Cultural Diversity and Working with Students Who Have Visual Impairments
Assumptions Regarding Multiculturalism
1.It is increasingly important for political, social, educational and economic reasons to recognize the US is a culturally diverse society.
2.Multicultural education is for all students.
3.Multicultural education is synonymous with effective teaching.
4.Teaching is a cross cultural encounter.
5.The educational system has not served all students equally well.
Assumptions Regarding Multiculturalism (cont)
6.Multicultural education is (should) be synonymous with educational innovation and reform.
7.Next to parents (primary caregivers) teachers are the single most important factor in the lives of children.
8.Classroom interaction between teachers and students constitutes the major part of the educational process for most students.
Taken from Banks(1988) page 43.
Multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and addresses current shortcomings, failings, and discriminatory practices in education. It is grounded in ideals of social justice, education equity, and a dedication to facilitating educational experiences in which all students reach their full potential as learners and as socially aware and active beings, locally, nationally, and globally. Multicultural education acknowledges that schools are essential to laying the foundation for the transformation of society and the elimination of oppression and injustice.
by Paul Gorski (2000)
SO WHAT
What does it mean to you and your practice?
Ethnicity
Social class
Gender
Geographical background
Language background
Age
Religion
Teaching style
Biases and prejudices
Sterotyping
Assuming that every member of a minority group has the same characteristics, thought patterns, likes and dislikes, etc.
Stigma
Negative attitudes and consequences applied by a majority group to a minority group.
May be based upon observed behavior of a single member of the minority group.
Most likely based on teaching (both overt and implied) by other members of the majority group.
Why is it so important that you as a TVI or COMS understand and respect cultural diversity?
By 2010, close to 42% of all school children in the US will come from culturally diverse homes.
Almost half of all the students in Texas come from culturally diverse homes.
Because it makes you more effective
Because almost everything you do will involve other people (either students or adults)
Cultural contexts are critical for understanding patterns of child development. Until the last several years, almost all research in this area was done from a WASP perspective.
People often BECOME members of the visually impaired minority. They must then deal with their own stereotypes and stigmas.
Because it’s the right and ethical thing to do.
Pity, overprotection, coddling by the TVI or the COMS is NOT helpful or beneficial for the student.
There are several issues:
How to work with culturally diverse families.
How to teach VI students about cultural diversity.
How to honor each VI students’ own cultural background and use that to ensure that instruction is efficient.
VI students as a cultural minority – the “blind” community.
Social skills and an accurate understanding of cultural diversity.
Cultural Competence
In order to address any of these issues, we must have Cultural Competence “respect for difference, eagerness to learn, and a willingness to accept that there are many ways of viewing the world” (Hanson, 1998):
Cultural Competence
Know ourselves
Know our prejudices and biases
Monitor our attitudes
Develop cultural sensitivity
Lead by example
What is culture?
“…ways of perceiving, believing evaluating and behaving.” Hunt and Marshall, 1999.
“Members of the same culture share basic beliefs about reality, take certain ‘facts’ for granted, accept common standards of behavior, and cherish similar values.” Cartledge, 1996
Macroculture
“…the core or universal culture of the country.”
High emphasis placed on:
individualism
industriousness
ambition
competitiveness
self reliance and
independence.
Microcultures
Subcultures within the macroculture
May be based on:
Ethnicity
Socioeconomic status
Religion
Gender
Geographical region
Sexual orientation
Disability
Etc.
The importance of language to culture
Language binds people together
Language patterns and habits define what is “proper” (“speaking” in the South)
Language regarding a cultural group can convey honor or disrespect (person first speech)
Assimilation and Acculturation
Assimilation – becoming totally immersed in the macroculture
Acculturation – adopting the outward appearance of the macroculture while still maintaining some of the tenets of the original microculture
Working with culturally diverse families
Independent versus interdependent societies
African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American cultures tend to be more interdependent.
Western European cultures tend to be more independent.
Urban societies tend towards independence; rural ones toward interdependence.
The sanctity of the family’s position in the child’s life
Different cultures have different parenting styles (Chinese vs. Native American)
Locus of control – if it is internal then the family is likely to work to push the child to “improve”; if it is external, then the family may not believe that it is possible or even important for the child to overcome the disability.
Issues surrounding parental guilt
Issues surrounding “protecting” the child from the environment.
Goals:
Ability to communicate with the family
Relate to the family
Identify the information that parents need
Integrate our educational and social interventions with the participation preferences of the family (Sontag & Schacht, 1994)
So how do we help our students be more culturally sensitive?
TEACH SOCIAL SKILLS
Steps to teaching social skills:
Present the skill and help the student to understand why it’s important.
Modeling
Role play
Feedback (including self-evaluation)
Application in a variety of situations (generalization)