Should Disability Be Taught In School?

          The Disability Discrimination Act was launched in 1995, and later on in the year 2010 it was repealed and replaced by the Equality Act, which basically means the same thing. However, it has been noticed that the majority of the society has not changed their views towards disabled people much.

          Many disabled children still go to special schools and they attend day care centres where they spend most of their times. Then, as they grow older, they have lack of experience of what it is like to have a 'normal' life. This is a worrying fact as, many disabled people are still in isolated conditions and the majority of the society under estimates them and stereotypes them as being unable to do ANYTHING and unable to speak. Not all disabled people are unable to speak and there are in fact a range of different disabilities. However, those who can speak but just can't physically do things are also under estimated.

          It is understandable that many mainstream schools have yet to get funding for disabled access. However, it is thought that the reason for people's lack of understanding is the lack of knowledge.

 

Question: How can society be better in the future for disabled people? Should the subject of Disability be taught in primary and/or secondary schools? Or should people start taking enthusiasm and learn about the range of disabilities at their own pace?

Old 'About Me' Page of my website

Hi! My name is Sharnaka Haque and I am an Animator, Manga Artist/Writer, Author and part-time Musician. I am currently doing a part-time BA course in Art & Design and hope to pursue a career there after. The age range of my audience varies from 9-13 to midteens, depending of the type of story I work on.
I was at the early age of five when the inspiration of animation first hit me. I was given a video of Disney's The Little Mermaid just before my sixth birthday, and I wondered how it was done. Also, the style in which the characters were drawn inspired me to draw my characters in a similar way. You can take a look at some of my current characters as they were drawn in my old style here.
Shortly after that, a series of another mermaid was shown on TV. This series was called Saban's Adventures of The Little Mermaid and it was in a different style called Anime. That style also interested me, but not as much as Disney at that time. When I was around seven years old, the interest in what is calledManga also started to interest me, as our neighbour's daughter, at the time, used to draw pictures of the particular style. I also recall receiving a colouring book in which the characters were in Manga style as a gift.
It was not until I was doing a Foundation course after my A levels did the Manga/Anime style dominated the Disney style and since then, I have been drawing my characters (old and new) this way. However, I do believe there is still a hint of the old style as my characters do not have the authentic face shape of an Anime/Manga character, yet I still see it as an Anime/Manga style. Also, during that course, I created my first animation piece which was a trailer of my own story calledShimmeryVain: The Forbidden Love(2005-2008). At that time, I was also interested in Textiles and this was the only animation in which I combined it with animation as the characters were created out of various fabrics by myself and with a bit of help.
When aged ten, I had a new interest in CGI when Toy Story was first released in the cinemas. However, I have yet to explore the methods used.
I was also obsessed with mermaids and dreamt of being one and meeting one. At the time it first started, it was just because of how a mermaid looked and how freely they moved.
However, when receiving another version of The Little Mermaid on video, when I was eight years old, it struck me to know that the story was not like the Disney one, and it was very sad to see the mermaid disappear at the end, and I never wanted to see it again. The version was also in Anime style but was originally directed by Tomoharu Katsumata and was dubbed in English by Tim Reid.
Never the less, a few years later, I come to realise that the feature length Anime version stays true to the origin story written by Hans Christian Andersen.

The interest in story writing also came at an early age, probably at the same time as when I first had the interest in animation. My stories had always been in relation to my life, but as I grew, my stories have become less and less literate. 
When looking back at the original story The Little Mermaid written by H. C. Andersen, I have come to realise that my life, more or less follows the concept, and I now appreciate the story, giving me the idea of writing a story called, A Little Mermaid Story (2012-), which is also inspired by the film A Cinderella Story.
As an Asian, I am also influenced by Bollywood films and many of my stories have at least one Asian character and has the story may have some ideas from films I have watched. My current series of stories called The College Lovers Series (2002-) are an example of some infleunces of Bollywood and real life.
My current project that Im working on as part of my Degree course is an animation called Vi-acklings from Vi-ackle which is influenceced by Anime, Bollywood and real life, and has a few more Asian characters. The real life aspect of this story is metaphorically shown as Aliens helping a human girl to get herself heard. This project began as a Manga in 2010, and is continued as an Anime from 2012. The idea of doing a Manga was highly influenced by Mark Crilley when I came across hisYouTube videos on how to draw Managa characters in 2009. I bought his Manga books Miki Falls and Brody's Ghost and they helped me to think about my future a bit more as well how to portray my story in graphic novel form.
I wrote more stories in my school years which I am yet to share.

I do music in my pass times and I am inspired by various artists such as Enrique Iglesias, 3nity Brothers and various Bangla and Hindi songs.

 

What Frozen Really Wanted To Say... (My Thoughts :) )

Its been a week and a half since my birthday and since I watched Frozen. Its a great film but thats not the only reason why its still in my head. Apart from the obvious moral about marrying "someone you just met that day", there was another one, which I believe was also obvious as it was mentioned throughout the film!!
Elsa had her reasons to shut people out, but even if there was no magic involved, I totally understood what Anna was going through. She had to live with the memories of happiness and was longing for it to come back with the people who were still alive, which in her case was her sister. I still question why circumstances and distance should change any happy memories, why is it so hard to bring back happiness when you still can?? The film, in my opinion clearly states that without love, hope and happiness, nothing will go anywhere!! "Love will thaw."
Hope u all have a wonderful Wednesday!! Love to u all :) <3 xxx

What A Sister!

I wanted a sister to keep me company,
Not a sister who makes me more lonely.

I wanted a sister who understands my sorrow,
Not a sister who thinks it her everyone should follow.

What was meant to be ideal and realistic in my opinion...

Being told that you look younger than what you are is often taken as a compliment. That is fine until it comes to the point when a 27 year old is seen as a Junior school kid (7-11). It has been perceived by people who don't know me, and I am often told to forget about it. But the phrase that is dying to come out in response to that is that "It takes one person to spread the wrong assumption."
Yes, I am short, and I admit I have features of a very young person, but if you are someone who has fixed my bank account, surely you should know how old I really am! I was with my sister who is 14years old, and this lady said to both of us, "You two have been behaving very well." I wanted to say that I am 27years old, of course I am bound to behave! But how can I when my parents were there. Even they couldn't say anything because they feared that it would sound rude to stick up for me! I'm sure that I'm not the only case, God knows how many people she had misjudged because of their appearance.
That is why, I often dreamed that when I find a man and get married, the world will look at me differently.
I'm not the oldest on my mother's side, so I'm ok if I don't get married from that point of view and every cousin who is younger than me shows their respect. However, on my dad's side, I am the oldest but I feel that I have lack of respect from that perspective! Therefore getting married first was a big deal, that way, I will have some respect and be seen as the age I am!
Until that moment, I planned my life.

I dream of a man who is dark and handsome for sure, but height was never that important as long as he is an inch taller at least. He has to be caring and understanding, and be there whenever I was struggling. In 2002, the characteristics were given to the hero of a series I wrote called The College Lovers Series, and he was named Vince Carr as I love the combination and sound of it.  Vince was given a spouse whose name is an abreviation of my name, Sharni Hendry. While mine is shortened for pronouciation purposes, Sharni Hendry was born with it. Never the less, Sharni was given the characteristics that wished to have on myself. Along with that, Vince had additional attributes such as being a musician and is the last born twin.
I am very lonely as I hardly have a social life which is actually not in my will. I've been told that people fear in having the responsiblity to look after me and not have the time to enjoy themselves. So, I have no other way of living my life other than attending uni and drawing, playing/making music writing stories about how life should be.
In 2006, sure enough did I stumble across a man who is very similar to my Vince Carr, while browsing the web. He too was called Vince and his surname began with a 'C' but it isn't Carr. He was a triplet, but he was also the last born. Plus, he is a musician. It dawned up on me that he could be the one I was looking for, but still he is far away as he lives in France. Never the less, and no matter what anyone says, I still believe he is the one. I just need to find a way to meet and let him know!

However, at the moment, I feel that my dreams has been shattered as my cousin on my dad's side recently got married. She is the second oldest, but the oldest in her immediate family. Still, I didn't feel it was right.
As parents don't understand exactly how I felt, they kept telling me that marraige doesn't happen chronologically and have face the fact that even though I'm the oldest, I'm not the one to be married off first. They even thought I was jealous. All I asked was to be seen the age that I am, and that was the only way, I saw possible. Sure enough, a lot of people thought I was younger and that was my fear, but I'm now sick and tired of saying it!
The cousin who got married just turned 25, and the birthday bash she got, was what I missed when I was her age just because no 'friend' was free enough to celebrate my quarter of a century. She's a normal person and she everything that a disable person could ever wish for. That includes the man. When I saw him, I saw Vince! And it saddens me to say, she's taken my life away, and because I fear that I would jeopardise our relationship, I dared not say anything, but watch them smile at each other and hug each other. It made me feel that I'm not Sharni Hendry, me cousin is. And her husband is Vince Carr!

Fairy Tales...

It is said Fairy tales are not real. I may be biased here, but yes to some extent, I agree that they are not real when it comes to the characters within the story but the concept is very real indeed!! They may mean different things to every individual, but to me, Fairy tales are metaphors of real life. They were not just made out of the blue, the original authors must have gone through something in order to write such stories.
Take "The Little Mermaid" (and I mean the original story, not the Disney), its not just about a girl who is half mortal and half fish who dwells in an undersea kingdom. To me, its about a disabled person wanting to experience the outside world and being accepted for who she is. The concept of the prince falling in love with another is a very common concept indeed!!
"Rapunzel" is another Fairy tale in which I can relate to for similar reasons to "The Little Mermaid". Again, its not just about a girl with very long hair, its about being trapped in one place, not knowing of what the world holds.
So, if u could see Fairy tales in terms of concept, maybe u would appreciate it more!!

An Ode to VC

2001, when I was lonely,
I drew a boy who smiled at me.
I smiled back and thought he'll give me company.

He had green eyes and a dashing smile,
He played a guitar and sang a mile.
He had a twin and was in my stories.

He's real to me,
He is VC.

Five years later, I was browsing a site,
He appeared on screen, I couldnt believe my sight.
I popped out from the dark and into the light!

He had brown eyes and a dashing smile,
He played the piano and sang a mile.
He was a triplet in reality.

He's real definitely,
He is VC.

I know theres differences,
But it's the similarities that matter.
I don't care what others say,
Without him, my life is a shatter.

Green or brown eyes, he has a dashing smile,
Guitar or a piano, he can sing a mile.
Twin or a triplet, he's the one I see.

He's the one!
He's the one!
He's the one I see,
He is VC.