Stereotypes

 Are kids with disabilities being stereotyped? The plane answer is yes. A lot of students get stereotyped both at school, and in the media. There are many different stereotypes that go along with having a disability.

In movies people who have disabilities are stereotypically adults, with a child’s mind. This is not true for a lot of the students I work with. They are not as mature, but do not like everything an elementary student would. There are some that are like that, but it is usually brain damage at a younger age that leads to that. Their brain just sort of cannot grow much past the age they suffered damage to it, depending on how severe the injury was.

They are also stereotypically put in more severe disabilities than they have. There is a huge range of disabilities that occur. Some are so slight you would not even know they are there. The most famous one is Jim Parsons, who plays Dr. Sheldon Cooper on the TV show The Big Bang Theory. He has mild Asperger’s, and is still a huge celebrity and famous actor. Almost nobody knows he has the disability, because he seems so normal. This is true of a lot of people with disabilities. Sometimes you can’t tell if a person has a disability or not.

How does this affect them? I will use Jim Parsons for an example again, he was ashamed of it and kept it a secret from everyone. He didn't want to be treated differently, and he was ashamed of the disability, because of all the negative thoughts and stereotypes that go along with it. I also get students who have the disabilities coming up to me and asking me why they have them, or why they are treated a certain way. It always breaks my heart when I get those questions.

How can it be prevented? The media can help stop this. They can quit portraying the people with disabilities as these extremely severe cases. They can help make it so they become more accepted and welcomed into the community. If they used actual actors who have disabilities to play their roles it would help a lot.

Sadly stereotypes in former schools have led to bullying, name calling, and other horrible things. I remember in elementary school other peers would pretend to be autistic and flap their arms. They would also say things like, “Don’t touch the railing, the autistic kids wipe boogers on them.” It is little things like this that lead to worse stereotypes and people not accepting others. Thankfully they usually grow out of saying things like this.