Eli Clare & Glee Post

Eli Clare and the Glee episode both incorporate how disabled people face challenges while displaying how people without disabilities can easily overcome that task. In Glee, the student in the wheelchair needs a specific bus to ride while his classmates can just ride any bus they want. He also must enter the school through only one entrance, the entrance with the ramp, while his classmates have a greater selection. This can cause a huge inconvience because if the disabled student's classroom is on the opposite end of the building, he will most likely be late or really have to hurry. Eli Clare displays people with disabilities facing the challenge of climbing a mountain. People without a disability will have a hard time climbing the mountain, so being physically disabled makes this task nearly impossible. Climbing a mountain can be a metaphor for any challenge people with disabilites must face - driving, sports, stereotypes, etc. Driving can be possible, if for example, the disability is that a person does not have any arms. Special pedals can be installed in the car and the person can learn to drive with their feet. (I saw this on a tv special - this girl got electrocuted so she lost her arms.) Despite having a disability, people should not treat them differently because they want to be like everyone else. The cheerleading coach in Glee treated the disabled girl just like she treated the girls that did not have a disability. Although I admire how she didn't patronize the disabled girl, I have to question the way she was yelling at her. This reminds me of a good point my boss brought up with running a restaurant. He said when he had all male staff at his old restaurant, he could discipline his male staff by yelling or talking loudly to. When he gained females in his staff, he could no longer do that because women do not usually respond positively to yelling. I think the coach should discipline her, but without excess yelling and telling her how much she needed to improve when she was trying her hardest. Pam Kawalerski Post Number Nine