Powerful Perceptions

Andrea Koppen:  Week 2:  Blog 2:  Chapter 1 and 2:  

Literary Luminator:  Powerful Perceptions

1).  Valle and Connor state, "More people watch films than read books; therefore, our culture largely receives messages about disability through cinematic representations.... Accurate portrayals of ordinary people with disabilities and their ability to function in an often inhospitable world are rarely witnessed in mainstream cinema" ( p.  20).  These two quotes spoke of the power of media and the negative influence it can have on our culture and on our perceptions of people living with a disability.  The screen films presented in  Chapter 1 were all popular films that probably received awards for wonderful actors/actresses playing the characters of people with disabilities.  Even though the disability is acknowledged, it is usually  "... overwhelmingly portrayed in inaccurate and damaging ways, upholding long standing stereotypes and circulating misinformation" (Valle & Connor, 2011  p.  20). 
     Valle and Connor have spoken about how books, cinema, television, humor and language have affected our perceptions of people living with a disability (p.  20-26).  Our culture has made significant changes to the way we communicate with each other.  As stated in my first quote, people are not reading and their routes of communication have changed significantly.  We are moving toward texting, emailing and not interacting with each other face to face.  Our culture embraces technology, such as facebook, youtube, cinema films and twitter with eagerness to know more and connect with other people.  These innovative technologies do lend  more avenues to "learn" from other cultures, however, how accurate is the information?  It is our responsibility to power our perceptions with knowledge supported by documentaries and first person narratives, such as ones listed in this book, "to examine issues of disability from the  point of view of people with disabilities."(Valle & Connor, 2011, p 21, 25).

2).   Another phrase that I found to be significant was, " ...public education has been and continues to be shaped by patterns of human activity and social structures that embody it's history, beliefs, attitudes, practices and values. (Valle &Connor, 2011, p.  4).  I believe this statement encircles the core beliefs of our system including cultural diversity.  We must guide our perceptions as we embrace cultural differences and similarities through differentiated instruction.  Knowledge of histories, beliefs and social influences within other cultures will educate our teachers enabling them to provide appropriate education for all students.(Valle & Connor, 2011, p.  4)


3).  Lastly,  Valle & Connor (2011) state the law "P.L. 94-142, a free and appropriate public education is guaranteed for all children" including the extension of the Least Restrictive Environment. (p.  10).   I believe reading about the history and where we have come from shows significant growth for students with disabilities.  We must stay current with our knowledge of where our educational system is today and how we can challenge it to grow in the future.



Essence Extractor: 
     (This was probably the most difficult to do in 10 words or less).

Positive perceptions of  "disability culture" can be visible through education.



Rigorous Researcher:  Family Cultural Conflict


      Since I felt so strongly about the media and it's influences, I decided to use my own advise and to watch one of the documentaries.  The subject I chose was the deaf community.
      I watched the documentary "The Sound and the Fury" by Aronson (2000), which was listed in the text (Valle & Connor, 2011, p. 22)  Before watching this film, I  had some background with hearing impaired children but I was not ready to experience the gift this documentary was to give to  me.  My education in Speech Pathology has taught me the technical aspects of deafness and hearing impairments using the medical model. I was not exposed to the deaf culture and its importance until years later.  Specifically in this film, the issue surrounded the need or want for cochlear implants, "an electronic device that is surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear and contains a magnet that couples to a magnet in a sound transmitter that is worn externally"(Turnbull, Turnbull & Wehmeyer, 2010, p.  404).   I noticed that even in Turnbull, most of the information given about hearing impairments and deafness was medically displayed, (Turnbull, e.t. p.  396-414).  There was one small paragraph stating, "Learning about Deafness, the Deaf community, Deaf history and famous Deaf adults should be a part of the curriculum." (Turnbull, e.t., 2010, p.  415).  I was hoping that the cultural aspects would be displayed of higher importance.  Before watching the film, I had the impression that a cochlear implants were perceived as a positive measure for deafness.   Oh, how I was wrong.
     It is a story of one large extended family and their influences on each other pertaining to two deaf children and his and her possibility to hear with a cochlear implant. There was a deaf husband and wife with a deaf child and their struggle with giving their child, Heather, a cochlear implant.  It has been brought up because both grandparents are hearing as well as aunts and uncles.  The father was against it and the mother had interest in pursuing more information.   The deaf community is strictly against oral communication as well as the implant.  The struggle within the family is even greater as the husband's brother and sister in law, both hearing parents, have a deaf baby.  They want the cochlear implant so they may  communicate better with their baby.  The brother is extremely hurt as it seems that everyone wants to "change" the children's deafness as if it would make them better people.  At the end, the 6 year old girl did not receive the implant, however, the baby did.  The struggle does not end with this documentary.  They will live with this conflict and will need to move forward with their cultural differences.
     This documentary gave me a chance to view and change my perceptions through powerful and moving discussions using actual communication between the deaf and hearing communities.  The discussions were available in sign language as well as using subtitles.  I was overwhelmingly moved.  The struggle between the cultures was readily apparent and it was tearing the family apart.   We tend to think about cultures as being "theirs" or "mine". We rarely think about how cultures can be intertwined with each other and how they can affect each others lives.  I am excited to have found that  the media can be used in a positive way to learn more about our cultures with accuracy.

Links:  

http://video.tvguide.com/Sound+AND+Fury/Sound+AND+Fury/824034?autoplay=true&partnerid=OVG
Sound and Fury trailer

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/lesson.html
Lesson plans for children to learn about diversity and deaf community

 http://www.disabilityworld.org/01-02_01/children/diversity.htm
Ways for children to celebrate diversity