Reflection on group project
The items I included for Communications 1080 are from a group project that I worked on. I included my research, the outline, and the power point but the narration for the power point was not able to be uploaded. Since my classes have almost all been online I have done multiple group projects online. However, I found this one to be very difficult. There were six people in our group and only three ended up doing any work. I was extremely nervous to meet in person with people that I had never seen or met before but I did and I found that those people were not as scary as I had made them out to be.
While doing this project I learned that I make decisions about people's abilities and who they might be without really knowing the person and I even do this when I do know the person. When working on this project one of the people I worked with has a daughter with Cerebral Palsy and she brought her daughter with her when we met to do the project. Her daughter looked like a normal girl to me but I had made assumptions that she would be different because she had Cerebral Palsy. The person I worked with pointed out that a lot of times when we think of a person with a disability we think of someone with the worst case scenario for that disability and we forget that there are different degrees of imparedness within disabilities but we set the same limits for those with lesser degrees of imparedness with their disabilities that we do for the worst cases of disabilities. I have thought about this an have found that I do this a lot with disabilities. While we talked about how we do this to people with disabilities I found I make assumptions with a lot of people and not just those with disabilities. I had done it with those who were assigned to my group without even meeting them. I had made it with this girl. I have even done it with my own children and husband. I realized that should not prejudge people,determine someone else's abilities, or try to limit what they can do based on my own perceptions of that person. I realized that this does not just apply to persons with disabilities but it applies to everyone.
One area that really became exposed to me as an area I can work on is with my own children. I know that a lot of times I find myself thinking one of my children are too young to learn something or they cannot do it for this reason or that reason. Then they surprise me and learn what I am thinking they cannot learn because of their age or whatever reason I thought they could not learn it. Then I go, "Oh maybe you can learn that." In reality it was me setting a limit for them that does not necessarily need to be set. This project really made me reflect on my own habits and has made me think that I need to make sure that I am not deciding who someone is or setting limits on someone's abilities. I found I sometimes do this by telling them, "You can't do that" without really thinking that maybe they can do that and it is just me thinking they cannot. Instead I should get to know someone first and if it is something that would not be detrimental to someone, like one of my children, rather than thinking they cannot do it I should be saying, "Why don't you try it and see if you can do it and if you like it."
In the end I was quite pleased with the way this project turned out. I found Doctor Janice Brunstrom to be a great example for people with Cerebral Palsy. I researched her and put together the information about her and it was fascinating to read about her. I have seen many people who use their disability as a crutch and as a reason not to try things but she has not and has shown that people with disabilities can be quite successful. Not every person with a disability has the ability to become a doctor but this shows that success for people with disabilities can vary greatly from person to person. I am going to try and remember that successes should be celebrated no matter how small especially for a person with a disability.
While doing this project I learned that I make decisions about people's abilities and who they might be without really knowing the person and I even do this when I do know the person. When working on this project one of the people I worked with has a daughter with Cerebral Palsy and she brought her daughter with her when we met to do the project. Her daughter looked like a normal girl to me but I had made assumptions that she would be different because she had Cerebral Palsy. The person I worked with pointed out that a lot of times when we think of a person with a disability we think of someone with the worst case scenario for that disability and we forget that there are different degrees of imparedness within disabilities but we set the same limits for those with lesser degrees of imparedness with their disabilities that we do for the worst cases of disabilities. I have thought about this an have found that I do this a lot with disabilities. While we talked about how we do this to people with disabilities I found I make assumptions with a lot of people and not just those with disabilities. I had done it with those who were assigned to my group without even meeting them. I had made it with this girl. I have even done it with my own children and husband. I realized that should not prejudge people,determine someone else's abilities, or try to limit what they can do based on my own perceptions of that person. I realized that this does not just apply to persons with disabilities but it applies to everyone.
One area that really became exposed to me as an area I can work on is with my own children. I know that a lot of times I find myself thinking one of my children are too young to learn something or they cannot do it for this reason or that reason. Then they surprise me and learn what I am thinking they cannot learn because of their age or whatever reason I thought they could not learn it. Then I go, "Oh maybe you can learn that." In reality it was me setting a limit for them that does not necessarily need to be set. This project really made me reflect on my own habits and has made me think that I need to make sure that I am not deciding who someone is or setting limits on someone's abilities. I found I sometimes do this by telling them, "You can't do that" without really thinking that maybe they can do that and it is just me thinking they cannot. Instead I should get to know someone first and if it is something that would not be detrimental to someone, like one of my children, rather than thinking they cannot do it I should be saying, "Why don't you try it and see if you can do it and if you like it."
In the end I was quite pleased with the way this project turned out. I found Doctor Janice Brunstrom to be a great example for people with Cerebral Palsy. I researched her and put together the information about her and it was fascinating to read about her. I have seen many people who use their disability as a crutch and as a reason not to try things but she has not and has shown that people with disabilities can be quite successful. Not every person with a disability has the ability to become a doctor but this shows that success for people with disabilities can vary greatly from person to person. I am going to try and remember that successes should be celebrated no matter how small especially for a person with a disability.