hearttoheartamerican.org Blog

It is virtually impossible to accurately portray the actual number of services that are required within the orthodox Jewish community when it is not legal to collect such data based upon religious or racial guidelines. We are only left to infer.

The handicapping features affects every aspect of a persons life from self image to the social interaction with the community and family. The handicap defines our boundaries and rather than encouraging the breaking of those boundaries actually nurtures increased limits on them.

The acceptance of this as a fact is the key limiting factor preventing unbounded personal success.

For example there are several studies that were able to sample the community based upon socio-economic status. In these studies it was shown that there is a correlation between higher socio-economic status and a positive course of functioning within the community.

People born with disability must first learn to cope with their disability before they can begin to learn to cope with the world around them. According to one study (DeWitt) there is a direct correlation between the length of time spent on the disability and the level of success in life.

There is a concept called the distorted interactive dynamic. This is the inability of the typical member of society to fully accept the disability of the person and therefore the highly limited conversation that pursues. It is a guarded and highly protected kind of discussion that prevents any form of spontaneity. This then is not only the problem of the person with the disability to overcome but rather a lifelong challenge.

A person with a disability must then define him/her self by how they are perceived by others for a significant portion of their lives.

These are simply some of the many imposed limitations that a person with a disability must confront as they navigate their lives.

It is difficult to see the person in the wheelchair. The wheelchair becomes the obstacle for us to overcome in order to see that there is indeed a human being sitting there before us.