Page 41 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
REFLECTIONS
All Means Everyone
presbyterian.ca
WINTER 2021
PRESBYTERIAN
41
By Nicole Flynn, a person who has lived experience, 2021 Graduate Loyalist College General Arts & Science Diploma, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tweed, Ont.
Inherited perspectives toward inter- sectionalities from religion and po- litical ecology continue to relive the past, perpetuating the negative at- titudes against people who are mar- ginalized. There is fear among people who have an intellectual disability that if the tendency toward congre- gate living does not change, then the abuse, neglect and devaluing of peo- ple will continue.
The history of segregating people who have an intellectual disability is happening again. The attitude of separating people who are different is not stopping. There are congregant living centres such as Indwell, Ree- na, and now Cherry Blossom Vil- lage, which will be added to the list along with Apple Blossom Village, Blooming Acres Farm, and Blooming Acres Snow Valley Lodge. The cycle is being repeated and it is spreading across the province of Ontario.
All people have identities and see themselves in specific ways. These identities meet, or cross, or run be- side each other and these are known as intersectionalities. This is how people are judged and how stereo- types, biases and prejudices develop. Intersectionalities lead to negative at- titudes. People who are identified as being different are marginalized to the sidelines, segregated from main- stream activities, denied their right to freedom, power and prosperity.
Marginalized groups live on the edges of society and do not have power. Marginalized groups and communities are treated unfairly and excluded because the balance in so- ciety is not equal.
Governments are largely com- posed of elected politicians who are typically male, white, straight, able-bodied and wealthy. Women, First Nations, people of colour, the LGBTQI2+ population, the disabled and the poor are rarely represented in the government.
Organizations manipulate people into thinking they are doing a good deed by working together on a pro- ject, like creating housing for people who have an intellectual or develop- mental disability. People believe they will have a better place in Heaven or in their next life just because they participated in what they have been told is a good thing. However, these congregate settings do negatively affect people who have a disabil-
ity by excluding them. This perpetu- ates the attitude of “them” and “us,” or always considering people who have an intellectual disability as “the other,” an object to be housed, rather than people to be included.
In Plato’s Republic, balance in society was discussed as being significant. Plato describes how children who appear different had to be removed to a separate set- ting and were not considered worth raising to adulthood. The amount of work to support a person who is dif- ferent would offset the balance and this would negatively affect the entire society.1
Religion helps people to under- stand and find meaning and a pur- pose in life and to answer important questions about the world around them.2 Whether people are religious or not, their inherited views, perspec- tives and attitudes continue to inap- propriately impact the way people who are different are treated.
In the article “Multiculturalism,
Religion, and Disability; Implications for Special Education Practitioners,” by Brooke Blanks and David Smith (2009), it is presented that Chris- tians also follow the rules of the Old Testament, which discuss disability as a punishment for sin. Blanks and Smith state that since 400 AD, Chris- tian people have tried to establish the theory that intellectual disabilities are the “evidence that immorality is inheritable.”3 This same argument was used by Nazi Germany as well as in Canada to develop the eugen- ics movement. “Sixteenth century re- former Martin Luther made remarks about drowning children with disabil- ities, based on his belief that these were not actually human children but rather incarnations of the devil.”4
Political ecology addresses the association between politics and the economy, the environment, social services, and how these connections affect communities. A change oc- curred in the political attitude during the 1980s when British Prime Minis- ter Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan created neo-liberal- ism. The political climate went from high employment and social services
to decreasing social expenditures, restricting unions, large tax cuts, reducing governments, increasing the markets internationally, as well as increasing unemployment.5 The neo-liberal attitude segregated and divided society so that people who are different, such as people who have an intellectual disability, were marginalized. The conservative ide- ology of the individual being respon- sible for themselves and not relying on the government was clearly stated by Margaret Thatcher in her famous quote:
“...so they are casting their prob- lems on society and who is soci- ety? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything ex- cept through people and people look to themselves first.”6
These attitudes have developed barriers for people who are mar- ginalized and have excluded people from their communities.
ence for people who are somehow like us. Michaeli clarifies that these survival instincts are not part of our DNA. The article further dis- cusses that in 1896, James Mark Baldwin said some children learn how to adapt faster than the adults and these children develop their skills and pass them on to the next generation, which becomes a herit- able behaviour. These behavioural changes have a non-genetic affect on the genes, which is how they are transmitted to the offspring.
Dr. Michaeli explains that as peo-
ple experience life, their brain can change from these exposures, and these changes can be passed down to the next generation, which means the children learn from the same ex- posure of their parents. This means that we can change the way we think, we can change our attitudes and our behaviours toward people who have an intellectual disability. Increasing exposure to people who have been traditionally marginalized will cause our brains to think broadly and provide a new perspective, and this will begin the new era of genetic thinking.
Society has usually done things Plato’s way and it hasn’t worked. Society is not balanced if people are marginalized to the sidelines. The family members, caregivers and support staff are also on the side- lines. There is no value to marginal- ized people who have an intellectual disability or their allies. The solution is to bring the people who are mar- ginalized into the community and in- clude them in mainstream activities. We increase the value of people by treating them with equity, getting to know them as a person, taking the
time to listen to their struggles and experiences, and by understanding who they are as a person. We also increase the balance by valuing the role of allies who support people who have an intellectual disability. Increasing education, employment oppor tunities and health care would also bring balance to society.
The author, as a person who has Trisomy 21, an intellectual disability, asks the decision makers in society to put aside the veil of ignorance and make decisions as if they were the ones born differently. How would this impact their lives and the lives of their families?
If someone wants to increase their understanding and compas- sion, then the author recommends they become a friend, or a good neighbour, to a person who has an intellectual disability. Include your new friend in your book club, or Bible study, or bowling night. Try new things together. This will in- crease their awareness of someone who has an intellectual disability as a person. This will also begin to change the genetic code in the brain toward one of inclusion.
The author frowns upon trying to cure, heal, fix or change a person, just because they are different. Ac- cept everyone for who they are—a very important person. Having a disability did not happen because someone sinned. God wants eve- ryone to be together as they were created to be.
Housing is important. The type of environment has to be appropri- ate, inclusive, suppor tive, affordable and accessible. This doesn’t mean putting all of one type of person in a building together on the fringe of society. This means gathering peo- ple together as one big family, shar- ing community resources. It means knowing each other: the hardships, the laughter, and just being together.
We do have the ability to change our attitudes, our actions and our instincts toward people who have a disability. The changes we make now will impact generations to come. Everyone will be involved, everyone will be included in com- munity activities, and this will be the norm. Intersectionalities will not matter, however a person identifies who they are as a person; everyone will have their human rights recog- nized and will be accepted.
FOOTNOTES
1 Mystakidou, Parpa, Tsilika, Katsouda, &
Vlahos, 2005, p. 98
2Ferraro, Andreatta, & Holdsworth,
2018, p. 327
3 Blanks & Smith, 2009, p. 298. 4 Blanks & Smith, 2009, p. 298. 5 Steger, 2017, p. 41–43.
6 Thatcher, 1987.
7 Michaeli, 2017.
Society is not balanced if people are marginalized to the sidelines... The solution is to bring the people who are marginalized into the community and include them in mainstream activities.
In the
and Prejudice Inherited?” by Dr. Dov Michaeli (2017), two systems of how people react are discussed. One reaction system is fast, from the gut, and the other is slow, processed from the logical mind. For example, someone meeting a person who has an intellectual disability might respond from the gut: “Oh, they’re different, stay away.” Thinking, however, is a different pace: slower, more thoughtful. To increase one’s new analytical thinking, there has to be an increase in listening to the new person and hearing their stories and learning their perspectives. For example, “Oh, they’re different, I will stop and learn from them.”
Our initial responses come from our memories or experiences—the gut reaction. “Instincts are beliefs embedded in their psyche over a lifetime.”7 In the ar ticle, Michaeli describes how instincts lead to survival, such as loud noises alert us to danger and being able to read faces helps us determine who is a friend or a foe. He continues to say that we, as people, also par ticipate in tribalism, which is our prefer-
ar ticle
“Are Cultural
Bias