As she defines disability, Ms. Venzke explains the difference between “disability” and “impairment” and discusses the usage of these words. She introduces two models frequently used in understanding disability and relates these to both the individual and society. She continues by examining how society views those with an impairment pointing out both positive and negative factors.
As a part of his Social Role Valorization theory, Wolfensberger describes 18 wounds that devalued people face. These might also be referred to as the “social consequences of disability.”
Families affected by disability have a number of common emotions and experiences regardless of ethnicity or geographical location. The author looks at common concerns, struggles, and hopes that parents face when their child is diagnosed with a disability and specifically, with autism. He also alerts us to some of the programs, helps, and therapies available to deal with these concerns.
The author provides us with some statistics regarding disabled people in China and then looks at what the government and various organizations are doing to serve this segment of the population. She provides brief overviews of their situations in the areas of accessibility issues, laws, rehabilitation, education, employment and the church.
Within Chinese culture, people with disabilities have been stigmatized and devalued. This is the result of beliefs which create stereotypes leading to prejudice and discrimination. With a desire to reduce this stigma, scholars are examining Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism to uncover any hidden cultural prejudice and stereotypes causing these attitudes. This is a complex endeavor that requires much sensitivity to cultural nuances. However, the goal is for people to come together in honest dialog and humble sensitivity, unified in purpose and compassion to combat prejudice and discrimination.
A review of Joni: An Unforgettable Story by Joni Eareckson Tada.
As a young woman, Joni was severely injured in a diving accident that physically changed her life. While she has required the use of a wheelchair since then, the dramatic part of her story is her spiritual transformation.
I have been to Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, twice and have three distinct memories.
I was riding on the subway in Wuhan one afternoon, standing in the middle of a very crowded car. A frail senior gentleman was sitting in a seat near me. When we came to the next stop, a senior woman, who was standing by the door, started shouting at him to hurry and get off the train. He stood up and those of us around him helped him get to the doorway as quickly as possible, but by the time he got there, the door started to close. The woman was already on the platform, but he was still standing in the car. When the doors closed, the glass platform door closed on his arm, and the car door closed on his head.
As I walked through the center of town on Christmas Eve, I was forced every few steps to maneuver around yet another vendor trying to sell me something. In years past the pushcarts had been covered with Santa hats and light-up electronic wands. This year, however, it was all about apples—enormous apples branded with fortuitous (or sexy) images and packaged in Christmas-y cardboard boxes.
Over the Christmas holiday I saw three very different large gatherings, each of which demonstrates a prominent trend in contemporary China. Taken together, these three crowds say something profound about the direction that China and her church are headed.
Standing at the threshold of a new year, the perennial question comes to mind, “Whither China?” Since prognostications about China’s future more often than not prove to be off the mark—sometimes by a very wide margin—trying to anticipate with certainty what may happen in 2016 is somewhat of a fool’s errand.
My first visit to Chengdu was in 1985, just before the Spring Festival holiday in late January. Having just completed one semester of teaching in Zhengzhou, Henan Province my teammates and I decided to take a boat ride down the Yangtze River from Chongqing to Wuhan on our way out to Hong Kong for a teaching conference. A dozen or so other teachers working in other parts of the country wanted to make the journey as well, so we decided to meet up in Chengdu.