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One of the benefits of writing Rammfic is the opportunity to learn about German culture. So, while I was on Rosenrot the day before yesterday, I found this link to some differences between the U.S. and Germany as noted by a German expatriate.
Of particular interest to me was this small section under the Discrimination subheading:
* Virtually every public bus in the US is equipped with a lift for wheelchairs; this is not very common in Germany. It's also next to impossible for the disabled to take trains in Germany. (On the other hand: the handicapped can ride all trains and buses in Germany for free.)
* Handicapped children in the US are routinely educated together with normal children; this is also still the exception in Germany.
* All public buildings in the US are accessable by wheelchair, required by law. No such law exists in Germany and many public buildings are not accessable
Before I engage with the parts of this that trouble me, let me treat on the third statement and say that while I dislike it as a disabled person who would very much like to visit Germany before she shuffles off this mortal coil, I understand it. Germany is far older than the U.S., and though many of their historic buildings and architecture was damaged or destroyed during WWII, many of them remain untouched, and I don't think they should be gutted and retrofitted to allow access to disabled people. The castles are beautiful, and their historical value should not be compromised by guardrails and ramps and elevators. It's awfully hard to immerse yourself in the world of 16th-century Germany when you're staring at a hideous cement ramp battened onto the side of the castle like a 21st-century lesion. I do, however, wish that DVD tours of these castles and other historic buildings were readily available for those who like to experience history but cannot partake in the standard tours.
I also believe that any building built after the reunification should damn well be accessible. Wider doorways and a ramp are much cheaper and easier to accommodate during the construction process than after the fact. And I especially think that any retail business built after 1990 should be accessible. If you want a disabled person to give you money, than you can damn well make sure they can get over the threshold and to the counter.
Government buildings are problematic because while a disabled person should be given every chance to comply with the duties incumbent upon every citizen, most government buildings seem to be historic ones to boot. Does the government expect the person in a wheelchair to drag themselves up the stairs with a pulley system, or are there ancillary buildings and alternative sites made available to disabled citizens? What happens if a German in a wheelchair must go to court, for example? Does he sit outside and scream to his lawyer from the bottom of the front steps?
Now, on to the other observations.
Virtually every public bus in the US is equipped with a lift for wheelchairs; this is not very common in Germany. It's also next to impossible for the disabled to take trains in Germany. (On the other hand: the handicapped can ride all trains and buses in Germany for free.)
What? How does this even work? The buses and trains aren't accessible, but you can ride them for free? So...if you can pull yourself onto the train by your teeth or convince the stressed bus driver to tie you to the front of the bus, then you can ride free of charge? That is pure nonsense. Germany's rail system is renowned as one of the safest, cleanest, most efficient, advanced systems in the world, but it cannot have trains with accessible cars? Is this lack from a dearth of funds or one of thought?
Handicapped children in the US are routinely educated together with normal children; this is also still the exception in Germany.
This confounds me. From what I can glean from Googling, the segregation of disabled students seems to stem from the desire to protect the disabled students from the ignorance of their able peers, and to prevent the disabled students from slowing down their peers in the classroom. It also seems to exclude them from the opportunity to earn an Abitur and entrance to university. It might exclude them from earning a certificate altogether, which effectively renders them unemployable and dependent on the welfare system, thus perpetuating the belief that the disabled are lazy, stupid, useless, and helpless.
Why? Mainstreaming is a thorny issue, and not every disabled child is cut out for inclusion in regular classrooms. The profoundly brain-damaged who do nothing but scream and twitch and drool, for instance, have no place in a regular classroom, nor do those who cannot control their physical outbursts. It's not fair to place other children in a fearful, stressful environment where they must worry that Billy might start screaming and flailing and biting himself or others. But to exclude blind, deaf, and wheelchair-bound children from the educational process simply because they are blind, deaf or wheelchair-bound is unfair. It deprives the disabled student of the chance to experience the world outside the stifling bubble of their disability and an education and damns them to an almost certain future of isolation and institutionalization, and it deprives the able children of the chance to learn about someone who is physically different.
I'm not going to sit here and say that inclusion magically erases the stigma of disability; it doesn't. That will remain forever. We will always be different, Other, but inclusion in the educational process does lesson the stigma and helps both children learn to accept that not everyone thinks or acts like you, helps them cope with the adverse. I learned that the world did not revolve around my disability, and the other children learned patience. To isolate the disabled from their able peers fosters learned helplessness and dependence and makes us more burdensome to the system if and when our caretakers die. Exposing the disabled child to the real world in the relatively safe environment of school "toughens them up", forces them to learn self-control and consideration for others and tolerance for stress and inconvenience. Leaving them in isolation or segregation offers them none of this and produces damaged, timid, needy individuals who cannot function beyond the claustrophobic confines of Disability Land.
I suspect that the exclusion of the disabled students has just as many roots in the economic as it does the psychological. Integration is not cheap. Dedicated caregivers who can assist the student in the classroom need training in psychology and medical techniques. The teachers themselves would need additional training, and the outlay for assistive technologies could be formidable. Then there are the IEPs, which are a boring, tedious, and often inaccurate pain in the ass. But it can be done and would likely save money in the long run, since more of the disabled could enter the labor force and contribute to the country's coffers. There would still be obstacles, of course--the inaccessible buildings and transportation--but at least they could get out of the starting gate instead of languishing in homes and institutions and giving the able population the chance to cluck and shake their heads and bitch about what unfortunate drains they are.
Germany is a smart country, or so I'd like to think, and I don't understand why so many Germans cling to the broken status quo when it comes to disability. In a poll conducted in 2004(and I'll have to see if I can find the link), fifty-four percent of Germans admitted that a person with Cerebral Palsy made them "profoundly uncomfortable" and likely to "react negatively." Well, that doesn't sound terribly reassuring, and certainly doesn't bode well for my meeting Rammstein fantasies if half of them would run screaming from me, but it's not terribly surprising when one considers that many Germans have never been exposed to a disabled person on an interactive basis. God knows what they must think.
For what it's worth, the eight Germans I've met over the course of my life have all adjusted very quickly to me, and after a bit of staring and shuffling and diffident questions, they thought it over and got on with it. Most of them were lovely, friendly people who treated me just like anyone else. Only one avoided me, but she avoided my mother and my able friends, too, so I suspect my Americaness was more offputting than the wheelchair. The old Germans I met were as fascinated as schoolchildren at a zoo, but they also kept trying to stuff with sauerbraten and some awful, vinegary red cabbage, so it was really rather sweet, though my stomach hated me that night.
I don't have a proper summation for this, except to say that I find Germany a maddening, wonderful, perplexing country, and if I were ever given the chance to interview Rammstein, I would probably be more interested in that than what they thought of the porno chicks in "Pussy".
Of particular interest to me was this small section under the Discrimination subheading:
* Virtually every public bus in the US is equipped with a lift for wheelchairs; this is not very common in Germany. It's also next to impossible for the disabled to take trains in Germany. (On the other hand: the handicapped can ride all trains and buses in Germany for free.)
* Handicapped children in the US are routinely educated together with normal children; this is also still the exception in Germany.
* All public buildings in the US are accessable by wheelchair, required by law. No such law exists in Germany and many public buildings are not accessable
Before I engage with the parts of this that trouble me, let me treat on the third statement and say that while I dislike it as a disabled person who would very much like to visit Germany before she shuffles off this mortal coil, I understand it. Germany is far older than the U.S., and though many of their historic buildings and architecture was damaged or destroyed during WWII, many of them remain untouched, and I don't think they should be gutted and retrofitted to allow access to disabled people. The castles are beautiful, and their historical value should not be compromised by guardrails and ramps and elevators. It's awfully hard to immerse yourself in the world of 16th-century Germany when you're staring at a hideous cement ramp battened onto the side of the castle like a 21st-century lesion. I do, however, wish that DVD tours of these castles and other historic buildings were readily available for those who like to experience history but cannot partake in the standard tours.
I also believe that any building built after the reunification should damn well be accessible. Wider doorways and a ramp are much cheaper and easier to accommodate during the construction process than after the fact. And I especially think that any retail business built after 1990 should be accessible. If you want a disabled person to give you money, than you can damn well make sure they can get over the threshold and to the counter.
Government buildings are problematic because while a disabled person should be given every chance to comply with the duties incumbent upon every citizen, most government buildings seem to be historic ones to boot. Does the government expect the person in a wheelchair to drag themselves up the stairs with a pulley system, or are there ancillary buildings and alternative sites made available to disabled citizens? What happens if a German in a wheelchair must go to court, for example? Does he sit outside and scream to his lawyer from the bottom of the front steps?
Now, on to the other observations.
Virtually every public bus in the US is equipped with a lift for wheelchairs; this is not very common in Germany. It's also next to impossible for the disabled to take trains in Germany. (On the other hand: the handicapped can ride all trains and buses in Germany for free.)
What? How does this even work? The buses and trains aren't accessible, but you can ride them for free? So...if you can pull yourself onto the train by your teeth or convince the stressed bus driver to tie you to the front of the bus, then you can ride free of charge? That is pure nonsense. Germany's rail system is renowned as one of the safest, cleanest, most efficient, advanced systems in the world, but it cannot have trains with accessible cars? Is this lack from a dearth of funds or one of thought?
Handicapped children in the US are routinely educated together with normal children; this is also still the exception in Germany.
This confounds me. From what I can glean from Googling, the segregation of disabled students seems to stem from the desire to protect the disabled students from the ignorance of their able peers, and to prevent the disabled students from slowing down their peers in the classroom. It also seems to exclude them from the opportunity to earn an Abitur and entrance to university. It might exclude them from earning a certificate altogether, which effectively renders them unemployable and dependent on the welfare system, thus perpetuating the belief that the disabled are lazy, stupid, useless, and helpless.
Why? Mainstreaming is a thorny issue, and not every disabled child is cut out for inclusion in regular classrooms. The profoundly brain-damaged who do nothing but scream and twitch and drool, for instance, have no place in a regular classroom, nor do those who cannot control their physical outbursts. It's not fair to place other children in a fearful, stressful environment where they must worry that Billy might start screaming and flailing and biting himself or others. But to exclude blind, deaf, and wheelchair-bound children from the educational process simply because they are blind, deaf or wheelchair-bound is unfair. It deprives the disabled student of the chance to experience the world outside the stifling bubble of their disability and an education and damns them to an almost certain future of isolation and institutionalization, and it deprives the able children of the chance to learn about someone who is physically different.
I'm not going to sit here and say that inclusion magically erases the stigma of disability; it doesn't. That will remain forever. We will always be different, Other, but inclusion in the educational process does lesson the stigma and helps both children learn to accept that not everyone thinks or acts like you, helps them cope with the adverse. I learned that the world did not revolve around my disability, and the other children learned patience. To isolate the disabled from their able peers fosters learned helplessness and dependence and makes us more burdensome to the system if and when our caretakers die. Exposing the disabled child to the real world in the relatively safe environment of school "toughens them up", forces them to learn self-control and consideration for others and tolerance for stress and inconvenience. Leaving them in isolation or segregation offers them none of this and produces damaged, timid, needy individuals who cannot function beyond the claustrophobic confines of Disability Land.
I suspect that the exclusion of the disabled students has just as many roots in the economic as it does the psychological. Integration is not cheap. Dedicated caregivers who can assist the student in the classroom need training in psychology and medical techniques. The teachers themselves would need additional training, and the outlay for assistive technologies could be formidable. Then there are the IEPs, which are a boring, tedious, and often inaccurate pain in the ass. But it can be done and would likely save money in the long run, since more of the disabled could enter the labor force and contribute to the country's coffers. There would still be obstacles, of course--the inaccessible buildings and transportation--but at least they could get out of the starting gate instead of languishing in homes and institutions and giving the able population the chance to cluck and shake their heads and bitch about what unfortunate drains they are.
Germany is a smart country, or so I'd like to think, and I don't understand why so many Germans cling to the broken status quo when it comes to disability. In a poll conducted in 2004(and I'll have to see if I can find the link), fifty-four percent of Germans admitted that a person with Cerebral Palsy made them "profoundly uncomfortable" and likely to "react negatively." Well, that doesn't sound terribly reassuring, and certainly doesn't bode well for my meeting Rammstein fantasies if half of them would run screaming from me, but it's not terribly surprising when one considers that many Germans have never been exposed to a disabled person on an interactive basis. God knows what they must think.
For what it's worth, the eight Germans I've met over the course of my life have all adjusted very quickly to me, and after a bit of staring and shuffling and diffident questions, they thought it over and got on with it. Most of them were lovely, friendly people who treated me just like anyone else. Only one avoided me, but she avoided my mother and my able friends, too, so I suspect my Americaness was more offputting than the wheelchair. The old Germans I met were as fascinated as schoolchildren at a zoo, but they also kept trying to stuff with sauerbraten and some awful, vinegary red cabbage, so it was really rather sweet, though my stomach hated me that night.
I don't have a proper summation for this, except to say that I find Germany a maddening, wonderful, perplexing country, and if I were ever given the chance to interview Rammstein, I would probably be more interested in that than what they thought of the porno chicks in "Pussy".
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