Diversity Matters: Lessons Learned from Serving the Disabled

Author: Cloris Chen

Photo credit: Volunteers at Joni and Friends

People with disabilities constitute the world’s largest minority. Disability transcends nationality, race, and class to affect one billion people globally. They are often forgotten, neglected, and discriminated against. I am compassionate towards these individuals, as I have struggled with a few traumas and sensory issues since I was young. Reflecting on and addressing these challenges in my life, I started to have the desire to understand the unique challenges faced by individuals with disabilities. With this goal in mind, I recently volunteered at a family retreat organized by Joni and Friends, a non-profit committed to serving people impacted by disabilities around the globe. During the six days I spent with families living with disability and volunteers, they taught me three important lessons:

Lesson 1:

Life is harder with a disability.

During the training, I was asked to role-play as someone who is mute. When I started engaging in conversations with others, I realized how much more difficult it was than I expected to have a disability. Beyond just being mute, the sense of isolation and discouragement was enlarged. I felt isolated because I was the only person in the conversations who could not speak. Though I strived to engage in the conversations by typing my words on my phone and other volunteers patiently waiting for me, I was discouraged that I failed to reach the same level of engagement as I could have when I did not have the disability.

Lesson 2:

Individuals with disabilities may be unable or less able to do what we do, but they can achieve the same outcomes as we do with their adaptive lifestyles. 

Instead of viewing disabled individuals as defective, I learned to view and treat them as having different needs. For individuals who live on wheelchairs, I view wheelchairs as extensions of their bodies, and I kneel to make eye contact with them horizontally. Therefore, finding ways to include and value different individuals starts with seeking to understand, respect, and accommodate their individual needs, support their adaptive lifestyles, and befriend them despite the challenges that may present.

Lesson 3:

Diversity is indispensable to our society. 

The perspectives of people with disabilities have been enlightening to me because their lifestyles are different, and often characterized by humility. They showed me how to encourage others by doing small acts with love. They taught me how to be grateful amidst challenges. They taught me more important lessons than what I could teach them. We need these people to help us recognize and appreciate the often-forgotten virtues they practice in our society.

This memorable experience taught me how to be sensitive to the needs of others. It drives me to consider students with disabilities. They have been underrepresented in higher education due to various challenges, such as barriers to learning and a lack of training for instructors. These challenges have complicated the lives of students or even disqualified them from postsecondary institutions, which highlight areas we can improve, including curriculum design, campus support, and policies toward education for students with disabilities.