preview

Analysis Of Viewing Persons With Disabilities As A Culture

Decent Essays

The article "Viewing Persons with Disabilities as a Culture" by Dawn O. Braithwaite was published in Kathleen Verderber's book \underline{Voiced: A selection of Multicultural Readings}. Through research and anecdotes, Braithwaite discusses cultural communication between able-bodied persons and persons with disabilities. Formerly, persons with disabilities were kept private and out of public view. In recent years, the number of people living with disabilities has increased due to longer life expectancy and advancement of medical treatments for life-threatening illness. With the transition of persons with a disabilities into more conventional lifestyles, they are now thriving in society. Disabled persons can be increasingly independent through an assisting device such a cane or wheelchair, though cultural barriers still exist between disabled and able-bodied persons. Braithwaite introduces two disabled persons each of whom shares an experience they have had while communicating with a person who is able bodied. There was a common theme to both accounts: difficulty communicating. For disabled and able-bodied persons, the inability to communicate effectively made for more constraint and less spontaneity in the early stages of a relationship. Unintentional nonverbal behavior by the able-bodied person may display signs of …show more content…

A potential cause of this lack of understanding is few disabled persons being involved in the research process. This makes it difficult to understand and break down communication barriers. Braithwaite references an ongoing study consisting of 57 interviews. The goal of the study is to gather disabled persons' perspective on communication with able-bodied persons. Perspectives of both able-bodied and disabled person can be considered when trying to understand the current communication complications facing the separate

Get Access