Conceptualizing Families
Based on lecture by Andrew Solomon: Diversity, Difference, Disability and families is a source of motivation.
The art of persuasion employed by the speaker coupled with the supportive facts has no doubt been instrumental in influencing the way others view families. It has opened insights to the greater need of families, appreciating every member of the family irrespective of the challenge they may be facing. The analogies given in this lecture have found relevance in the society.
This paper reflects on the importance of families. Families should never be taken for granted. Families are a source of encouragement to everyone, and it should be the first place where an individual begins to feel accepted. Andrew says that the love for children is unique and unless you have kids you may miss experiencing the feeling. A mother has a lot of influence in the life of a child. Families are also important for the physically challenged persons. The speaker, for instance, looks at deaf as a culture united in the shared language of using sign. Most children are born deaf by hearing parents. Deaf culture is seductive.
Secondly, it is also notable that gay people have been born by straight parents. A family may perceive itself as normal but may have to adjust itself especially when one member is challenged. There are certain characteristics that are considered horizontal identities since they are not inherited from parents. Such include being gay, deaf among others. The problem is always how the society responds to such groups of people. Unlike love, acceptance is a process. For instance; the case of the dwarf child who most doctors diagnosed with different illnesses is typical in appreciating that the physically challenged persons feel part of the family. In fact, one of the doctors asked the mother to leave the dwarf child to die in the hospital.Nothing excites than belonging to a given family is that appreciative and respectful. Families have a lot of influence in what they become later in adulthood. Based on these facts, it is crucial to be part of a given family.
References
Blog – The Vanier Institute of the Family – Andrew Solomon – Diversity, Difference, Disability and Families [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from Download Full Essay Show full preview
