Leilamaldo

My name is Leilani Maldonado, I am a transfer student from Puerto Rico. My major is Fashion Design. Basically, my life revolves around art. I like the performing arts, fine arts and everything that is cosider art. I am not a big fan of writing, but I will try to do my best since is geting easier.

Unit 2: 1st draft Leilani Maldonado WRT 205 Prof. Hayes The Arc of Possibilities

For someone that is suffering a disease or a condition of any type it can be quite difficult to deal with it, especially when it constricts them from their entire life. But what happens when one is born with it? The fact that a different life that person used to have doesn’t exist anymore, because that would be the only life they would know. What is a disability? Many dictionaries respond as being disable, not being able or capable of doing something. Intellectual and developmental disabilities are conditions in witch a person is born to or develops due certain mishaps. Sometimes it can occur before or after birth, and can be a genetic disorder, an infectious disease, metabolic disorder or a physical malformation. These disabilities are not something that started happening now as a result of malnutrition from the mother in order to look like a Hollywood starlet while caring the child during her pregnancy or as a result of too much texting or too much television from the sister close to her little brother. These conditions for the most part have happened as a normal thing that sometimes happen. Therefore one has to consider that in the past there has been little understanding from “normal people” around “disable people”. The segregation is part of this lack of understanding that many people seem to have for these disabilities. In today’s world due to the great impact it had the segregation of black men and women, people seem to think, that because many of the boundaries that seemed to be put to achieve this segregation do not exist anymore that there is no segregation at all. Many of the people suffering from intellectual and developmental disabilities are been segregated without even knowing it. Most of the people that segregate them do not know it. In high school I had a teacher that would say, “To better knowledge, better appreciation”. One can look at this phrase as a statement that one has to understand to better appreciate someone or something. Because, this type of discrimination and segregation exist, there are also organizations that help to deal with situations and the people affected by it. One of the best and closest examples I have is my older sister, who had a stoke when she was an infant, leaving her right side of the brain smaller that her left side, making her left side of her body work slower than her right side. In Puerto Rico there is an organization called SER of Puerto Rico. This organization deals with people who, like my sister, have this type of condition or disability and also with their families. In the United States, there is an organization like SER in Puerto Rico, which deals with the same basis, and it is called The Arc. The intellectual and developmental disabilities are the hardest to notice, therefore many people do not notice when they discriminate against people with disabilities, The Arc being the biggest organization dealing with this type of condition helps other people to understand it better. In their mission statement The Arc advocate the right to all children and adult with this condition. With their improved system of support and services, they help to connect families, inspire communities and influence the public. They believe that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are equal before the law and the they as individuals have certain strengths and abilities. They also state that people with these disabilities should be treated with respect and dignity. But what happens when we consider someone with this kind of disability, equal and do not consider their condition just to make them feel “normal” does that mean that we are being callous? In what way can we hurt someone with disabilities without knowing it? Most of the children and teenagers with intellectual and developmental disabilities have the tendency of being over sensitive or hypersensitive to any physical and emotional situation or action. Imagine having all the problems of being a teenager but ten times stronger and without actually being understood. In the families where there are people with disabilities they seem to also share the same sensitivity, because they have to make several adjustments in order to make them feel better. Is hard for a family as a group, where both mom and dad are present. But what happens to those that are single parents and have children with disabilities? Well, both pressure and responsibilities double. According to Alison Strokes Gottlieb for Family Relations: “ Single mothers, raising children with intellectual or developmental disabilities at home they face a dual challenge: They must provide for the emotional and financial needs of their families while coping with the challenges associated with caring for a child with special needs (2)” Gottlieb refers to single mothers because caring, whether is for a children, a teenager, an adult or an elderly, it is view as a woman’s job. Not that there is no exception to the rule. There are difficulties that come with raising a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities, especially emotional ones. These difficulties are considered even when both parents are present and they can share the responsibilities and they can support each other on the emotional side. Also having a spouse makes economical matters have less importance and they are easier to deal with. For single mothers all the emotional and economical responsibilities increase and double, since they have no spouse to relay on. Another factor that influence is that society does not help when it comes to these terms for a single mother. According to Gottlieb: “There has been very little consideration to single mothers in the employment area and even more to those that have children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is documented that single mothers suffer from poverty role strain social, isolation and social stigma witch sometimes can affect negatively impact their children’s social and academic adjustment (3)”. Meaning that the same situation that is affecting the mother might as well affect the children. The financial situation is something that is very difficult control especially for those that have certain circumstance. For single mothers that are in need because of their children condition there are organizations like The Arc that help them have a better fit in society.