I Am Not an Object or Incompetent – PHE America

(Article 2 of 5)

[5-Part Article Series]

Folks with bodily disabilities maintain restricted positions as students, lecturers, or leaders in bodily training, recreation, and sports activities. Maybe the reason being that the sector is flooded with able-bodied individuals who assume they know finest. However do they? Michael Oliver, imminent author, and scholar argued that individuals with bodily disabilities must be the one ones within the subject of incapacity research as a result of they’ve a bodily expertise with disabilities. The next five-part article sequence shares the angle of a scholar within the subject of sports activities incapacity who has his personal bodily limitations. In every article, he discusses a distinct situation an individual with a bodily incapacity faces within the career of bodily training, recreation and sport.

Half II: I Am Not an Object or Incompetent

I have been told by abled-bodied professionals that students with physical disabilities cannot and should not be physical education teachers and coaches because they are not relatable to the able-bodied. The attitude that is created from such a comment is an us versus them mentality. A person with a physical disability is seen as incompetent. I have a physical limitation but I am a competent educator and scholar in physical education, recreation and sport.

Attitudes towards people with physical disabilities start with the university or school administrators and teachers. Many times, students with physical disabilities are seen as objects and not as humans. I know, I am one of them. I have been told numerous times: “Aubrey, I don’t know what to do with you.” Or the more hurtful statement: “I don’t have time; you have to figure it out for yourself,” all while I watched the professional display a smile toward me and turn to help the able-bodied students.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. I am not simply an object. I was a university teaching assistant while I was earning my Ph.D. I worked and taught alongside the faculty, learning how to teach from them. The best success occurred when the mentor created an environment that demanded respect for me. I was a team member and a part of assessment and teaching. I knew every student’s name and I talked to each of them. The students accepted me because the standard was nothing less than acceptance. One of the students said in his in-class review of the course “We had an awesome TA, Aubrey.” Regardless of my physical limitations, students respected me because I respected them.

After earning my Ph.D., I took this same attitude with me when I taught several classes at a different institution. I knew from the research that students with physical disabilities were not included in physical education. I wanted to see if I could integrate inclusion into all the courses I taught. At first, I received pushback from the students because it was a new concept for them, and they were nervous because they had no previous experience. However, throughout the semester they became more comfortable, and their attitudes shifted in a positive way toward including students with physical disabilities in their classes.

In both stories, able-bodied students were able to relate to me as a person with a physical disability. My experience negates the belief that I am not relatable to able-bodied students. In addition, the able-bodied students celebrated that they were being taught by a person with a physical disability and their attitudes towards people with physical disabilities improved. My teaching evaluations were excellent. Individuals with physical disabilities can be excellent teachers and coaches of physical education and recreation. Maybe Oliver was right….

Follow the 5-Part Series this Month

Leading as a Scholar with a Physical Limitation