Chapter 13: Shattering The Persisting Walls Between Both Ability And Disability And Homogeneity And Diversity In Schools And Society: Shifting the Focus From Differences to Sameness

Popular culture and the academy are abounding with stories and metaphors that teach us how to think about ability and disability in schools and society. We are socialized to experience others who are different as less than able, abnormal, powerless, and in gracious need of help. More often than we would like to believe, individuals with disability are viewed as inspirational. Disabilities serve a social psychological need to build up our self-esteem at the expense of the others. Tragedies of the fate of the differently abled allow us to breathe a sigh of relief that, “It is not us!” which gives us a feeling of security and projects a sense that we are better off. We acknowledge this “luck,” and assuage our guilt through our charitable contributions in thought and deed.