Changing the view of the people about the disabled women

To change the views of the society in this field we have to survey the topic in a broader category and if there is need to change is should be pursued in this category from its root. These are not only disabled people who suffer from stigma, so that disablement is an experience that everyone in some part or parts of his or her life may face it. Disables people think of themselves as a patch and this fact causes them crucial problems in social and mental compatibility. Specially when in adult ages they become familiar with peoples views and sights.

News ID: ۱۷۷۳۷۱

چهارشنبه - ۱۶ دی ۲۰۰۸ / 2008 16 October

To change the views of the society in this field we have to survey the topic in a broader category and if there is need to change is should be pursued in this category from its root. These are not only disabled people who suffer from stigma, so that disablement is an experience that everyone in some part or parts of his or her life may face it. Disables people think of themselves as a patch and this fact causes them crucial problems in social and mental compatibility. Specially when in adult ages they become familiar with peoples views and sights. These pathology effects are not only limited to disabled people and they share them with their families. These families see their children as a patch (because of negative view of people and society) and always try to hide them from people's sight and they want to be less in public. On the other hand we should not blame society for such a treatment and for such a negative view about disabled people, because society has little knowledge about them. So how should we face the problem?
The factor that we have to survey attentively in this category is the definition that there is in societies about disability. Many of the people in countries do not have a proper definition and knowledge of disability. They measure these people as disabled in comparison to themselves. Indeed they see themselves as able and these people as separated ones from society. But the reality is that the disablement is a relative fact. Every man in point in his life time or in all his life has the feeling of disability. An educated person feels mental disablement in comparison with a genius. All the people feel disablement in comparison with prophets and divine men. We have to focus on the word miracle. Miracle means what prophet and Gods messenger performs in front of people and all the spectators feel disablement and inability. So all of us feel a kind of inability in front of prophets and divine men and every person feels such an inability in comparison to a person who is better than him.
We feel a kind of physical disability in comparison to a professional athlete. In reality social competences which are as infrastructure of mobility in a society are made on the basis of feeling of human disability in the field of rivalry. If someone does not feel disability in comparison to a person who is higher than him, he won't have a motive to compete him. If all the people consider themselves as able as others there will be no rivalry, because rivalry needs movement and movement is defined in relation to a goal that we think we have not yet grasped it. It is not logical to put an absolute boundary between disabled and able people in the society and it causes many problems for the people who are considered as disabled in a society.
Nowadays psychologists try to define disability as a completely relative fact (Yule 1980). In such a definition all the people in a society are somehow disabled. This definition leads to a condition that the disabled people do not consider themselves completely apart from society and the fake boundaries that ban their entrance to society vanish.
With such a thought, psychologists try to consider the disablement as a behavior that can be changed (Professor Johnson 1996). If we consider disability as a behavior we can make it less or more with specifying the factors that affect it. So it multiplies the hope of people in the field of disability to cure it and does not introduce disabled people as people completely apart from society. This new point of view is in contrast with the lineal view point of WHO that considers disability as a kind of immediate result of impairment in organism whereas Professor Johnson's viewpoint emphasizes on the existence of many various factors between impairment and disability. These factors in many cases are in the control of disabled and paralysis people. In this model it is tried to compile the medical and psychological factors.
A physically disabled person is not only the victim of his physical defect. There are many changeable factors that affect disablement which are apart from physical defect. If these factors are specified well, as a treatment many cures could be done.
Here this question come to mind that how could we change the viewpoint of people in society about physical disablement and reduce the negative thoughts; In a condition that people behave them relatively ordinary and do not behave them offensively and do not make fun of them and their families and disabled women do not be treated in persecutor way. In this field these solutions are offered:
1. At first there should be a movement from education system in society and some lessons about the definition of disablement with the relative view point should be included in the lessons of primer and guidance school students. There should be some simple and practical practices about a survey as a disabled person and the students should be asked to find out the abilities in a disabled person and as a result consider the disability in all the people.
2. The media and radio and television should have a suitable advertisement in order to publicize such a definition of disablement in the society so that all the people in society consider the physical and mental disablement as a relative fact. Some programs in radio and television should publicize the subject of disablement as a behavior clearly. It will be a very important step to purify the viewpoint of society if we succeed in publicizing the new viewpoint (Professor Johnson).
3. Religious leader and clergy men have an important role in this field and they can change the people's view about disablement. Researches in other countries have shown that the leaders of society can make the people's view better in this field.
4. Disabled women should become familiar with the definition of disablement with remedial programs so that they can react to some suffering behaviors that are due to the ignorance of some people. Disabled women should have assertive trainings to be able to react in persecutor situations with self confidence.
5. researches show that a person who is disable passes four levels in reaction with others:
A. Expecting that how a normal person will react (unusual).
B. This may change the behavior of the disabled person.
C. This behavior of disabled person will purify the reaction of the normal person.
D. Any change in the behavior of the normal person is an assurance to the expectations of the disabled person and the disabled person thinks that his expectation is right.
In such a process if the disabled person's self confidence was high, these levels won't be destructive and will change the view of people and others in a positive way. These levels are emphasizing to assertive training that strengthens the self confidence in a disabled person.

6. Training the disabled women that have more talents and employing them in important jobs in society and publicizing in this field, can be an important step in order to change the viewpoint of people about these loyal people. Choosing a physical disabled person as education minister in England in the labor party in a good example that has changed the view of people broadly about disablement and paralysis.
7. Researches (MC Conkey 1994) shows that war and pleasing interactions between disabled and normal people can change peoples view for good. Researches emphasizes that the quality of interactions is more important than the quantity of interactions and if it includes these features it will be very successful:
a. It is better for people to meet disabled people in normal places instead of special centers.
b. People should have cooperation with disabled people in practical activities instead of just talking. In relation to this it is offered to institute clubs in which disabled women cooperate with other women in doing some activities.
c. In initial levels the cooperation should be between people and disabled people with low level of disability and then high level disabled people could be included in these interactions.
d. A mediator that is familiar with disabled people can be effective to introduce disabled people.
e. Meeting sessions in small groups in better than big groups because people feel comfortable in small groups.
f. Age, location, language, geographical and education features should be considered in the meetings.
g. Information that is given to people should emphasize on the personal abilities of disabled people instead of his inabilities. For example to introduce a disabled person we should say Mrs. Farafmandi is an expert weaver with the disability degree of 70%.

Below data-x-items will cause negative view about disabled people:
A. If the disabled people show unusual and aggressive and anti social behaviors in the meetings with normal people.
B. If the meetings are held unexpectedly and without previous preparation.
C. If the meetings are held with big groups of disabled people with various degrees of disablement.
It seems that with these solutions we can sweeten the life for many of the disabled women and their families that suffer from the stigma situation. A sweetness which is because of fading the fake boundaries, for in many cases we human beings with such fake walls make our lives bitter.

Writer: Dr. Sayed Jalal Yunesi