Disability

This week in class we talked about identity, perception, and disability. The word disability is always associated with identity and perception. To me both identity and perception have multiple meanings as one could think of it as society's perception of you created your identity, or maybe your own perception of the world can make the identity that is linked with you. These are just a few ways to think about how the two relate, but not many people might think of these words when talking about disability. In today's society, being disabled has become almost rude to other people as they feel offended by even having to look or be around that person. Although this sounds outrageous and very unlikely, especially in a nicer environment like Troy, this happens all the time albeit happens subconsciously. I saw this when we were watching the video in class about the mannequins being made for peoples with various disabilities. When the mannequins were put in shops so that people could see, people were visibly feeling a disgust and disapproval towards them. However, if the same people were to hear about the story behind these mannequins, then they would probably love the idea and approve seeing these models around the world in shops. Then towards the end of the video, one of the disabled persons that the model was made off of, stood in front of the mannequin and was in awe. As people walked by and saw that they were the same they thought the shop was very sweet and caring for having put out a mannequin that looked like that. This shows how people's perception of things can create the identity of others, just as they did for the shop keeper and disabled mannequins.