A long time ago, whenever I saw any special needs people, I became scared and felt uncomfortable around them. I didn't want to interact with them and that developed a prejudice towards them.Prejudice means judging something without even trying it and that's exactly what happened in my case with people with disabilities. In addition, my friends acted strange around them which later became a stereotype among us. This stereotype made all the students in our school treat special needs people the same bad way and we kept thinking that special needs people were scary, strange, and couldn't be of any help to the community.
Later on, I had to volunteer to go to ZHO and interact with a group of special needs people. I immediately got nervous and confused about this experience. The first day there, I was put in the electronics workshop where all the students designed simple electronic circuits and robots. I was shocked at how these students were so precise and professional about their work. I met one student who spoke three languages and another who was an athlete. These encounters changed my idea about special needs people and I started to interact with them. I discovered that my thoughts, actions, and expectations against people with disabilities were wrong and I needed to change my whole view on them.
In conclusion people with disabilities can become a productive part of the community and its growth. They are not scary or strange; they have fears and dreams like us and are no different than us once you know them. They are creative and loyal to their tasks if they were given enough credit and attention and some of them can do activities that normal people cannot do.
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