Rising to the Challenges of Disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Rising to the Challenges of Disability - Essay Example ... Everyone is entitled to all ... rights and freedoms ... without distinction of any kind.... All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination ... and against any incitement to ... discrimination.... Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for ... health and well-being .. Including ... the right to security in the event of ... disability...." --Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 1, 2, 7, and 25 According to the Federal Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984, developmental disabilities are conditions or disorders that significantly affect a child’s progress in his growth and development. Eventually, disabilities limit a person’s self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and/or economic sufficiency. Some people who do not have such conditions easily take for granted just how d ifficult it can be for those who have, and may swiftly judge and discriminate them for things they are unable to do. However, disability may be viewed in another light that does not directly target the person himself. One example is the social model of disability in New Zealand which does not view disability as something that individuals have but how society treats the impairments of the individual. â€Å"Disability is the process which happens when one group of people create barriers by designing a world only for their way of living, taking no account of the impairments other people have. (New Zealand Ministry of Social Development, 2002, p.1). Vygotsky (1993) shares the same view. He believes that a child with a disability is not a child less developed but rather, has developed differently. What made his development different are the intellectual and social processes that he compensates with in order to still be part of the social milieu despite their impairments. He concludes in the contention that it is the social consequences and socio-psychological realization that determines the fate of the child with disability and not the defect itself (McPhail & Freeman, 2005). Unfortunately, what seems to prevail in terms of societal views on disability is more negative than positive. McPhail & Freeman (2005) explain that the deficiencies of disabled persons as are considered burdens that hinder their productivity as individuals, which leads one to question why well-intentioned teachers (and some parents) focus on what is lacking rather than what is functioning well in their students/ children. For example, one counselor at a Disability Equality Training (DET) studied by Parkinson (2006) admitted, â€Å"I found it very hard to see the person as someone in their own right. I kept looking at their wheelchairs or their glasses. It took me a while to see them just as a person who watched the same TV programmes as me and laughed at the same jokes. I feel sad about that .† (Parkinson, 2006, p. 99). The purpose of the DET is for counsellors to unite and share their views and attitudes about disability and discuss the need to overcome disabling barriers that hinder disabled individuals from functioning to the best of their ability, promote positive self-identities and self-determination in these disabled individuals through counselling (Parkinson, 2006). This is very crucial especially in children who are in the

Self-awareness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Self-awareness - Essay Example Besides the positive qualities of a leader that were listed by Tichy and Devanna such as the willingness to decide and capacity to do so, persuasiveness, responsibility, intellectual capacity, vitality and endurance (34-38); I would also like to develop other qualities to address organizational needs and objectives that will be present in future organizations. Leadership theory There are two leadership theories that are consistent with my development plan or plan of action, and they can best demonstrate my plans as a future leader, one among them is the functional leadership theory. This theory according to Wren is particularly significant when a leader wants to address some of his or her behaviors that are perceived to contribute to organizational or team effectiveness (27-29). This theory supports my plan since it argues that I should do whatever is necessary for my subordinates in order to ensure that the organizational goal is attained and thus, in a way I will be contributing to the team’s effectiveness and cohesion. ... This theory gives me the opportunity to lead a team and if the team conduct itself in a manner that I prescribed, then it will be considered that the organization has been able to attain its goals, which warrant the team members to be reward for their efforts. Personal strengths and weaknesses This course has exposed me to assignments and learning activities that have informed me of my leadership strengthsand weaknesses all together. However, for this research I entirely relied on two tools that I used to identify different aspects about my leadership style that makes it more effective and those that hinder it from attaining absolute perfection. The tools consist of the transformational leadership questionnaire (TLQ) and the assessments that are in leadership theory and practice (LTP). This assessment is made up of eighteen different questions and these questions vary in nature with the leadership competencies they aim at measuring for example the human skill, technical skill or conc eptual skill (Tichy and Devanna, 89-94). Thou I have never pictured myself as a â€Å"people person† the transformational leadership questionnaire showed that my major strengths as a leader are the ability to imagine and share in other people’s feelings and experience, strong follow through, ambitious, compulsive and articulate. These strengths to me mean that I appreciate others and I care for their needs. These strengths also portray me as an effective leader in offering constructive responses to the efforts of my subordinates and that I also boost the confidence of other people, while still conveying enthusiasm. By the simple fact that I am able to offer constructive responses to the efforts of my subordinates it means that I am good in communication. According to Carter, a leader