Glee and Eli Clare

In class it was brought up whether or not putting the other students in wheelchairs was effective or not. The glee club instructor put his students in wheelchairs in order to understand Artie's obstacles as a disabled individual and furthermore the obstacles of all disabled people in response to their lack of desire and cooperation to help diminish some of these obstacles faced by Artie. In my opinion, the wheelchair experience was very effective and crucial in the students' tolerance and understanding of disabled individuals. My high school Latin teacher Mr. Graff once said "the only way to understand a person is to stand under them and look up." This meant that you must have respect for people and put yourself in their shoes in order to be able to fully understand where they're coming from and who they are. The students were able to do this by spending time in a wheelchair. They were able to view and deal with first hand what Artie deals with on a daily basis. Although they were only in wheelchairs for a short amount of time, the time they spent in wheelchairs was very challenging and difficult. The students were left to imagine how incredibly challenging it must be for Artie to have this permanent situation. In addition, Eli Clare would appluad this exercise by the glee club teacher because he wished for disabled issues to be recognized and understood. Furthermore, he didn't want people to focus on his personal experience of being disabled but rather disability issues as a whole and as a greater issue. The students were able to do this and see the greater spectrum of Artie's disability. Angela Feeney Blog post #9