Teaching Ability to Children: Merging Disability Studies and Pedagogy

Rationale and Purpose

The main premise of disability studies is that persons with disability have been historically excluded from society and treated as lesser (Linton 518). However, disability remains poorly understood, especially due to being framed as solely a visibly perceivable phenomenon. It is also often left out of social justice movements, including feminism (Garland-Thompson 360-361). This can often lead to the questioning of one’s identity as a person who experiences disability. As a result, persons with disabilities, especially hidden ones, are encouraged to hide their conditions (Samuels 319). Because of this act of concealment, the true diversity of disability remains poorly understood – though disability is typically viewed as physical impairment, it can include chronic pain (Wendell 162-163) and varying forms of mental disability such as depression and anxiety (Price 340). Disability also exists at the crossroads of age, race, sexuality, class, and other social markers (Bell 407); therefore, disability must be considered in context of social construction (Shakespeare 198). Though disability framework may seem purely theoretical, it carries concrete and often devastating effects for persons with disabilities. Throughout American History, especially in American immigration policy during the 1900s, disability has often been invoked to exclude undesirable persons (Bayton 18) – from this history of stigma, disability is made into an inferior form of life (Colemna-Brown 149-150). This history imposes oppression upon the broad class of individuals who fit under disability (Shakespeare 198).

As a person with a disability, I came to Disability Studies to better understand my condition and to understand the concrete effect of disability upon lives. In my own experience, the effects of being judged as disabled are especially keenly felt by children – who typically exist at the bottom of a power hierarchy. Therefore, one must reckon with the educational contexts faced by many persons with disabilities. An explicit relationship between the stigma of disability and worsened educational outcomes is drawn in the example of a girl named Cassie (Ervelles and Minear 388). Marked by severe rashes across her body as an adolescent, she is viewed with great suspicion by her fellow classmates. When the author interviewed Cassie and her mother, “her turbulent and tragic educational history was slowly revealed” (Ervelles and Minear 388-389). One especially harsh circumstance she faced was at Sally’s Corner, a “haven” (Ervelles and Minear 389) for kids with severe emotional and behavioral problems; there, Cassie was locked in a make-shift jail cell as punishment. As a student, Cassie was labeled as having cognitive defects, especially surrounding learning, which was used to justify her violent social exclusion. Though one may argue that Cassie faced excessive punishment, her experiences of social exclusion are not uncommon, especially among persons with visible disabilities (such as rashes). Instead of integrating her into society, special education served to aggressively cast her out of the normative realm of school and into disability-driven segregation. Per a disability studies approach, education should integrate students with disabilities back into school by providing support, rather than separating them; under this view, Cassie would have fared better had the educational system not failed her. However, her peers and teachers both participated in her disability-driven segregation, fitting into society’s negative views of persons with disabilities. Because of circumstances like Cassie’s, outreach on disability and the power structures that define it are essential to understand. Not simply to improve education, but to offer enhanced self-worth to persons with disability. Because much of disability is invisible, this makes outreach efforts even more critical.

            According to scholars who examine the pedagogy of Disney animation, attitudes about social identities, including disability, are demonstrated through pop culture; in particular, Disney teaches children “specific roles, values, and ideals” (Giroux 91). Disney’s products hold teaching authority in the eyes of many parents due to the company’s meticulously clean image (Giroux 92). Children viewing Disney films often gain a subconscious disapproval of people who are different, which becomes incorporated into their worldviews (Giroux 98). Though Disney films are a focus in this body of writing, the same approach can be applied to other works that exist within pop culture, including cultural output from other areas. Broadly speaking, animation overtly reconstructs assumptions about social identity and ability/disability, making it an especially useful teaching tool. Animated works should therefore be appropriately analyzed for younger viewers so that they can understand the potentially insidious subliminal messaging at play (Giroux 125-132). Younger viewers tend to especially struggle with ideas of ability and ableism because disability is often hidden away from public consciousness, including vast swathes of mainstream media. When depicted, persons with (visible) disabilities (PWD) are often depicted as grotesque and frightening (Quasimoto in The Hunchback of Notre Dame), written off as old and ailing after a long life of service (Mulan’s father in Mulan), or treated as a short-lived spectacle that draws in awe but is ultimately overlooked (Ariel in The Little Mermaid). A child whose only experience with PWDs comes from these movies may misunderstand and look down upon or fear people who are differently abled. This also suppresses the self-worth of children with disabilities.

The purpose of this learning guide is to teach children ages 5-10 about how persons with disabilities are excluded – this practice ultimately is quite harmful to everyone because it teaches that only certain forms of life are acceptable. As a result, many persons will feel pressured to only live per societal expectations. As highlighted by the Cassie example, children with disabilities of this young age can often be quite vulnerable. However, subliminal messaging from mainstream media tends to take root at a young age as well. In popular depiction, PWDs are often portrayed as people with bad luck or as people simply trapped by their circumstances and needing society’s help (Norden 164).  In my own experience as a child, I struggled to appreciate that with my condition I could live in my own unique way; for that reason, I want others to not take disability as intrinsically negative, even if it can be difficult. Through this guide, children can learn to affirm the diversity of life that is cast away as “disabled.”

Age-appropriate materials teaching ability and ableism are often scarce, making learning materials on disability necessary. Such materials can be adapted from more academically rigorous sources such as Diversity in Disney Films and The Problem Body to help children comprehend disability. Through such materials, children should learn how to critically analyze these portrayals and to better understand disability in their day-to-day life. However, because my experiences are centered around physical disability, this guide will not adequately address mental disability. Additionally, many materials are condition-specific while this guide seeks to be general. Therefore, age-appropriate materials tackling specifically mental disability should also be created in future efforts for pedagogy centered around disability.  

Parents and teachers play essential roles in the lives of their children and students. Therefore, though they may not be experts in disability studies, they are well positioned to offer support on subjects surrounding disability. Simultaneously, parents and teachers also carry ableism from society, meaning that learning about disability offers them benefit as well.

            While conferring authority, the roles of parent and teacher are complicated by societal perceptions of disability. Upon learning about their child’s diagnosis, parents often react with dismay and perhaps even anger (“Learning To Live with Neuromuscular Disease”). However, many parents typically learn to accept their child’s condition. Reaching out and speaking to one’s child about the subject allows for acceptance of the disability and hope for a brighter future. When a child has a disability, he or she desperately wants acceptance from a society that tends to be suspicious of people who fall out of the norm. Accepting disability openly is important, especially when many disorders have a potential for early death. Teachers play an important role in the life of a student with a disability, especially considering the difficulty many students with disabilities face (“A Teacher’s Guide to Neuromuscular Disease”). Educators can help these students cope with their conditions and provide life-affirming support that overcomes the systematic oppression they may face. Though the roles of parent and teacher may seem separated, they both have the similar purpose of helping children with disabilities accept themselves instead of giving into negative messages from mainstream media. These children will likely face ridicule or exclusion from their peers, which makes this effort even more important. Therefore, the below proposed activities represent an essential role in education.

Learning Guide Activities
            Children need more concrete examples and, given the prevalence of animated films in children’s media, showing them particular scenes from animated films will help them comprehend issues surrounding ability better. The rest of this learning guide will focus on helping children understand disability; instructors are encouraged to use this guide in a manner that best suits the needs of their particular situation. Showing scenes from Mulan and A Silent Voice will facilitate their grappling with themes of ability. The learning activities described in this guide were based off those activities presented in Teaching Tolerance’s material on disability (“Disability Awareness: We’re In It Together”).

            The teacher should explain that disability is struggling to do something important to being alive that others would not struggle with, like walking or breathing. This definition should be supplemented by explaining that disability constitutes a wide range of lived experiences and should not be seen as restricted to, for example, people who make use of electric wheelchairs. Starting with a readily visible and normative image of disability would help these children better understand this concept. The instructor should share the scene from Disney’s film Mulan where the father of main character Mulan, an elderly man, is pressured to join the imperial army; because of this, he hands his wife his cane and walks proudly, albeit with a pronounced limp, to stand before the commander. Though the power over Mulan’s father is superficially martial, it can also be seen as the influence of societal perceptions. Despite being seen as a respected member of society, judging from how he is treated by fellow villagers, he is coerced to relinquish his disability, symbolized by his cane. The teacher should point out that the film both shows a common physical impairment, limited mobility, and the power of society to force individuals to fit normed perceptions of ability. Disability, as suggested by the film, exists in contrast to these normed expectations.

            Following this scene and a quick breakdown of the presented themes, the teacher should initiate the “What falls out of the norm?” activity. In this activity, students will take turns wheeling themselves up a ramp in the school or using a makeshift ramp if there are no ramps. Wheelchairs can be loaned by a service provider or by families that have physically handicapped children (with explicit permission). Each student should get a chance to participate. The purpose of this activity is to help children understand that the norm does not encapsulate all experiences so that they can better relate to people unlike themselves. Specifically, the concrete nature of the exercise will facilitate the children’s understanding of disability, though the experience is more central to physical disability. Children may struggle with going from physical disability to mental disability. The educator should explain that, though the children learned about the experiences of wheelchairs, many forms of disability exist. Mulan’s father is one simple example. Though Mulan’s father uses a cane not a wheelchair, this particular experience of mobility limitation should be easy for children to understand. In particular, the instructor can illuminate how he struggles to walk without his cane, which is an experience many persons with disabilities are familiar with. An instructor could mention their experiences with mobility limitation. For example, I have made use of a cane to get around – for a period of time, that cane played an essential role in my life by helping me ambulate and remain in school. At the same time, the instructor should also point out how the father’s condition is simultaneously seen in context of his age; after all, his cane is never commented upon.

            Though, mobility limitation is important to understanding disability, many persons with disabilities have rather unique challenges, especially those that can directly impede one’s education. To better understand the variety of physical disabilities, the students should see an example that ties to sensory function, such as hearing or sight. For this reason, the 2016 film A Silent Voice, which depicts a deaf girl named Shouko Nishimiya, is an excellent example for capturing the complexity of disability. As a deaf person, she is compelled to communicate in writing, rather than being exposed to Japanese Sign Language (referred to as Shuwa). The instructor should display the scene where Nishimiya is introduced; smiling awkwardly, she holds up a notebook saying that she is deaf. As part of this scene, Nishimiya is shown to face extreme bullying – one keen example is her hearing aids being yanked out, causing her ears to bleed. 

Children will need help to work through these examples.  The instructor can point out that even if Nishimiya speaks differently she still is looking to make friends. One appropriate question could be asking the students how they could welcome someone like her. Another important area of instruction is about how persons with disability often rely on tools, including more expensive medical devices, such as Nishimiya’s hearing aids. In light of social barriers, especially in terms of Nishimiya’s difficulty with normative communication, such tools are quite valuable. This provides another opportunity for empathizing with how persons might use hearing aids or other tools like wheelchairs. The emphasis should be on how these devices exist as a familiar aspect of the lives of many persons with disabilities. A brainstorming activity could help the students understand how many people use such devices.

Afterwards, the instructor should share the scene where the principal announces that Nishimiya has lost eight pairs of hearing aids. This represents an extensive monetary and emotional cost for her family emotionally. The framing of this scene draws sympathy for Nishimiya because of the violence inherent in the tearing off of her hearing aids. Here is the lesson that having a visible disability, including the use of visible devices, can often lead to bullying, with devastating and costly consequences.       

Because deafness may be more difficult for students to imagine, the instructor may need to offer additional explanation. One simple exercise to understand Nishimiya’s situation could be to imagine not being able to hear; then the students could be asked to brainstorm how their social interactions would change. As a student with a disability, I had the opportunity to hide my mobility limitation whereas Nishimiya would not be able to hide her deafness easily; as a result, this film could also provide a springboard to discuss invisible disabilities. One major challenge persons with disabilities face is not being believed about their condition. In this case, Nishimiya’s hearing aids are torn off because her classmates do not believe that she actually needs them. This questioning greatly harms one’s self-worth by sowing doubt in their identity. Therefore, the instructor could use this opportunity to encourage empathy with persons with disabilities, rather than seeing them as requiring special attention. As this case is more complex than the Mulan scene, the instructor may need to pick just one of the themes highlighted here. But the primary emphasis must be that persons with disabilities lead full lives, with or without medical devices, and want to feel included within society.

Depending on the goals of the lesson, an alternative activity could focus on disability through an art exercise (Tavin and Anderson 2003).  This activity is similarly focused on the pedagogy underlying many depictions of disability. Simply put, children could be asked to draw someone who struggles with one aspect of life, such as walking, and ask them to imagine how they live and play and learn. Alternatively, the students could be asked to develop a list of possible challenges people with disability may have – and to demonstrate this understanding through a drawing or another art project. This strategy could be especially be valuable if showing scenes from films is not feasible in the classroom setup; it may also be more accessible than other activities.

            Children will likely still have questions that need answering. At this point in the exercise the educator should field questions and give honest and straightforward answers. The themes and lessons learned should be summarized by the instructor to help bring the entire lesson together. In particular, the instructor should reiterate that disability comes in many forms, whether physical or mental, and conclude by dissecting the ability of media to change the perceptions of its viewers.
Assessing Effectiveness

            As a result of participating in this lesson, children should be able to dissect messages based on what they have previously seen. This step would take place if time remained after the lesson or could be performed in a separate lesson. Their comprehension of the material can be tested by simply asking them to answer the following questions: “What is the importance of the other characters in Mulan looking and acting so unlike her father during the scene shown during the lesson? What does it mean to you?” The goal is not a correct answer but rather a thoughtful answer that tries to look at the material from multiple perspectives. The children should comment on how harmful norms can become when they are continuously applied. They may, for example, talk about how though Mulan’s father clearly acts differently from the able-bodied norm, he is still someone worthy of respect. Most importantly, the comment should reflect an understanding that individuals can be treated in affirming ways with respect to ability.  The instructor can also ask about A Silent Voice examples – for example, “How do you see people who have trouble talking like you? Or people who cannot speak? Can you still see them as a friend?” In this exercise, overlap with previously covered material is emphasized – because the children are still grappling with the meaning of disability, they will likely need to hear some key points again. After this lesson, instructors and parents should be challenged to continue working with children to better understand disability.

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