Unperson

Go to youtube to watch a short video called "Being and Unperson" and come back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c5_3wqZ3Lk

The young woman who wrote and narrated the video expresses herself in a way that should make us all ashamed for all of the ways in which we treat people with intellectual disabilities. I hope we are just unaware of what we do rather than intentional.

Some of the points she brings up:

1. Individuals with intellectual disabilities are treated in a dehumanized manner, or as if they are less than human.

2. Individuals with intellectual disabilities have been "twisted" to be quiet and submissive.

3. If a person does something meaningful for themselves, others without intellectual disabilities think they are cute.

4. Others talk in front of people with disabilities as if they are not there. These people are considered so insignificant that it doesn't matter what you say in front of them.

5. She feels as if her existence makes people feel disgusted or afraid. Sometimes people glorify her existence as if she were an angel on earth.

6. She says people with intellectual disabilities are not respected for their various methods of communication. And that they are told what to communicate and how to communicate, further making them feel like people want to change them rather than accept them for who they are.

7. Others communicate with people with intellectual disabilities by using tone and inflection often used with children.

8. Society tries to make individuals into what society wants, which makes them feel as if they weren't a person to begin with.

9. She is not allowed to have or desire what all other people without disabilities want.

10. She says that people with intellectual disabilities are not asked where they want to live but are placed where other, more important people think is best.

11. She says she is an unperson or a real person based on who is around her.


I would say it would be best to strive to be that person who makes others feel like real persons.