My Reflection on the Course

Overall I have learned a lot in this course between the class lectures, my research on physical disabilities, and the final presentations. Within the class lectures I understood the ideologies because they were a huge focus to this course, and we had to apply them to three of our blog posts. I also gained a lot of knowledge from going over the proper terminology including proper terminology on how to address aboriginals and how we address someone with a disability; person with a disability.

            Within my research on physical disabilities I included information about; parents taking care of adult children with disabilities, entrepreneurs with disabilities and housing in Canada for people with disabilities. On all of my blog posts I did not just touch on an issue that people with disabilities face, I found programs to support people with disabilities to make the topics more meaningful. I believe that the most important topic I discussed was the entrepreneurs with disabilities because it goes beyond just the disability, it defines their economic stability and it shows how discriminating people can be.

            Besides my blog posts, I also learned a lot of different information from my fellow bloggers who posted in physical disabilities. One person discussed disability discrimination in the workforce, which I found very interesting because I had already done a blog post about people with disabilities in the workforce. The one story that someone had mentioned was about a trip that a family took and one got sick, but the disability support they were on did not give them help for travel insurance. I still question this story, and if I had more time it would be something I would look into more and possibly create my own blog regarding this topic. The one topic that was addressed and I was unaware of was how high of a rate there was about women with disabilities being abused. These women were unable to gain the freedom that they are entitled to because they do have a disability and sometimes it does not give them a lot of protection. I was very shocked at home many people would abuse someone just because they showed that they had a disability and they were female.

            I enjoyed how we were able to have a quick view of the other group’s topics, because not everything can be covered in class. When the queer group living in Canada presented, it was a huge eye opener to me of what people have to go through on a daily basic just because of their sexual preference. When they handed out the questionnaire was what really bothered me because these are not normal questions we get on a daily basis, but someone who is not heterosexual do get asked these questions everyday.  After listening to the Canadians Living in the North group, it taught me a lot about what people in our own country go through when it comes to living expenses and conditions, things that we would never consider in Sault Ste. Marie.

Through all of the blog posts I was surprised at how many different programs there are to support people within everybody’s blog topics. I was unaware of many of these programs, and I look forward to learning more about these programs through the rest of my education. I choose physical disabilities because that is the area I am interested in for my future career, however after this class it made me realize what else is out there, and that I should really open my mind for more possibilities. 

- Kahli