event review 2

A few weeks ago I attended a brownbag hosted by the COVE buddies. It was focused on the social inclusion of adults with developmental disabilities. The luncheon was led by students who participate in programs at Colgate that connect them with these individuals, which I found really interesting.

The brownbag began with the students asking how many of us were comfortable with calling someone who does have a developmental disability things such as "special needs," "slow," " and retarded," in the presence of that person. No one raised their hands. They then began talking about how common it is of people to use these words in environments where these individuals would not be. Their main point was that the fact that we recognize these things are not okay to use these degrading labels to their faces, then why do we continue to do so in any other areas? We know that we should not, yet still some have not made changes to them.

I thought that this brownbag was really interesting in connection to women's studies. We often talk about the unfair treatment of women, and socially unacceptable gender identities, and this event reminded me that those groups are not the only ones who face struggles with rights and equal treatment. Individuals who struggle with developmental disabilities are separated away from the rest of the world in a sense, as if they are not the same people that the rest of us are. It's important to think of all perspectives and it is important to treat everyone with the equal respect that they deserve. Disabilities do not make any person less of a person, and they do not deserve to be treated as such.

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