Inclusion Gone Wrong
When well intentioned ideas, couched in pity and the underlying assumption that adults with disabilities are really just children in adults bodies go bad, they go REALLY bad. Unfortunately we have all heard the ignorant viewpoint that “while he is 42 years old, his mental age is really 6″.
Beatrice Fantoni, of the the Windsor Star in her article Windsor Scouts Welcome Disabled Adults extolls the virtues of an “inclusive” scout group in windsor ontario.
Unfortunately they are not reaching out and intentionally welcoming children with disabilities into their scouting group. Oh no. They have made a point of inviting and including full grown adult men and women into their community scout group, not as leaders or mentors but as participants.
Now i’m a scouting mom from way back and here is what i know to be true, the scouting movement is for children and adult leaders, much as brownies, girl guides and for youth venturers and cadets are.
This idea has gone seriously off the rails.
if we want to help create identities and socially valued roles with and on behalf of citizens with disabilities, lets not assign, enrol, or encourage them to engage in child like activities. When this happens its functionally irresponsible. It only serves to perpetuate more outdated and inaccurate stereotypes than i care to itemize. Although the notion of vulnerable citizens with disabilities as eternal children, and as sexual predators are certainly top of mind.
Adults lead, mentor, teach and mould children and young peoples minds and characters-they are not themselves children.
Stop treating people with disabilities as children, drop your sing-songy voice, quit kneeling in front of folks when you talk to them and for goodness sakes begin to assume adults are adults regardless of their disability. If this notion makes you uncomfortable get over it, 100 years of eternal childhood is enough don’t you think?
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