Course Project Essay

Submitted By Kassi-Daugherty
Words: 3036
Pages: 13

Exploring the Lives of People Living With Disabilities: Rise Above The Stigmatism
Kassi Daugherty
Capella University

HS5334
Dr. Carolyn Allen
12/18/2014
Abstract
In this article, the writer maintains the hardships of individuals living with a mental or physical impairment. The writer positions that it is a certainty that professionals need to identify appropriate programs for the population to lead successful lives. The article draws on the literature and research findings therein to imply that the issue of discrimination towards people with mental or physical disabilities effects the overall population. Theories are contributed into the paper to validate interventions strategies used in projects for societies to gain cultural competency.
Keywords: Disability, Self-Efficient Life, Normality, Harboring prejudice, Interventions

Contents
Introduction p.4
Section 1: Stigmata of Physical and Mental Disabilities p. 4
Section 2: Normality of Identity pp.4-5
Section 3: Typology of Disability Orientation Models. p.6
Section 4: Ideology of Work p. 8
Section 5: Small Change Will Make a Big Change p. 9
Section 6: Intervention Strategies p. 10
Conclusion p. 11
References pp. 12-13

Introduction
There are blatant stigmata within our society that directly link oppression with people living with disabilities. In the present paper, the writer fixates that the role of stereotyping has a tremendous effect on individuals’ ambitions to live a self-efficient life. With the lack of knowledge and an understanding, people assume the individual with the disability is unstable, violent and dangerous, or even insane. According to the United States Disability Status Report, there are an estimated thirty-seven million Americans currently living with one or more disabilities (Disability Status Report, 2012). The writer notes that this number represents over twelve percent of the U.S. population; placing these individuals as the largest minority group in the U.S.
With the stigmata being placed on individuals living with MPD, it is hypothesized that these labels can dramatically change these individuals’ thought process into the belief that they will never be able to achieve at certain challenges or be able to properly work. It is important to identify and apprehend the discrimination against members of society living with a disability in order to help this vulnerable group live an easier life. As part of the human services workforce, it is important to ask, “What can we do as professionals to help create awareness and support those within our society who are diagnosed with a physical or mental disability?”
Normality of identity
In order to gain a wide understanding of discernment for someone living with a disability, it is first important to focus on what society classifies as normality. A large part of the human services field is directed towards working with those who are viewed by the general public as deviant or abnormal, and the job entails helping people achieve a means of normality. This raises the question, “what is normality?” Cederlund (2011) expresses the general requirements to obtain a normal life, “Qualifications correspond to specific qualities that the individual must possess; for example, ability to identify what constitutes normality in different contexts, ability to associate and function together with others, and ability to identify and interpret society’s varies code of behaviors” (pp. 85-86). In the general public, individuals often create the illusion that normality is categorized with health. If one is mentally and physically healthy, they tend to reside within the cultural majority of normality; however, if one is considered ill, then they are considered abnormal to the general population, resulting in a form of alienation. Saltes (2013) provided a historical summary of the genesis of normal. The emergence of the ontological definition of normality was traced back to the early nineteenth century.