A Wellesley College professor who spoke at a symposium Monday charged that society needs to change how it views people with disabilities, who make up 15 percent of the population.
“A disability should simply be viewed as a characteristic that influences life just as other characteristics do,” said Adrienne Asch during the symposium “Disability Studies: Where Has It Been? Where is it Going?”
Disability studies is a field of study that shifts the emphasis away from general beliefs about disabled people and instead emphasizes changing the way the public views people with impairments.
In her presentation, Asch stressed the fact that the disabled community should not be viewed differently and separated from the rest of society because so many people have or will suffer from impairments in their lifetimes. Asch estimated that half of the population older than age 65 has disabilities, including everything from mental retardation to asthma to attention deficit disorder to breast cancer.
It is important to understand how the disabled feel because unfortunately, they are often viewed not as regular people but as “eternal children,” Asch said.
She said she thinks one way to raise awareness about people with disabilities is to include disabilities studies as a part of higher education curriculum. Asch thinks impaired students are often made to feel embarrassed or different, but such feelings can be changed through a college education.
“Colleges and universities are an important focus because they take the leading role in understanding and changing society,” Asch said.
Nikki Fancher, a senior women’s studies and pre-med major, said she attended the symposium to learn what the University is doing to improve the awareness of the disabled.
“It’s interesting to see that so much of the population is disabled and has been ignored,” she said, adding that the discussion gave her a clearer understanding of what is going on in society.
Philip Ferguson, an associate professor of the department of special education at the University and the symposium’s organizer, said he also thinks society has the wrong idea about the disabled community.
“I am troubled that people with disabilities are viewed as having a medical problem because it’s merely a natural part of human diversity,” he said.
Ferguson, who teaches disability studies at the University, said he thinks a lot can be learned from disabilities studies because everyone may be affected by disabilities at some point in life. Hundreds of people have physical and mental disabilities, he said.
The curriculum for his disabilities studies classes includes topics such as social policy and ethics for the disabled.
Ferguson hopes to make higher education more readily available to disabled students and said one way to accomplish this is by educating the public about disabilities. He said he thinks symposiums such as this one are important in order to convey the message that being disabled is just one more way that humans can differ from each other.
“They should be treated as a fundamental part of human existence,” he said. “It’s not just about curb cuts and ramps.”