Break the Stereotype of the Disabled!

By Chuang Yu-ting（莊喻婷）, Lan Ting（藍婷）

“In Taiwan, people usually treat the physically challenged people with sympathy and protection rather than treating them equally,” said Lin Jun-fu（林俊福）, the director of Taiwan Disability-Free Association（台灣無障礙協會）. When it comes to the disabled, people usually think of poverty, pity, vulnerable, which is a stereotype. “We should not watch closely their physical defects, but rather should know them by their own personality which is more important,” said Hong Ya-xin（洪雅欣）, a counseling psychologist. The physically challenged people tend to be shy, passive while interacting with others because they are afraid of being unpopular or unacceptable that limits their social circle. Next time, when you meet someone with disability, what you can do is to talk to them actively, to act normally and don’t be sympathetic — which means, treat them as you do others!

Build a disabled friendly society!

Media often have deviations of the disabled. For example, some performers imitate the physically challenged people to achieve entertainment; a character with disability usually plays a humble and petty role in drama, which shows no respect for them. People may be imperceptibly influenced by the media so that they misunderstand the disabled. Besides, many employers think that the physically challenged are lack of ability and refuse to hire them.“ If employers are willing to provide short working hours jobs, the disabled could perform as well as normal people. All they need is a chance to show their abilities!” said Hong Ya-xin. To eliminate the misunderstanding, education about the disabled should be strengthened. With correct conceptions, people can know the disabled in an appropriate way. Let us build a disabled friendly society!