Explain three of the seven historic perceptions of people with disabilities and give examples of how these perceptions might still be present today

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested Response:
• A subhuman organism - Logical thinking and other higher brain activity were assumed impossible for disabled persons and they have been dehumanized to subhuman status. Today there are words that dehumanize them such as "vegetable" and "retard." People will talk in front of people with disabilities as if they are not even there.
• Menace to society - This perception regards people with disabilities as evil and is fostered through children's literature and adult literature. Today people with disabilities are seen in horror movies as the evil murderer. On Broadway and in movies, a physical disfiguration is the cause of the Phantom of the Opera's need to kidnap and control women.
• Object of dread - The origin of this is the historic belief that evil spirits came in the night and stole the child, replacing it with a defective child. Even today some parents see a child with disabilities as a punishment from God or a visible stigma of the parents' sinfulness.
• Object of pity - This perception may not seem negative because it appears to include compassion for disabled people, but it is a compassion seldom accompanied by respect. Fundraising campaigns bring out children with disabilities and deformities in order to get people to donate money to their cause out of pity.
• Diseased organism - This perception views a person's physical or mental disability as a temporary condition that can be cured by chemical or psychological treatments. The disability is perceived as "unhealthy" and the person is portrayed as needing to be cured. In the United States today, national fund drives solicit money for research to find cures for disabilities, presenting people with that disability not only as an object of pity, but also as a diseased organism.
• Holy Innocent/Eternal Child - The perception suggests that people with mental retardation need to be protected and sheltered, isolated from the outside world to perpetuate their innocent, childlike qualities. Today parents shelter their children with disabilities and deny them the right to live to their fullest potential. Instead of encouraging them to solve their own problems creatively, parents will do it for the child.
• Object of ridicule - In literature, folk stories, and jokes, people with disabilities are subject to humiliation for the sake of humor. Today comedians and television shows, use people with disabilities as the punch line in jokes and for physical comedy.