They may be all of these things, and you may try to avoid being in their company, but don't, the next time you find yourself in the company of a disabled person, go to them, turn a blind eye to their disability and see a whole person, a normal, functioning person, treat them with respect, as an equal, for they may be disabled, but they are not stupid, and their feelings can be deeply hurt by insensitive treatment.
In the picture above are deaf children of 5 years old. They were the pre-school class I taught at a school which was in Bophuthaswana (now renamed) just outside Rustenburg on the way to Sun City.
As a teacher of children WITHOUT encumberances of any sort, this little group gave me tremendous insight as to the ability these children have, and how they learn.
I taught them spacial development, eye-hand, eye-foot co-ordination, colours and sizes, shapes and all the same perceptive development skills that hearing children learn, but through a different medium.
They had "face names", for example, the little boy holding my son (the white child), his name was "Doctor" called by others by placing 2 fingers across their foreheads. When he was a baby he had a drip in his head and it left a scar. I would catch the eye of someone, put 2 fingers on my forehead, and the message was well understood, about 3 or 4 children would run to him and turn him to face me! So it was with them all.
One day I noticed one little girl with a toy tambourine held to her ear. She was beating a 3/4 (waltz time) beat, her feet kept in time with the tapping on the tambourine and I remember thinking " how does she even KNOW what a beat is and how to dance keeping the correct rhythm.
Below is a picture of all the children, I had 8, one was absent on this day, and there sits my son amongst them all!
Meal times. Each in his world of silence. They were easy to control and quiet most of the time.
We took them to Pick 'n Pay one day on an outing. I did not know what to expect - bedlam I think, but was very pleasantly surprised. We all climbed into the back of what looked like a cattle truck, it had a green tarpaulin over it, and the children all ducked their heads underneath to see what the world looked like outside of the school grounds!
Once we arrived in Rustenburg, we all disembarked, arranged everyone in rows and set of on our big adventure. How amazing it was to discover that it was not unlike a trip with any other children, through the medium of signing we discussed the goods on the shelves, the colours, sizes of the containers, what everything was for etc. They were keen to learn rather than run up and down the isles, which is what I had been afraid of.
Most of the children at the school matriculated eventually, learning as much as hearing children, learning braille as they grew older, which of course enabled them to read, opening up a whole new world for them. They could lip read and speak out loud by the age of 10 - 18 years, and eventually many of them become contributing members of society. Unfortunately, not all of them have the opportunity.
I often used to think "there but for the grace of God go I"
No comments:
Post a Comment