental majority; but, whether true or not, it made me
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realise that to understand disability, you must observe it. Before reading this
article, I perhaps wouldn’t have considered the financial implications of caring
for a disabled child, and Clarke’s research has made me understand how hard
this must be for both the parents and the child.
Topic B: The pre-conceptions of non-disabled people.
Source 1: ETTAD. (2007). Prejudice & Stereotypes. Retrieved March 18, 2013,
from ETTAD - Lifelong Learning Programme: uk.ettad.eu/understandingdisability/prejudice-stereotypes
Summary of Content: This article from a learning-programme website is about
the negative attitudes of non-disabled people towards disability.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: This article reinforced my
awareness that non-disabled people often make judgements about disabled
people before knowing anything about the person, or their disability. These
judgements are usually founded upon stereotypes e.g. what they look like and
how they behave, which can be very inhibiting, 'Viewing a person with a
disability […] according to stereotypes limits what we expect of them and how
we respond to them’. I learnt that these stereotypes are deep-rooted in society,
even manifesting themselves in popular culture. Disabled characteristics are
often portrayed in films, for example, as something villainous or frightening. As
discussed on the website, the villainy of the eponymous James Bond villain Dr.
No is physically characterised by his prosthetic hands. Similarly, figures such as
Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and John Merrick 'The Elephant
Man' are thought of as “freaks” whose appearances make them social outcasts.
Such media-based stereotypes have attached a stigma to disability which is hard
to shake off. The article helped me understand how difficult this must be for
disabled people and it taught me that as a society, we must try to look beyond
the stereotype and look at the individual person.
Source 2:
Staniland, L. (2009). Chapter 2: The nature of prejudice against disabled people.
Public Perceptions of Disabled People , 23-28.
Summary of Content: Taken from an academic journal, this article discusses the
prejudice of non-disabled people, and using statistical evidence, assesses how
prejudice has improved over time.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: Although Staniland's article made
me aware of the high number of prejudice offences committed against disabled
people, the table he used from the National Centre for Social Research shows an
annual improvement of prejudice between 1998-2009. Despite saying in the
previous section that a 'stigma' has been attached to disability 'which is hard to
shake off', I have learnt from Staniland's research that prejudice is diminishing.
Whilst this has had an optimistic impact on my knowledge, it still doesn't “cancel
out” prejudice altogether - Staniland discovered that people still think of
disabled people as a burden, even in 2009. The article helped me to understand
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that prejudice must never be overlooked. I learnt that for this improvement to
continue, we – as individuals – must aim at re-assessing our own level of
prejudice if we hope to create a more tolerant community in the long-run.
Topic C: Barriers disabled people are faced with and how they can overcome
them.
Source 1: Rose, D. (2012). After the Paralympics: Has anything changed for
disabled people? London: BBC News Magazine.
Summary of Content: Much like Taub's article, this magazine extract focuses on
some of the day-to-day challenges that disabled people are faced with. It also
explores the positive effects of the 2012 Paralympics.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: The frank and informal nature of
this article helped me to understand that the study of disability is about the
reality of disability. Rose enables the reader to empathise with the everyday
experiences faced by disabled people, such as disabled blogger Lisa Egan, who
had a problem using the foot-pump in a portable toilet at a music festival. As a
non-disabled festival-goer, I have never considered how this would be
problematic for someone disabled. Nevertheless, Rose shows how the 2012
Paralympics have dramatically improved disability awareness, and I learnt that
the sporting achievements of the Paralympians have helped the public to see
disabled people as incredibly capable individuals. Quoting Lord Coe's speech at
the closing ceremony, Rose shows how the disabled community are now viewed
as a product of national pride: 'In this country we will never think of sport the
same way and we will never think of disability the same way’. The article
reinforced my awareness that efforts are not only made to improve the practical
and necessary aspects of a disabled person's life, but also their quality of life.
Whereas the aforementioned John Merrick was exhibited cruelly by his Victorian
peers to be gawked at in “freakshows”, disabled people now have the
opportunity to exhibit their differences in a positive way. The Paralympics
taught us not to mock or underestimate the weaknesses of the disabled, but to
celebrate their ability to overcome them. Overall, the article furthered my
knowledge of the national improvements regarding disability, and it deepened
my understanding that like everybody else, disabled people should be given the
opportunity to excel in society.
Source 2:
Denny, E., & Earle, S. (2005). What are the Barriers? In E. Denny, & S. Earle,
Sociology of Nurses (pp. 132-134). Polity.
Summary of Content: This chapter divides the barriers disabled people are
faced with into two groups: discrimination and prejudice. The authors argue that
the former is physical and the latter is psychological, but that both affect the
disabled person in similar ways.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: This chapter broadened my
knowledge of the different kinds of disability. Whether a disabled person belongs
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to the first or second category depends on their specific disability. The authors
argue that whilst physical disabilities are as equally challenging as
psychological/ mental disabilities, the latter is more likely to result in the
individual becoming a social outcast. It made me consider that disabled people
with severe psychological disabilities are more likely to struggle in a social
environment, and their social development will be inhibited. If they are left out
of a normal social environment, particularly when they are growing up, they are
likely to lead a solitary and culturally uninformed existence. It's very easy to put
all disabled people into one category, but this chapter helped me to understand
why we must avoid that tendency. Different disabilities require different
attention and different kinds of tolerance from the public, and I have learnt to be
more aware of that in future.
Topic D: Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Source 1: Manning, J. (2012). Schools on a scam and an excuse for lazy teaching.
London: Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Summary of Content: In this emotive article, Manning begins with the bold
question: ‘what on earth are a fifth of our children today doing on a special needs
register?’ Manning's focus is on the management of disabled children in schools
and the responsibility of teachers, who she puts into two categories: the ‘good’
teacher and the ‘lazy’ teacher. She also raises the suspicion that many schools
and parents are labelling their children as 'Special Educational Needs' for
financial gain.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: From this article I learnt that over
one-and-a-half million children are not within the “normal” spectrum of
attainment in school, to which Manning refers as 'another crisis' on their hands.
Manning's passion perhaps unwittingly reveals that she has been personally
affected by this situation in some way – whether this is true or not, it raised my
awareness that many people in the school community feel frustrated by how
many children are being incorrectly labelled as SEN. In raising the suspicion that
many schools and parents are playing the ‘numbers game’ for financial purposes,
I now understand that like any other institution, schools are businesses; and like
any other business, where money is present, so is potential corruption. It made
me realise that such corruption can interfere with the appropriate education a
child should be receiving. Although I was already aware that schools are given
more money for having pupils labelled as SEN, it made me realise that if I pursue
a career in education, I must assess a child carefully before declaring their
Special Educational Needs.
Source 2:
Goleniowska, H. (2013). What do parents really think of SENCOs? SEN Magazine.
Summary of Content: Written by a former teacher and learning support
assistant (LSA) who is also the mother of a disabled child, this article is an allround summary of parent's opinions about Special Educational Needs and
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SENCOs. The subject is presented in three categories: consideration of the
parents; the pupil’s advocate; and inclusion and independence.
Impact on knowledge and understanding: This article taught me that across
the three categories mentioned above, a parent's intention is generally the same:
they want to have an involvement in their child’s education because they feel
that they know their child better than anyone. I learnt from this article that
parents don't feel that they are included enough, and this is exemplified by a
mother who is quoted by the author, ‘I would like to be treated as the lead
professional. Realise that the parents are experts and be open to suggestions of
new ways of doing things that have been successful elsewhere’. However, after
reading the other articles in this collection of journals, I have become more
aware that perhaps parents are not always 'the experts'. Whilst they have the
utmost insight into their child's personality, they don't necessarily have the best
insight into their education or academic ability. Furthermore, after reading
Taub's article, I now understand that parents need to know when to step away
from their child and allow them to develop a greater sense of independence.
Nevertheless, this article taught me that parents and SEN workers need to work
together to give disabled children the best possible chance of a normal lifestyle.
It helped me understand the frustrations often felt by parents, and in conjunction
with the other articles, it has furthered my awareness that, to an extent,
disability affects everybody. We are all responsible in some way for how we
perceive and treat disabled people, and this final article taught me that for
disabled people to have the best quality of life, not only must their parents and
teachers help them, but we must all help. By breaking down barriers and
building a wider, more tolerant community, we can look forward to a society in
which disabled people are fully accepted and supported.
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