Disability and Injustice

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When was the first time you let yourself feel
the injustice that was happening to you because of your disability?

From: Liz Seger
Email: lseger@iaw.on.ca
Date: 26 Jun 1999
Time: 15:17:06
Remote Name: as2-1.iaw.on.ca
Remote User:

Comments

I didn't really experience "injustice" until I went to a major Canadian university. What I felt threw my life into turmoil but was also a major turning point in my life as a person with a disability who advocates for rights for disabled persons. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I was a preemie, born at 27 weeks with congenital cataracts in Ontario Canada in the early fifties. The younger of two children my parents were of course traumatized by the birth of a disabled child as was my sibbling and the rest of the family. Some of the doctors in my little town suggested that at two I be sent away to the blind school but my parents were having none of that. They had waited six years for me and were determined that, despite my limitations, I would be educated in a regular school and grow up just as my older brother was doing.

Luckily for me my uncle in the US was a doctor and found me an opthamologist who had experience with babies with cataracts. A little before I was five months old my mum, brother and I flew to Illinois to have the first of many eye surgeries.

Although classed as legally blind I have some sight and the best advice my opthamologist gave my parents was to treat her like any other child, let her discover her own limitations. And I did.

Being one of only a few children with disabilities in a the regular school system in the 60's and 70's was interesting , if not challenging. There were no special ed aides as children have now and teachers were not educated about physical disabilities as they are now. I met the occasional teacher who was none too thrilled to have a child with a disability in their class but they were far and few between and on that count I guess I am extremely blessed.

And, of course, there was the usual tauntings "four eyes" etc., but I've always been able to have a smart aleck comeback for those kinds of people so it didn't really bother me that much. My mum had always insisted I treat people with kindness because "you get more flies with honey than with vinegar" and so in that way I wore my detractors down.

It wasn't until I was nearly through my bachelor 's degree in Psychology and Sociology that I encountered my first smack of "discrimination" or injustice or whatever you want to call it.

I had applied to the Faculty of Education and the Dean called me in for my interview. His first question to me was " How do you expect to write on the board?'

And with the brovado of most 22-year-olds I looked him somewhat straight in the eye and replied, "With chalk, Sir." I think I stunned him with that response because the interview went well after that, and I was accepted into the Faculty with no questions asked.

However, I decided to go to an even bigger more prestigeous university with a good reputation farther away rather than my home university. First big mistake.

Did the intial interview with the big university, no problems, got accepted and was very upfront about what I wanted to do in education. Yes, I am visually impaired, but I want to work with children with disabilities like myself to show them that persons with disabilities can lead independent, valued lives. I didn't expect to work in a "regular " classroom; I wanted to teach in a specialized environment.

Went through my practicums; met quite a few master teachers who were quite skeptical about a disabled person being a teacher, but it wasn't until three weeks before the end of the year that I was informed, despite good grades in everything, that I wouldn't be granted my Ontario Teacher's Certificate because "no board of education would ever hire me" and "the parents would be too uncomfortable having a teacher with a disability in a classroom." This despite "my sterling qualities." Yeah, right. So why not tell me this at the intial interview before you took my money?

I was hurt, humiiated and defeated and I came home with my tail tucked between my legs. Why had I bothered getting an education? The world wasn't going to let me do anything legitimate. You know the usual "poor me syndrome."

My parents let me wallow for the summer but they were as outraged as I was. At that time disabled persons were not covered in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and they were making discrete inquiries to the government officials as to what could be done. Not much we were told.

However, my mum had emassed alot of friends along the way and one of them hosted a local talk show. This very kind lady contacted the Ontario Ministry of Labour and found out there was a "Handicapped Employment Program" within the ministry and contacted the director and their caseworker. She brought the case worker and me together on her radio show and the wheels were set in motion to do something .

In the interim my mother said, "You can't sit around here and be depressed, use your skills somehow" and a friend of her's who was a teacher said, "Come help me in my classroom. I can't pay you, but the experience will be useful."

So, while the drama was playing out with the Handicapped Employment Program going after the major university with mega research funding dollars, I helped out not just in one classroom but in many. I gained the principals' and most of the teachers' respect, so much so, that the schools I volunteered in wrote the Minister of Education to give me my certificate. I also gained the love and respect of the students. In fact I ended up volunteering in special ed classes which were now beginning to come to fruition and there were kids inventing disabilities to get into my sessions.

In June of 1980, I was granted my Bachelor of Education degree and Ontario Teacher's Certificate. It took almost a court battle but not quite and I agreed to redo some of my practice teaching blocks at my original home university 's Faculty of Education.

An emerging disability movement had helped convince the University to see the error of its ways -- plus the threat of national media intervention and maybe a large law suit. The university didn't want any adverse publicity. Three years late, but I had survived and prevailed.

And I had the last laugh as a board of education in a province out west hired me to teach special education.

Yes, the lowtide of my not getting my degree when I should have was devastating but, in hindsight, nearly twenty years later it was probably a blessing in disguise. I made contacts and friends through that experience that proved to be invaluable. I developed a sense of advocacy that I may have not developed otherwise and it enriched my life experience. I learned about the Indepedent Living Movement and Philosophy which are now part of my personal philosophy.

Whatever you want in life doesn't always come easy and the best thing is the one that's hard fought for. I learned that in spades through this experience.

I haven't taught in ten years, other health problems from being a preemie developed. But every now and then I see kids I taught, all grown up with kidlets of their own and I think,"I helped get them that way. I counted in their lives to a small degree." Isn't that worth the injustice?

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From: Eliana
Email:
Date: 14 Apr 2008
Time: 09:00:27
Remote Name: 70.87.66.210
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