Blog # 8 Thomas Hehir - “Eliminating Ableism in Education” & “Examined Life” (Extended Comments)

Gabrielle Toscano-Parente's Argument 

For this blog I would like to focus my attention on Gabrielle Toscano-Parente’s argument about this

reading.  Gabrielle does an excellent job summarizing and highlighting the key aspects of Hehi’s point

of view related to ableism assumptions (ableism: Discrimination in favor of able-bodied people) and

thoroughly explains the current support systems available for people with disabilities. In addition,

Gabrielle asked a question that spoke directly to me, and therefore, I would like to respond to it. 

“One question I would like to address in class is, does anyone have a disabled family member who has

benefitted from their government services provided? If not, why?” (Gabrielle T-P)

Yes, my own dear brother Juanqui is not able to use his right hand, presents speech and some cognitive

difficulties.  After 12 years from an accident that changed his life and the life of my family, up to this day

I can recognize that he would be considered a disabled person but in my heart the word disabled, which

carries so much prevailing prejudices and negative assumptions, is not a word that defines him. Juanqui

was an energetic, joyful, smart, capable, social and hard working 23 years old young man, who was about

to obtain his private pilot license and with a bright career and personal future ahead.  Due to an accident,

he had a severe brain injury that almost took his life. Doctors did not have much hope for his recovery or

even his survival. Thanks to God’s miracle, my brother is alive and today he is independent. When he got

out of the hospital, my brother had half of his body paralyzed, he had lost all his speech ability, his

memory was affected and some other cognitive abilities. 

I can relate in so many ways to Hehir’s reading, specifically to the example of Penny, Joe’s mom. 

I recall that Penny was deeply insulted when she was told that she had to go through a period of mourning

the arrival of her disabled child. In contrast to her reaction and considering the fact that in our case, it was

a different situation than hers, I truly feel like our family and my brother have been through that mourning

period, because my brother has lost so much and yes, in a way, we are all immersed in the world of

ableism assumptions. 

A strong connection that we (my family) have with Penny’s example is that our hopes and aspirations for

my brother’s future are much higher than those dictated by the social system and disability advocates. After

years of physical and speech therapies; and love, my brother is able to walk and he can speak, with limited

vocabulary and basic sentence structures, in both spanish and english. Juanqui is not only self-sufficient

but he also sustains himself with a job. 

I believe that my brother has made tremendous improvements because my parents, my family and his

surrounding who have never seen him or treated him like a disabled person. My parents have never gave

up on his physician nor emotional recovery and not because they think that an able-bodied is better than

a disable one, but because they seek to help him become as independent as possible (physically and

verbally) in order for him to avoid as many obstacles as possible in this “world that has not been designed

with the disabled in mind”. 

In addition, my parents have never labeled my brother as disabled, not have they asked for any government

services or help. There are two major reasons for which they have made this decision. The first one because,

as mentioned in the text, “There is a deep stigma associated with disability in our culture”, therefore my

parents did not want my brother to carry such a negative connotation. The second and strongest reason is

because there is the ableism notion that a disabled person should not be challenged, consequently, my

parents did not want to limit my brother’s potential in his mind, and hence, the reason why today, my

brother has a job, drives, takes care of himself, lives on his own and is almost entirely independent, without

any government financial support. 

In conclusion, although my brother’s struggles have been many, I can attest that the greatest disability is

when the disabled person’s mind is infested by the negative cultural assumptions about disability; when

the disabled person loses self love, self worth, hope or lack of inspiration or aspirations. I find so much

truth in Hehir’s statement that” society’s response to disability can have tragic consequences for those

who have disabilities”.  In my brother’s case, the biggest emotional mountains he had to climb were not

necessarily related to his actual disabilities, but mainly due to the effect of society’s response to his

condition. The lack of empathy and patience, the prejudice of perceived devaluation, and the social

structures and systems that handicap him constantly, are the hardest struggles that he has to deal with. 

An example of lack of empathy and patience is while he is working, people quickly wrongly judge him

for not being able to express well, or they are not patient and show rudeness towards him.  An example

of prejudice or perceived devaluation is the fact that he has lost many friends because he no longer fits

the norm of a successful young adult, fully able, in order to be equal and deserving of their friendship. Finally, an example of the social structures and systems that handicap him are regular day to day struggles like not being able to fix bank problems over the phone because he is not able to explain the situation himself and they would not talk to a family member because it’s a personal matter and they have to speak with the account holder only. Or not having special accommodations for taking the written driving test.