ADA Disability Scenario Reflection

The card I got for my ADA assignment was a sensory impairment. I had to cook something while wearing oven mitts to demonstrate having limited feeling with my hands. This was much harder than I thought it would be. Trying to measure out ingredients and have a steady hand was quite tricky. At one point I just wanted to give up. I had to ask my roommate to help me a couple of times so I didn’t make a mess or ruin what I was trying to make. As I was doing this, I thought of those who have impairments similar to what I was going through and also those who had impairments of different kinds. I thought about how they went through these types of situations every day and how they must feel. I had a hard time asking for help, even when I knew that I needed it because I didn’t want to seem incapable of completing a task.

One thing that I really liked about this assignment is that even though cooking with oven mitts on the whole time may have seemed silly, it gave a really good experience and really allowed me to open my eyes and see what other people might go through on a daily basis. I was able to better understand how people feel with others looking at them and wondering why they do certain things. I felt like my roommates were a little hesitant about what I was doing, but most of them did ask if I needed help. This helped me see that even though we may not fully understand what another person is going through or why they may be doing certain things, we shouldn’t judge them, we should treat them kindly like we would anyone else.

I have had the privilege to work with many students that have a special need or impairment, and I can more easily see why they sometimes become frustrated with certain things and the things that people do. There were times where the students I worked with would get upset or sad if someone tried to help them or when people would make certain comments. I remember clearly the looks on their faces and the smiles they would have when someone treated them normally and didn’t always comment or make a deal out of their impairment.

Overall, I think the part of this assignment that stuck out to me the most was getting that different perspective and being able to get a glimpse of what people that have a special need or impairment have to go through. It just reminded me that everyone has their struggles in life, they may differ from ours but everyone struggles; we just need to have love for everyone despite their differences. A person should always be a person first. That is one thought that just keeps coming to me; a person is not their disability, they are just a person like you and I going through struggles in life just like the rest of us.