As a disabled person do you feel more comfortable around other disabled people or people who are more abled?

Question

Growing up I took both regular and special classes and sometimes I felt more comfortable in the regular classes with the regular kids. I was actually picked on by the special kids (and occassionally the regular kids) in school, especially in the 8th grade. And plus many of them seem to have to bad attitudes while I was being bragged on for having a good attitude and being a good girl. I'm kind of a goody two shoes LOL.

So back to my question, in which group or environment do you feel more comfortable in?

P.S. And I often felt like (I have a very mild disability) I knew better than most of the kids or I wasn't as bad off. I wouldn't tell it to their faces but I didn't feel like I completely fit in. I still feel like I can thrive in a more diversified or regular environment than a specialized one.

Answer 1

The normal crowd of course.Who wouldn't want to be in a crowd of people that was better than everyone else.Try being as cool as U can.The cooler,the better

Answer 2

I am legally blind, although I can see somewhat, and I was always in regular classes in school since kindergarten. However, I started going to summer programs at the Texas School for the Blind when I was 13. I think I definitely opened up a lot more there and did feel more comfortable around other kids who also had vision impairments. All throughout my years in school I was always the only one with a significant vision impairment, and like you said, I always felt that I never quite fit in. I had a few friends, but kept to myself more often than not. Then when I went to the summer programs with other vision impaired kids, I was like a different person - outgoing, popular, etc.



I think it's different now that I am grown though because I feel pretty comfortable around most anyone now. Maybe those summer programs really helped with that too. But there is still a sense of relating so well with people who have vision impairments that I cannot get with normally sighted people, so I'll always enjoy being around other people who are vision impaired.

Answer 3

I went to an oral program for deaf kids until I was 16. I was mainstreamed from an early age, which gave me the ability to see and understand people differently. At first, I segregated myself to my deaf and other disabled friends because no one treated you like fragile glass. Of course there was the typical "popularity contest" in school, but as I got older and became more comfortable at my being deaf, I stopped caring about whether one was deaf or not.

Answer 4

I've found that if I joke or talk about my TBI, it makes many 'regular' people uncomfortable. (If someone asks me what happened to me, I'm more than willing to talk.) I am around other people who have TBI, CP, etc., it seems the atmosphere is more relaxed and more open.

Answer 5

Both. People are human and are the same to me. Attitudes are the result of experiences. _You control how you interpret these.

Answer 6

guess maybe it is just because of who I am and the way I was raised but being around either makes no difference to me