Free Essay Describing Disability Development History

The Ancient Era

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During the ancient era, people had difficulty in explaining their world. Natural happenings such as the rains were attributed to supernatural beings. There were no historians to record the lives of people living with a disability. Greeks and Romans viewed themselves as superior. They refer to disability as a form of inferiority. In fact, Greeks refer to people with cognitive disability as idiots.

During the fourth century B.C, the rational explanation about the causes of disabilities came up. It was challenged that disability had a physical cause and had nothing to do with the gods. Hippocrates believed that human beings were responsible for their own body and not their gods (Cocks, 1997). Despite the recognition of the people living with a disability, Aristotle a great philosopher believed that human being was a complete evolved being and he did not believe bringing up a child with a physical disability. In some cities, it was a legal requirement to abandon a child living with a disability.

In Rome children, born disability was despised. Parents abandoned children born with any disability; they were left in the woods to die. No one was allowed to adopt a child with a disability. However, with the rise of Christianity, there were positive changes in how people with disability were treated. During the 30 A.D, Jesus showed much kindness to people living with the disability by healing and curing them.

During this period, people with a disability had little chances of surviving. Only those who had kind relatives or strangers had a chance to live and receive better care. The majority were not fortunate enough to live sine no one tolerated them in the society.

The Rise of the Institutions 1800 - 1950

During the 19th century, people with disabilities face harsh reception in industrial areas. A person became less fortunate due to a physical or mental disabilities were kept in a poorhouse. For the individuals with disabilities born to wealthier parents were kept at home and not allowed to move around. Individuals with disabilities were not welcomed in any town or city; they were gotten rid of by dropping them in the nearby town.

Around the 1820s, people started speaking out about the state of individuals living with disabilities and all kind of people who were neglected in the society (Rurangirwa et al. 2006) There was a different definition of people with disability. Jean-Etienne Dominique, a student in France, divided disability into two levels. Idiocy and imbecility. This provided the terminologies that were used to refer to people with disability, which made the society to be much aware of people living with a disability.

In 1850, there was much awareness concerning the people with disability. Dorothea Dix who was a social reformer started advocating for a better treatment for people living with disabilities. Dix had Samuel Gridley a speech to the Congress with the special appeal to the United States to set aside land so that it can accommodate the people with disability. During this period Dix had prepared a way for public institutions for caring for people with disabilities. After this development, there were gradual developments. Schools were built that trained children with disabilities in some other parts of the world. Individuals who understood the conditions of the people living with disabilities came up with training centers and caring units at the different levels.

Real Work

This period shows how much the world had changed the perception of the people living with disabilities. Parents played a major role in building rehabilitation programs and daycare centers. This was amended to provide job opportunities and socializing time for people living with disabilities.

There was a committee set up to champion the needs of the person living with a disability. The president headed the committee. Much effort was put towards the educational programs for the young children with a disability who were schooling. Majority of the public schools began to provide the programs for the children living with the disabilities. During this period there was a provision for the post-school group's programs. Federal funding made all this progress possible. It was realized that despite an individual living with a disability, they could work and provide services just like any other person. People living with a disability who proved suitable for completive employment were trained and given equal chances just like other individuals. People living with disabilities started getting employment opportunities from training centers and another viable working environment of their specialty. There was advocacy for more rights that protect the individuals living with any disability from any form of discrimination.

Personal Reaction

From the history of developmental disabilities, it shows that there has been a tremendous development in the treatment of people living with disabilities. Over the years, there have been different perceptions towards the persons living with a disability. Ignorance and lack of knowledge have played a major role in disregarding people living with disabilities. In early periods, people who learn and research on the human state brought about changes on how the people living with disabilities were perceived. The treatment that individuals living with disability were given in the early stages of development was devastating. The persons with disabilities were subjected to harsh conditions giving them zero chances to survive. Some actions were inhuman; abandoning them to die was the worst scenario for a person with a disability. With the emergence of knowledge and understanding, people began to understand that people living with disability are normal who needs their attention. This shows how important these individuals can be to our society if we take good care of them. People living with disabilities need our special care and guidance for them to be productive. Their comfort is dependent on our efforts. If we change our bad perceptions towards them, we can live in harmony with them and make them feel complete human than they are. From the development, we can see that people living with disabilities can be independent if we subject them to training and education. They are capable of learning and working just like any other person, only if they are given an opportunity. This will reduce the burden of taking care of them as they are in a position to provide for themselves. People living with disabilities should not be subjected to any form of discrimination so that they can live in harmony among ourselves.

Significance of the Course

In the world today, many people are living with physical and cognitive disabilities. They are faced with challenges when encountering other people in the society. Learning about the history of development with disabilities is relevant to the course because it teaches how far the process has come through over the years. It helps in breaking in learning of various ways to break the stereotyping and perceptions that already exist in our societies. The history of the development of disabilities aid in understanding the challenges that people living disabilities are facing. Understanding the history of their suffering makes it easier to come up with relevant solutions. A learner taking the course understands well the nature of people living with a disability through the history of development. Understanding the past makes it easier for the learner appreciates in the present major progress in disability development. Citing history of development disabilities, there has been a significant development in the policies that protect people with disabilities. A learner taking the course is in a good position to gain knowledge on carrying out a task that relates to people living with disabilities. This will help in learning that discriminating against the people living with the disability is unlawful. The history equips the learner with the disability awareness knowledge. This disability development history helps the learner in understanding the ways of promoting people living with disabilities and gains the knowledge so that they can be in a position to educate the society on the same. It will also equip the learner with the skills of organizing awareness groups and events.

References

Cocks, E. (1997). 'Do no harm': people with intellectual disabilities and modern society. Interaction: The Australian magazine on intellectual disability, 11(1), 5.

Mirenda, P., Iacono, T., & Williams, R. (1990). Communication options for persons with severe and profound disabilities: State of the art and future directions. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 15(1), 3-21.

Rurangirwa, J., Braun, K. V. N., Schendel, D., & Yeargin-Allsopp, M. (2006). Healthy behaviors and lifestyles in young adults with a history of developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 27(4), 381-399.