Series on the disabled

Press, 2 September 1983, Page 11

Series on the disabled

“Disabled teen-agers are just that — teen-agers who happen to have a disability” is the message in a new radio series, “The Hare and the Tortoise,” starting on the National programme at 9.45 a.m. on Monday. The problems that other teen-agers face are also their problems: Will I have friends to go around with? Do I look all right? Am I wearing the right clothes? Can I get a boyfriend/girlfriend? Will I get asked to the school dance? These are their first concerns; their disability is a complicating factor, but basically their problems are the same as those of anyone else their own age, says Radio New Zealand. In their late teen-age years they want to do the same as anyone else, leave home, and go to university, Polytechnic or Training College — or get a job. They want to come and go where and when they please, mix with their own circle of friends, choose to get married — or not to — and choose to have children or not to have children, just like everyone else. This is just as true for people with a mental disability, or a severe physical disability, as it is for the slightly disabled or for anyone else. “The Hare and the Tortoise” is designed for disabled teen-agers, to boost their confidence by hearing on radio that the experience of other disabled teen-agers is similar to theirs. Since most people have limited experience in mixing with disabled people, the series also aims to tell able-bodied teen-agers and adults a little more about what to do and what not to do, and when to offer help — that is, when it is asked for. The first five programmes in the series cover such topics as the experience of being different; the difficulty of simply having fun with friends; problems of living with one’s physical limitations; problems of personal independence; and the yearning of young disabled people to be accepted as they are. There is also a section for parents later in the series, discussing such aspects as attitudes parents need to have to allow disabled children to grow into independent adults.

The final two programmes tackle the issue of long-term sexual relationships and marriage for intellectually handicapped people, and the rights of disabled people, both the physically and the mentally disabled, to have an emotional and sexual life, to get married and have children.