Thanks to Owen Lorion for altering us to Andrea's blog [She's an
"insect psychologist" who examines human behavior, education, and
disability rights, from personal and social theory perspectives and
points in-between]... This is a great entry! Owen assured me I'd
laugh myself right out of my wheelchair! "This will give you a fresh
viewpoint on the chair-impaired!" I've included the URL to the blog
"Andrea's Buzzing About" if you want to read more of her and catch
the comments to this offering. Enjoy!
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August 24th, 2007 at 10:45 (Humor/ Fun Stuff, Tourette's / tics,
Teaching/Tutoring, Work / Employment, Deaf / hard of hearing,
Stimming, Prosopagnosia, Autism/Asperger's, College/University, ADD/
ADHD, eye contact, Accessibility)
In your place of business, educational institution, or public service
area, you will have to make certain accommodations for the
?normal? (?Temporarily Able-Bodied?) patrons. (Please note that
within Normal culture, it is considered appropriate to refer to them
as ?normal people? rather than as ?people with normality?.) Normal
people will usually succeed in schooling, and will apply for jobs
that they can do, presuming that they are given accommodations. These
needs are diverse, and such accommodations include, but are not
limited to, the following items:
Normal people don?t go around in wheelchairs, so they need to have
chairs made available for them everywhere.
Normal people need to see what they?re doing, so they need to have
lighting made available to them everywhere. This includes locations
with very limited routes and signage, such as stairwells. It also
includes bedrooms, even though most of the time spent there is when
the person is asleep.
Normal people need caffeine to help them compensate for their
hypoactivity, so they should be supplied with coffee, tea, cola or
other culturally-equivalent beverages at work. Likewise, normal
people have a low need or tolerance level for fidgeting or pacing.
This is typical, and although some interest in doing such may be
observed, their ability to sustain such for extended lengths of time
is impaired.
Normal people associate loud noise with having fun, and will desire
background music in a variety of places, such as waiting rooms,
social areas, work stations, and eating areas, even though the
background music interferes with verbal forms of communication. Most
normal people do not sign, so their speaking volume will also
increase the ambient noise levels. Although mainstreaming of normal
people is considered to be good educational practice, their noise
levels can aggravate those with hyperacussis or migraines, so your
normal students may need special resource rooms where they can
participate in adaptive mealtime programmes.
Normal people are likely to engage in such stereotypes as long bouts
of eye contact, and chit-chatting about famous people or nothing much
in particular. Their communication gestures are often not true signs
or signifiers, but rather false tics that are socially learned
responses, and are considered by some researchers to be a form of
?social stimming?. These activities are harmless, although they may
need to be reminded not to disturb others, especially in work
environments.
Secondary and tertiary normal students have unusual deficits of
ability to monologue about topics in extended detail, and will need
supplementary tutoring and practice to reach adequate achievement
levels.
Normal people are extroverts who need structured social activities to
fill their free time, because they don?t become self-absorbed in
their special interests. They will also associate ?being alone? with
?being lonely?, and given a living or working space with six rooms,
all six normal people will frequently be found clustered together in
the same room.
Normal people have a readily-recognized phenotype, and are remarkably
consistent in their features and physical makeup (e. g. overall
bilateral symmetry, regular walking gait). Due to their pronounced
socialization needs, they will exhibit strong tendencies for
?following fads? and ?team identification?, and will often be seen
wearing clothing of great uniformity. Despite this, they frequently
have savant skills for facial recognition (?hyperprosopony?), and
will be able to identify and name literally hundreds of their peers.
Note that this special population not only has special needs that
must be accommodated, but they are also a vociferous and sometimes
petulant lot if those special needs are not met. Your legal adviser
or Human Resources coordinator can consult with you about compliance
issues and the ADA, DDA, or other local laws concerning accessibility
and discrimination.
