Equality Simplified

Last week, I read in one of the behavior notes that a young lady with Down syndrome exhibited a behavior known as 'food-taking." Some of the people I work with do take food that does not belong to them - maybe off of someone else's plate, or off the floor if it fell, or right out of a hot pot. Most of the time, this stems from having had to live with others in the past, such as in an institution, where they had to take in order to have enough because someone else had already taken it from them.

In this case, though, L took two fudgsicles out of the freezer and ate them in her bedroom. The only reason anyone even knows that she did this is because she left some evidence behind.

Last night, I grabbed a coconut bar out of my freezer. It was really good so I ate another one. If I lived in a group home like L does, I might have to ask permission or let someone know I was going to get a snack. If I didn't, someone might write it up then come up with a plan as to how they were going to keep me from freely taking snacks, as I might gain weight.

A simple way to consider whether people with intellectual disabilities are equal to others is to ask whether how they are being treated is similar to how others are treated. Or to ask if you were in the same position (roles reversed) would the expectation being placed on you be acceptable to you?

Here's a better one: What would President Obama do? You do not have to be a fan of Obama's to understand that he holds a lot of status. In order to be treated equally, individuals could be held to the same expectations regarding personal decisions as our president.

So, this is another scenario from last week: a young man wanted to wear long pants to work on a hot day. Staff encouraged him to change into shorts. When the man disagreed, staff pretty much insisted that shorts would be the best choice. Using the above as a tool to assess whether what he wanted was an acceptable option, was his decision to wear long pants reasonable? Well, I wore long pants that same day.  Most men in a professional job who went to work on that hot day wore long pants. So I think he made a better choice to want to wear long pants than the staff who thought he should wear shorts to work. All things being equal.

What would President Obama do? He'd get two fudgsicles out of his freezer if he had that particular craving. And he would wear long pants to work most days, no matter how hot it was out.

 Let's try some other situations.

Is it reasonable to think that Obama would stay up late to watch a television show and if so, would  his staff suggest he go to bed earlier because he had a big day ahead of him? Probably not. If the White House menu tonight called for chicken and rice but the President wanted a chicken sandwich instead, could he have it? Yep.

Well, I'm just messing around because my Obama tool wouldn't work in all situations. No assessment tool would. I'm just trying to get us all to think about the things we (with good intention) impose upon people with intellectual disabilities. We do try to instruct but I hope that we are also listening to and respecting their unique preferences and not getting into power struggles over small issues.