I am 19 years old. With me being an American i am considered an adult? or am I?
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| Me spring 2010 I am 18 in this picture but am I a adult? no not yet |
Now if I did not have any disabilities the answer would be at yes I am an adult no questions asked. But add a disability in there and the word changes back to kid. As of now this does not bother me as i miss high school and do a lot of things like a kid ie live at home do not drive mom and dad give me chores and the like. I do not think the word adult will scare me though and I think I will take more offense to the word kid more and more with wisdom and time after high school.
now lets talk about other with intellectual disabilities it may be me or is it that people will often refer to them as kids not meaning any harm. It is so much better than the R word for sure. But to say they are kids. I am not sure about this so i will look up Adults in the dictionary this is from Dictionary .com
–noun
4.
a person who is fully grown or developed or of age.
5.
a full-grown animal or plant.
6.
a person who has attained the age of maturity as specified by law.
There is no mentioning of intellectual abilities or going off to work or completing collage or any of that so why should people with disabilities be called kids is it hard and some times it seem like they are children ? Sometimes there are people I know with disabilities who fit this . But they are adults in age. They can vote ( provided there in a Democratic society) can work and do leave high school. Disabilities should not hinder the word adult being associated with them. We may need help flinging adult roles and living on our own. But the definition does not state that does it?
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| While we are on the subject of kids I was a cute one right? |
The reason why I bring this up is from my history lessons and family stories. You know like how white used to do it to blacks back before the civil rights movement when white addressed blacks as boy, or girl and blacks had to address white adults as sir or mam. Just a thought most of you reading this have disabled youngsters so you probably do not have to worry about this yet What do you think?
1 comment:
I think with individuals with diabilities (including myself) have one chronological age, however, they may have many different developmental ages depending on their abilities. For instance, I do very well in academic settings (I'm applying for graduate studies next year and have an A- average in university), but my social (non-academic) conversation skills are more like those of an early adolescent. Some of my leisure activities such as enjoying swinging and playing in wading pools and spray parks may be more typical of a child. I think people need to recognize that an individual can function on many different levels (depending on their areas of strengths and weaknesess). They should be allowed to be an adult in the areas where they funciton on an adult level, but also have the freedom to pursue younger interests, or to receive assistance in areas where they need help. I've always viewed myself as being many different ages, depending on which skill. Basically, those working and living with individuals with disabilities should see the whole person, and not see someone who functions as a younger age level in particular areas as less of a person than someone who functions at an adult level in all areas.
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