When I Picture Myself Being Included, I Don't See Myself Without My Disabilities

I want to live in a world where my existence is just accepted. I don't want to have to undergo drastic physical or neurological changes to be perceived as a normal part the world. When I imagine myself in an inclusive and accepting world, I see myself as me unchanged, still disabled but simply in a world where that does not matter. And yet this is not what people think I should see. This is evidenced by this video, produced for World Down Syndrome Day (March 21). In the video, a narrator talks about her life aspirations and goals while the actor Olivia Wilde lives them out. The implication is that the narrator cannot do those things for some reason. That reason is revealed at the end to be because she has Down Syndrome (DS). The narrator concludes with, "This is how I see myself, how do you see me?" The intent of the video is to convey that people with DS should be able to do all of the things talked about in the video. Unfortunately the way that message is delivered is deeply misguided. It frames the narrator as wanting not only to be accepted and to have opportunities but seeing herself achieving them without Down Syndrome. It looks a lot less like the intended "I want to have what you have" and more like "I need to be fundamentally different to achieve acceptance and opportunity". It suggests (though the producers object) that people with DS should want to be Olivia Wilde rather than themselves. From a larger standpoint it says that disabled people generally should ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news