Disability Awareness Bewareness
Amy Sequenzia on Disability Awareness campaigns that silence the very people they claim to advocate for. I Am Aware of You I am aware of you Of your dismissiveness Of your hostility Of your badly disguised contempt You say you do all that Because it is a much needed First step A first step Towards acceptance, you say But we need to change our ways first A first step Towards better services, you say As long as not-us are served first You claim to speak for some of us The ones you call trapped Voiceless Severely damaged But
Why I Don’t Like “Awareness”
Awareness campaigns of disabilities are only effective if they are planned and run primarily by the groups that are the subjects of the campaign. This is because such campaigns are not “awareness”, but “acceptance” campaigns. We welcome support, with focus on respect, equality and access. We don’t need “awareness” of deficits and tragic rhetoric.
Understanding Our Differences
In 1978, a group of parents of children with disabilities in Newton, Massachusetts founded Understanding Our Differences (UOD) as a nonprofit organization to increase information, understanding, and acceptance of people with disabilities and individual differences. The Understanding Our Differences disability awareness curriculum has grown rapidly in recent years and has been disseminated to more than 200 schools and youth organizations nationwide. More than 27,000 elementary school students and some 8,000 adult, high school and college students have participated as trained, volunteer instructors. The nationally recognized, award-winning program uses a hands-on, participatory curriculum to foster respect, tolerance, and compassion in elementary
