Free Essay Exploring Myths, Misconceptions, and Stereotypes about Disability and Poverty

Myths, Misconceptions, and Stereotypes

The individuals who use wheelchairs to move cannot survive in this world without them. This is untrue since some can walk only that for a short time and distance and so they much rely on a wheelchair to move for a long time covering a long distance. It can be observed that some of these individuals can leave the wheelchair outside of a building, move in and take a seat without any help (Treffert, 2014).

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If an individual is deaf, he has to be dumb. There is no relationship between hearing and talking. One can be deaf but is able to talk only that he chooses not to (Treffert, 2014). There are individuals that are both deaf and dumb but this is not to say that it is just that the two are tied.

Disability is inability. It is untrue that individuals that live with disability are incapable of doing anything. They are capable and sometimes do much better than able-bodied individuals (Treffert, 2014). It is possible that one has lost one hand but he can slash the grass better than those that have both hands. It is possible that one does not have one leg but he can juggle the ball better than that with both legs.

Employees with disabilities are ever late, lazy, fail in the assignments given and always expect people to help them. All these stereotypes are false. There are some individuals with disabilities who are discipline at work, have the burning desire to grow in their career and succeed. They finish their work in time and do not like being empathized nor sympathized with and would like to do their work like others (Baldwin and Johnson, 1998). They are even more resourceful and dependable than able-bodied colleagues.

The blind, deaf and dumb should not be taken to school since sight, hearing and talking are very important in a learning environment since they all help in communication. This is false since there are schools for the childr5en with disabilities where they can learn like any other child. They have a hearing aid, they use signs etc to communicate. Some of the children do better than able-bodied children (Treffert, 2014).

It is wrong to assume that those people with cerebral palsy have got low Intelligent Quotient and that deaf individuals have nothing to do with entertainment e.g. movies, music due to hearing impairment.

Employees with disability are very expensive to the employer in terms of pay and benefits and when hired, they are not able to work according to the standard of the organization. This is false since it depends on the qualification, expertise, competence and the agreement between the employer and his employee (Baldwin and Johnson, 1998). Some of the employees with disability are very competent and always meet the standards and the goals that are set by the company and therefore should not be discriminated against in any way.

There are some specific assignments that are only good for those with a disability. This is untrue for it applies to everyone because of several reasons. Some are qualification, experience, expertise etc.

The people with disability more often than not expect sympathy, complain a lot and engage the employers and organizations with court battles over employment terms, work bias among others. According to Kaye et al. (2011), employers do not have a settled mind because of the fear that employees with disability will always be knocking at the corridors of justice seeking, legal dress on matters of equality, benefits and compensation in the event that they are injured or their contracts terminated due to poor performance. This is a simplified conception. It is false to say that the employees with disability are always in court. There are able-bodied individuals that expect sympathy and do not even want to work and so to say that those with disabilities are the ones who expect the same is a mistaken belief or idea. The courts of law in an impartial judicial system, is concerned about the rule of law and fairness. Even the employer must be treated with justice and fairness. The court must always check the terms of contract that were signed by the person with disability together with the employer. The employers should be free to hire the people with disabilities so long as they possess the qualities that the organization is looking for in an employee.

Social Economic Status (Poverty)

Those that are poor have no interest in education. It is untrue since there are millions of poor people who have taken their kids to school and there are those who came from poor backgrounds and today have really excelled in academics (Strauss, 2013). It is only that these families may find it hard to buy for their kids all the school requirements and their children also study under a lot of hardship. Surprisingly, these parents too, have set their targets high on kids and expect them to excel just like those that are from privileged backgrounds.

Poor people are very lazy. This stereotype is untrue because it means that rich people are hard-working yet some inherited wealth from their parents. Some poor people are very hard working but it's only that they are paid peanut by their employers yet they even work for extra hours. Poverty is brought about by several factors i.e. unemployment, bad government policies, weakening economy, lack of empowerment and support by the government etc.

Poor people use drugs and substance abuse. This is untrue for there is no research linking poor people to drug abuse. Rich people can be found drinking and using illegal drugs just like a poor person. It is about individuals. There are people that connect alcohol to some income and this means that for the poor, some cannot even afford alcohol and so the stereotype above is false (Strauss, 2013).

Whenever there is an individual with a disability and at the same time poor, he is most likely to suffer from discrimination twice and some people can even completely rule him out that he has nothing to offer (Strauss, 2013). This should not be the case and every individual should be respected and thought of to be capable.

Summary of perspective

Self-reflection and biases in the world for me is that, as a black man, I wonder why some people in other races hate us so much and feel that we are second-class human race that should not mingle with others but maybe become their slaves. Thanks to other races that feel that we too are humans who deserve equality and rights protection.

All human beings should be treated with equality without any bias. It doesn't matter whether you are poor or rich, black or white, male or female, adult or child etc.

References

Baldwin, M. L., & Johnson, W. G. (1998). Dispelling the myths about work disability. New approaches to disability in the workplace, 39-62.

Kaye, H. S., Jans, L. H., & Jones, E. C. (2011). Why don't employers hire and retain workers with disabilities?. Journal of occupational rehabilitation, 21(4), 526-536

Strauss, V. (2013). Five stereotypes about poor families and education. The Washington Post.

Treffert, D. A. (2014). Savant syndrome: Realities, myths and misconceptions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(3), 564-571.