Professional Documents
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Perceptions of Children With Disabilities 2014
Perceptions of Children With Disabilities 2014
INTRODUCTION
A child is a special individual that has the right to fully engage in family, cultural, and
social life. A child also has the right to be given treatment, education and care respective of
his or her physical, mental, or social handicap. However, not all children with disability get
to exercise these rights completely due to the influence of how their friends, classmates, and
family think about them and their situation. Society nowadays may be better informed yet
many still have misconceptions or even negative notions of children with disability.
According to the 2010 National Statistics Office Census of Population and Housing, 16
out of 1000 Filipinos have disability. The census also showed that disability was highest
among individuals from 5 to 19 years old while 1 out of 5 persons with disability (PWD) was
between the ages 0-14 years.3 This shows that care and treatment for those children should
be improved all the more. This age range is also crucial in a child's psychosocial
development. The first five stages in Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development
showed that the crises that children must resolve will strongly contribute to how well they
establish their identity (Cross, 2001). If the crises for each stage are not resolved, children
might develop maladaptive behaviors such as impulsivity and obsession. Teachers and family
members are just some adult figures that can help children gear towards the positive
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For children with disability, however, finding guidance from other people may not be so
easy. Although disability awareness programs are being implemented in schools and
communities, some studies show that these programs only improve the participants'
knowledge, attitude and acceptance of disability in the short term, if there is any positive
influence at all (Ison, et.al, 2010). Interaction with other children in school, the neighborhood,
and other clubs may also affect the self-perception of children with disability (Chan, 2012).
This paper aims to find out the attitudes of children towards their disabilities along with their
interactions with others when they are at home, in school, or in other groups.
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Interaction with other people affect children's concepts of themselves. Children not only
interact with the people around them but also with the people's perceptions of them and their
disability. People, in general, are continually affected by what they see and how others act
toward us (Phemister & Crewe, 2004). Unfortunately, information dissemination and
knowledge about different types of disabilities are not thoroughly reinforced. For example, in a
study done by Nowicki (2007) regarding the beliefs of children on learning and physical
disabilities, children aged 5-10 years old expressed their belief that learning difficulties are
temporary and can be controlled or even 'solved' over time if only the children with learning
difficulties put in more effort in their subjects.
On the other hand, some studies show that children with disabilities do not feel that
they are different until a certain age. Ruble (1983) reported that social comparison only
develops in children between the ages 7 and 9. By then, these children would have started
going to school and interacting with other children, parents, teachers, and other school staff.
People who have not been given enough relevant information regarding disabilities, or who
may have different perceptions on disabilities because of factors like culture, may view
children with disabilities in a different light. The children may start comparing themselves with
their peers and may notice differences between them and their peers. They may be more
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METHODOLOGY
A semi-structured interview was done via phone on three children with disabilities.
Their diagnoses are as follows (pseudonyms are given to protect their privacy):
Daisy is an 8-year-old girl diagnosed with atypical autism and is being observed for
developmental delays. She attends a special education school.
Joan is an 8-year-old girl diagnosed with dyslexia is being observed for attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder. She goes to a mainstream school with an inclusive
setting.
Jules and Daisy had to be guided by their parents in answering some of the questions. For
questions where they gave vague answers, the parents sometimes explained or elaborated
the children's answers. Some questions also had to be repeated by their parents in order to
get their attention. Joan, however, did not need her parents' help in understanding and
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Future aspirations
None of them mentioned negative outlooks on their future aspirations. All of them
stated that they want to have jobs in the future and Daisy even said that she wanted to have a
job like her mother.
I want to be like mommy...a scientist! I want to (be like) mommy.
Children tend to idolize those who are usually around them and who give them positive
feedback. Daisy and Jules' parents are very supportive and knowledgeable when it comes to
their needs and so it is not surprising to hear one of them state that he or she wants to be just
like their parents. Joan also said that she wanted to be like her father who is a singer. Her
father mentioned that he usually sings to Joan before she goes to bed.
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