The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

We have been learning about institutional prejudices as sources of inequity and oppression, and that bias and prejudice are learned behaviors. I would like to share with you some ongoing issues I have witnessed regarding disability bias. I am a special education paraprofessional. I work one on one with students who require it. Over the last few years, I have been assigned to work with two students who were wheelchair users and also had some communication issues. One student used an eye gaze computer to communicate as well as basic head nodding for yes/no questions. The other student had a well developed vocabulary but was somewhat difficult but not impossible to understand. If you took the time and made the effort to listen to what she was saying, you could understand her fairly easily. The bias I witnessed time and time again came from adults within the school as well as other students, who assumed that she couldn't speak and would direct all communication about her over her head to me. Often these questions would be seeking the student's opinion about something. At first, I would turn and ask her the question, and then relay the answer, but then realized that this method was contributing to the problem, not being the solution. I began directing everyone to ask the student directly. These incidents really diminished equity in education for these students because these students were denied quality, meaningful interaction with other adults and peers. Furthermore, it disempowered the students because the student was being spoken for more often than not, and because it reinforced the notion that these students could not make their thoughts and opinions known without teacher assistance. These incidents still occur despite continued redirection (by me) to ask the student the question. This saddens me and makes me very angry. It also makes my student very angry, because she has stated more than once that she feels that she does not have any friends because no one will listen to her. She says it also makes her angry because she can talk! I agree with her, because it marginalizes her because she is slightly challenging to understand. I feel that if people took the time to listen carefully to what she has to say, and then ask her to clarify if they don't understand it all (she is happy to do so) it empowers her to communicate her ideas, thoughts and beliefs. For incidents like this to truly stop, because I am sure that they occur to other people living with a disability, it would be necessary to educate people to address people directly, regardless of their appearance, and to look to parents, caregivers, teachers or other people working in an assistive capacity for answers only if they do not receive a response from the person. It is also important to note that some people require a slightly longer time than others to process the question and formulate their response. Education that not everyone with a disability has communication problems would also be helpful. It is also helpful to keep in mind that with today's technological advances, some people may use augmentative communication devices to assist them in their daily lives. Devices  may include but are not limited to things like iPads or Tobii eye gaze computers. Generally, it comes down to basic common sense, and the golden rule "Treat others the way you would want to be treated". I doubt you would want someone ignoring you and talking about you over your head to your teacher or caregiver when you are perfectly capable of expressing yourself using voice, sign language, or technological assistance. It's just something to keep in mind when working with people with disabilities, and would truly help diminish incidences of ableism.