‘Normal’ is a setting on the dryer:
Reframing how we view people
with disabilities
Shirley Paceley, M.A.
Blue Tower Training
Lessons From Our
Greatest Teachers
In the beginning…
rampant abuse and neglect
Mommy is not feeling well…..
I want to go to church….
My friend died…..
Anna teaches us about
freedom and equality
A 20 minute lesson
that changed my life
Great sense of humor
Radical *Insightful
Spoke with her right foot
Lived in institution, nursing home and
group home
• One of my greatest teachers
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• 2011 microphone
What is a Disability?
The World Health Organization definition of
disability states that a disability is not
something that a person “has” but it
occurs when the person, their functional
limitation, and the environment interact.
“It’s All of Us”
Differences in ability is ordinary, not
special, and something most of us will
experience at sometime.
Attitudes are the biggest disability
“My disability is no big deal---how
people treat me is a very big deal”
Models for viewing people with
disabilities
• Moral View
• Medical View
• Civil Rights View
The Moral View of People with
Disabilities
• False idea that people with disabilities are
morally different from others.
• Pre-judged to be either especially good or
especially bad
• “Special” angels, innocent and worthy of
charity OR
• Frightening, evil and worthy of ridicule
The Medical View of People with
Disabilities
• False belief that people with disabilities
are broken and need to be fixed by
experts
• Stereotyped as a medical condition in the
body
• Labeled as sick, as patients, as clients
• Harmful attitude—experts know best and
make decisions for the person
The Civil Rights View of People with
Disabilities
• Powerful idea that people with disabilities are
regular people with the same civil rights as
all citizens
• People with disabilities are a minority group
• Society has the problem and needs fixed to
provide equal rights to all.
• Self-advocates work together to demand and
reclaim civil rights
The separation continues
• Separated in the school picture
• Mom picked her son up after school
• The Gynecological Exam—refused or
denied access?
• Sexual Assaults pandemic---’Post-rape
behavior”—WHAT?
• Let’s talk about the “R” word (the ARE
word)
The Self-Advocacy Movement
Self-Advocacy: A Timeless Idea
• People have been practicing selfadvocacy—fighting for their rights and
speaking up for what they want and
need—since the beginning of time, but
only in the late 20th century did they begin
to organize and rally within official groups.
Ed Roberts and the Independent
Living Movement
• Would not let him graduate from High
School because he didn’t pass PE or
Driver’s Ed.
Ed Roberts Famous Quote
• "You should hope he dies, because if he
lives, he'll be no more than a vegetable.”
• So I decided to be an artichoke...a little
prickly on the outside but with a big heart.
You know, the vegetables of the world are
uniting, and we're not going away!
The Self-Advocacy Movement
We are…People first.
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US!!!
“My body makes me disabled;
society makes me handicapped.”
--Anonymous
Clasp your hands
People First
Language
- Put people first
- Do not focus on disability
- Do not portray successful people with
disabilities as superhuman
- Person has—not is.
- Do not use general labels
Disability Competence:
One Model
I need to be competent and knowledgeable
about all types of disabilities, various
accommodations and legal definitions before I
can work with people with disabilities.
Disability Humility:
A New Model
“When I meet someone with a disability, I
will be open, creative, respectful, and ready
to learn. I will treat everyone with a
disability as a unique person.”
Let’s talk about power
• Power Over
• Power With
• Power Inside
“She can’t do that”
• Be careful in making assumptions
• The power of dreams
• Never deprive someone of hope; it might
be all they have. -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Working with families
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Congratulations it’s a ….
The Power of “I don’t know”
Focus on the abilities
Remember who the expert is
Support systems
What do you see when
you look at me?
• Someone who is ‘special’?
• “non-verbal”?
• Someone who is asexual?
• Someone who is doing the very best they
can?
• Someone who has been hurt?
• Someone who has abilities and dreams?
Continuum of actions and attitudes
Paternalism………….................Empowerment
Where are you?
What is Normal?
Normal?
Or maybe this….
Practical change, right now
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The words we use
The “are” word
Burst the bubble of implied agreement
Focus on abilities
People are people are people
Only ask what you need to know
What is your intent?
Take steps to increase your comfort
Practical Change, now and later
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Be honest with self and others
Intersections (violence, culture, LGBT…)
Respecting individuals
Changing systems
Always remember who the expert is
Do what you can to stop oppression and
segregation
How do we do it?
Listen with our
Listen with our
Listen with our
Inclusion Matters
“To include me is to empower me
To exclude me is to devour me…”
From a poem by Cathy L. Saunders
I think we have to own the fears that we
have of each other, and then, in some
practical way, some daily way, figure out
how to see people differently than the way
we were brought up to.”
• Alice Walker
Inclusion
• “As the walls of segregation, both real and
imagined begin to fall, we all have an
opportunity to see a little more clearly,
laugh a little more deeply, and grow a little
more fully into our humanity.”
• Ideal School, Manhattan, NY
• Cruelty has an institutional structure that
sustains, teaches, and may even glorify
it. But where are the institutions – the
organizations – that sustain and teach
tenderness?”
Henry, 1965
Thank you for all that you do
Blue Tower Training (BTT) is a division of Macon
Resources, Inc. (MRI) which provides training,
consultation, training materials and resources on
a national as well as international basis.
Shirley Paceley
217-875-8890
spaceley@maconresources.org
Learn more about BTT by logging on to
www.bluetowertraining.com