D2-Disability

Student will demonstrate an understanding of disability from the perspective of the individual
with a disability.
My father has a diagnosis of Polio and Bipolar. Growing up, I did not realize he was any
different than other people. Until others pointed out to me, why was it that my dad walked with a
limb? It was at the age of 10 when I wondered the same thing. I learned at that point that my
grandmother who had fifteen children forgot to give my dad the polio vaccine. My dads
perspective about living with a disability has always been there is nothing you can do with the
support of your family. I admire my fathers resiliency and strong will to succeed and provide
his family with all of the supports necessary to be successful. Natural supports was also a reason
for success for Brian Dennis. During an assignment for Intro to Counseling, Brian shared his
curiosity for the label of disabled and for the societal views of disabled individuals as
defected. Although, I do not have a disability, through my personal and professional experiences
I began to understand that disabled individuals are not the problem, it is the lens many in our
society portray them from that causes the most harm. One of my responsibilities in my current
role is communications and marketing. During a campaign to acquire success stories from adult
education, I came across Daniel Sutherlands. Daniel had been in the Adult Education and
Literacy program at Iowa Lakes and had obtained his HISED. He shares his success to friendly
staff and having the adequate accommodations in place to pass obtain his HISED. During my
professional career, I plan on continuing to work towards ensuring adult education students are
provided with the same accommodations and supports to achieve their goals.