Al Capone Does My Shirts

Talking about disabilities most people just look at the physical, forgetting about mental, learning, and emotional impairments.  I am very fortunate to have known and know people who have a disability.  My best friend in elementary school was bound to a wheelchair, he was able to use a walker for short periods of time, and an aide dog assisted him.  My uncle lost his vision in his later years, eventually going blind.  I have a friend who has downs syndrome and have babysat for a young boy who has autism.  Both of my brothers suffer from A.D.D., one more severe than the other and both of them of struggled in school because of this.  Through learning about disabilities, I have come to appreciate the fact even more that we should give credit to people for their abilities and realize that they are not defined by a disability.  Moose sees Natalie’s ability to work with numbers and when people try to talk about her like she is a spectacle, Moose puts a stop to it right away, saying that she doesn’t do tricks.  Because disabilities vary so much in form and intensity, the people first –disability second mentality is even more important.  Stereotypes and lack of knowledge on disabilities can lead people to make judgments on a person with a disability, for instance saying “they’re autistic” can have someone thinking that this person suffers from the most severe form of autism, when in actuality they do not.  Regardless of a person’s disability they should be looked at for the person they are and valued because of that.

What are you?

Habibi was a book I really enjoyed reading and found many connections between the text and myself.  During our small group discussion many things arose in regards to the insider-outsider debate and personal struggles with finding a way to identify.  I was able to share a story that had happened to me while in the field.  While talking with my 6^th grade students, the girls were talking about hair.  I had recently straightened my hair and they were shocked in the transformation from my usually poofy, frizzy, curly hair.  One of the girls asked me why I don’t have “white girl hair like Ms.H” and I said because our hair is just different.  This student then looked at me with a puzzled look and said, “what are you?”  I said “what do you mean?” and they answered with “like what race, are you white or black?”  It was interesting to me that the girls were making a connection with hair texture and race, because by looking at me I am pasty white.  The girls referred to my hair as nappy and more like one of their fellow students who is African American.  When responding to the question of “what are you?” I started to say I was white and then corrected myself by saying I was Caucasian, because I don’t look like the white board, and that I was French and Irish, and I am a female, etc.  I did my best to show them that who I was wasn’t a label but that I was I, Allison.