I do worry about him. How would YOU feel going through life getting this reaction from people?????????????????
Friday, June 27, 2008
Library Event
I don't know what the ethics are of putting photos of kids up online. So if you see your child here, let me know if you want the photos removed. HAHah. And in the meantime, teach her that staring is rude.
I do worry about him. How would YOU feel going through life getting this reaction from people?????????????????
I do worry about him. How would YOU feel going through life getting this reaction from people?????????????????
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2 comments:
Wow, catching this on camera makes it so much more powerful, really!
I think that my daughter barely notices people that stare because it probably seems "normal" to her.
The other day at Target 2 little girls were staring at my daughter (she's in a wheelchair) and they asked their mom about what she was riding in. Her mom, in a quiet voice, but not whispering, told them that it's a wheelchair and that people who can't walk use them to get around. I thought the mom handled it very well. When the girls continued to stare the mom told them to keep moving and they went somewhere else. I appreciated this because some parents allow their kids to stand and stare for an indefinite amount of time.
My "cure" to staring is not telling your kids not to stare (although we all know that is not polite with anyone) but to expose your kids to different kinds of people. The woman at Target was really nice in how she dealt with her girls but why did she have to tell them what a wheelchair is? The girls were probably 4 and 6 or something.
When my daughter has gone to schools where there are other kids with disabilities the other kids rarely stare, if at all. The schools where they have never seen someone in a wheelchair - well they stare for a few days and then it gets "old" and "normal" to them.
I suppose if you raised your child in an all white neighborhood your children would stare at anyone with some pigment to their skin as well - not ideal to say the least.
I don't think people understand their responsibility to their children; to expose them to different kinds of people. You can't just teach your children to accept everyone as the same if you have never put forth the effort to actually expose them to anyone who is different than themselves.
I also have a physical disability and have had to deal with this staring quite a bit ever since becoming disabled. I had a severe spinal injury in an auto accident which put me on full time forearm crutches borderline wheelchair. When it comes to staring I have taken a couple of different stances on it.
If it is a very young child it tends to not bother me since they are just curious and have probably never seen a physically disabled person before. With these kids I usually encourage them to ask questions about my crutches and disability and I even let them hold my crutches if I can sit down somewhere. Who knows, these kids learning about this and seeing that I am just like them may have a great affect on their lives.
When it comes to teens and up I get a little irritated usually since they should know better than to stare at this age. If they want to ask questions I am fine with it and even encourage the questions. I will even let them mess with my crutches so they can experience what walking on them is like. But just open staring/gawking is inappropriate and extremely rude at this age.
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