Thursday, May 24, 2012

Perceptions

       My job has an interesting aspect to it that I never thought I would enjoy doing. I took a speech last summer while I was in college and I was not to keen about giving speeches until I did several speeches in class. After class several people told me how much they loved my speeches. I ended up looking for work the end of the following semester. The job had a requirement to teach classes. I thought I could do this it would be nerve wracking but a good way to expand upon my public speaking skills. It has turned out to be a surprising part of my job I actually seem to be enjoying for the most part. The class I teach is around two hours long and a large amount of information to go over.

        The part of this that I struggle with is the looks I get from the staff who attends the courses I teach. I know that general public is really thrown off that a health looking person would need a service dog. I know I still some what struggle with the fact how much my life has changed since I have gotten Duchess my alert dog. There is the good sides such as being safe but there is also the negative side from the general public. I know some people in my office make comments about how they wonder if I should be working at all if I need a service dog. I think they thought I could not hear there conversation but I did. I work very hard at my job and do a great job but it's really quite insulting because I have my alert dog that automatically makes me incapable of doing the job to the same level they could. I really wish I could change society's view of disabled. I do not consider my self disabled at all. I know others might disagree. I still do everything I did before except feel the high and low blood sugars.

          I try my best to educate the general public on hidden disabilities but I know there is still so much work left to do in that area but I at least hope that my speaking in front of the general public might have people rethinking things. I don't know if it will but at least it's worth a try. I know the looks on people's face's during class do make it hard for me to an extent but I am not going to let it affect the way I go about teaching my classes.

2 comments:

  1. Trail blazers of social correctness are probably not appreciated in their time. You are doing an important thing, both for you and for the progression of service dogs into society. Hold your head high!

    And, this kind of thing does get easier with age. You'll see.

    Best regards,

    Kathy

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  2. Thank you Kathy. Some days are easier than others. I have taught numerous classes but this was a rough one. I am fortunate that my boss is very supportive of my ability to handle teaching the classes.

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