Disability theme in comic strip "For Better Or Worse"

This comic strip has been dealing with a story line about disabilities in a school setting. April, a student who sees students with disabilities being teased in the cafeteria, speaks back to one of the bullies and her friend who has as peech impediment then gives a speech (this appeared on Monday/Tuesday's strip which you can also access from the link above). After she did this, the students offered support.

I showed this to a few high school students with disabilities and they all agreed that it's good to see bullying of kids with disabilities brought into the open for discussion. One of them really liked the ending , but another one felt it wasn't realistic because of his experiences when he tried to speak up.

However, he thought it was "realstic that April spoke up on behalf of her friend" and said he'd experienced that many times. He also said he liked the part about making a difference because it can give meaning to what happens and how he responds. He thinks that "speaking up is important even if you don't always see an impact" like it happened in the strip. He thinks sometimes " kids in high school are too busy acting cool to admit they did anything wrong in a group, but might come to a student privately and apologize".

I thought I'd share this with everyone and I want to thank the students for their feedback!


h/t Monastic Musings

It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Childrens' shows like Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street usually show a neighborhood and try to teach kids what I call sandbox 101- how to get along with each other- through the neighbors. It's a great learning tool for kids but I do think adults should have a show where they can get a refresher course every now and then.

And I think we could use an extra credit course on the topic of being a neighbor to a person with a disability.

I have had good experiences getting along with my neighbors. When I was growing up, my neighbors were like second, third and fourth sets of parents - right around the block. In Michigan, my neighbor who was elderly became a good friend. When I moved back East, I got along well with my neighbors.

I always took care of outside things like the lawn, would bring in and put out the garbage cans in a timely manner and do a neighborly favor. Going on a trip? I'd take the mail. Expecting a package? I'll watch out for it. Need a babysitterin an emergency? That's fine. Need help shoveling? No problem.

Then I acquired my disability. Suddenly I couldn't physically do some of the things listed above. My relationship with my neighbors changed. I had to hire and depend on others to do the outside things - and sometimes the garbage cans were not brought in and out on the exact day but a day or two later. Hints were dropped - verbal and nonverbal. Things became tense .

Once I was able to develop over time better ways to get these things done, things calmed down. Talking about it also helped - although it took time. What folks didn't get - and don't get - is that behind closed doors, I was dealing with the same situation that's outside 24/7. There were gaps in help due to limited resources.

But my neighbors didn't know that for one simple reason: they never came inside to find out despite invitations.

This is a ticklish subject because by no means am I criticizing anyone, just pointing out that humans tend to judge what they don't understand. It's not a matter of making it someone else's problem, but working toward understanding the change in circumstances living with a disability creates. I'm not trying to put anything on anyone or place expectations on people. For example, I'm not expecting my neighbors to help with my garbage cans on that one, two or three weeks out of 52 weeks a year when my help can't come over. It would be nice, but I don't expect it. I pay someone else. It's just that it might take a day or two to get someone to do it on those rare occasions. What I'm asking for is a reasonable response to my reality - not a free ride.

As I watch other people with disabilities move into the community and deal with similar issues, I am haunted by one question:

Where is Fred Rogers when we need him?

Disability, Connectedness and Redefining Social Integration -The Need for Community Education

I've linked to a summary of an article last month in a psychiatric journal discussing the connectedness and social integration of people with psychiatric disabilities, emphasizing the need for services to consider this aspect of care and the skills needed by the folks who have psychiatric disabilities.

But what about community education?

Articles like this always get me thinking about the other side of the equation - the obstacles faced by people with disabilities when they try to integrate into society. One of our most vulnerable populations is people with mental health issues. Many of us with disabilities realize from real life experience that having social skills if you are a person with a disability isn't the entire answer. If it was, the solution would be simpler. But we have to be careful not to discount the fact that social integration is dependent on the response of others - and society.

I remember years ago talking to a vet in a wheelchair at a tennis tournament. He had used a wheelchair for over 25 years and I was newly disabled. I explained to him how I was surprised at the social difficulties I was running into in some places and with some people and he replied "Well you're going through shock right now." He went on to explain that it wasn't shock from being disabled, but shock from realizing that the reactions of some people were going to be so different because I was in a wheelchair. I tried to talk him out of that position but he wouldn't budge.

Up to that point, I had blamed myself for every interaction that went wrong. Whenever I ran into a situation where I was excluded, I blamed myself. Then I read a few books about disability studies and began to understand better what that vet was trying to tell me that day - that barriers exist because of attitudes and other factors in our society.

I applaud and support those in the field of disability studies as they strive to introduce a consideration of the societal factors as related to disability into all academic fields. An article such as this , which discusses raising the expectations for integration of people with psychiatric disabilities, calls out for a discussion from those of us advocating for the rights of the disabled about the myriad of factors involved so that we can determine what needs the system can and should address. Some of the services do need to address the skill level of the person with the disability, but some of the services also need to address community education to create a more equal playing field for those who are de-institutionalized and about to enter our communities.