Thoughts on disability awareness.....

I watched a programme on television last night called "Worlds strictest parents". It isn't a programme I would usually watch, but I had been told about it in advance. The series takes late teenagers who are becoming out of control in their current home environment, and are sent to stay with other families where the parents are more "strict". I tend to find these fly-on-the-wall type programmes rather off-putting, but this particular episode had quite an interesting aside, that wasn't really highlighted as much as it might have been. The show featured two girls in their late teens being sent to stay with a family in Sri Lanka, and as part of their time with the family, one of the girls who was keen on beauty treatments and make up was taken to a home for disabled people to gain some experience of giving back to the less fortunate. This is a fairly common practice within the series, with rather spoilt British children being confronted with something that makes them realise how fortunate they are.

This was very much the case here, but what I was really surprised by was that this girl, who had been through the British education system, and who came from an apparently fairly typical family, had never been exposed to disability. Her reaction to being taken to this home for disabled people was not outrage, or disgust, or even pity, but quite simply fear. She was terrified of the people, none of whom were a threat to her, none of whom were acting in a way that would be considered unusual for someone with a severe disability. She simply had no knowledge about disability whatsoever. The point was brought into even more stark focus by the revelation that the other girl who had gone with her had a 14 year old sister who was severely learning disabled and functioned at a five year old level.

I think what I took away from this programme was that in the early 21st Century, in the Western World, and despite many years of campaigning by a huge range of disability groups, and a ton of disability legislation, it is still possible for a girl of seventeen or eighteen to have a reaction to a disabled person that would have been considered unusually outdated in the 18th Century. It saddens me to think that we are still in a position as a World leading society, where there is anyone approaching adulthood who could still react in this way. I hope that some of the larger disability charities were watching, and that they are aware of how much work is still to be done in terms of raising awareness of the issues around disability.....