Equality, Participation and Inclusion

Equality, Participation and Inclusion

A - Summary of Selected Resources

I have chosen two resources for the undergraduate course E214 which is primarily on the themes of Equality, Participation and Inclusion. Among the resources selected for the paper, the first one describes the difficulties that faced by a girl as she tries in vain to overcome the physical impairment of deafness. Since the girl is deaf, she is unable to interact with the other students. However, her troubles are compounded by the fact that she is provided absolutely no privileged or special treatment from her teachers in order to aid her learning experience. As a result, she is mostly unaware of what is being taught in class in so far that she has to mainly rely on herself in order to study. Apart from this, her social circle is also non-existent as she recalls how she spends most of her recesses sitting and brooding in a corner and watching other kids playing and having fun.

The second article that has been selected for this paper describes the experiences of an old aging man who has been refused access to the public bus service. At the age of 76, the writer, Ray Bellisario, an ex-paparazzi, describes the ordeal of commuting for his home to the hospital using the local bus service. Apart from having to wait in the mercilessly cold weather in order to use the bus service, Ray also describes how he regularly had to face the criticism of fellow passengers for wasting their time. In addition to criticism, Ray also faced hostility from other passengers as well as the driver when he adamantly stuck his foot into the door in order to prevent it from closing before the bus took off. He also describes how the bus driver assaulted him while stunned onlookers watched in silent horror. Sadly, the complaints and pleas of Ray fell on deaf ears and no one came forward to help the ailing old man.

B - Written Appraisal

As far as the first resource is concerned, it is clear that the girl giving the narration is medically handicapped. She is deaf and is therefore unable to follow instructions that other people of her age can follow as easily as they can wink. The medical condition also puts her at a social disadvantage because she is not able to make friends. The article also describes how the writer's ...