Content

• Steps

People with disabilities are people with physical or mental impairments, so they often have difficulty with daily activities. There are many ways you can help them. The simplest way is learning how to communicate with them, or volunteering and teaching people with disabilities for free.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Building communication skills

1. 

   Study appropriate terminology. You need to use correct words when discussing with people with disabilities. Some words used to be the norm but are now obsolete and even annoying. The first step is to learn how to use proper words if you want to help people with disabilities.
   • When talking about people with disabilities, it is more polite to emphasize their personality over special circumstances. For example, don't say "mentally ill", but say "mentally ill person". Don't say "in a wheelchair" either. Identifying them by another means means that you can do it for any person, but if you want to talk about the specific functions of a wheelchair, you can say the following "wheelchair user" or "user is using the vehicle rolling".Keep in mind a few exceptions; Many people who are deaf, visually impaired, or autistic often use local identifiers, meaning they want to be called "autistic people" or "Deaf people" (capital letter K according to their regulations). .
   • Some relevant phrases are now out of date and even offensive. The word "mute" was used to refer to people who cannot speak, but now we often use the phrase "unable to speak" or "who must use speech synthesizers". The word polio used to describe people with physical disabilities, limited mobility, now we use the term more physically disabled.
   • The words "retarded" and "retarded" are offensive words. We can replace it with the phrase someone with intellectual, developmental, or cognitive impairment. There used to be many people who used the word "disability" but now do not use it anymore because it seriously offends people with disabilities.

2. 

   
   
   Communicate directly. Often, people with disabilities are supported by translators, nurses and friends on a daily basis. It is important when communicating with people with a disability that you talk to them face to face. Do not communicate indirectly through another person.
   • Look directly at the person, not their translator or assistant. Usually, the hearing-impaired will observe their translator as the other person talks in order to grasp the conversation. You should still observe the person you need to talk to, not the interpreter.
   • If you talk to someone in a wheelchair, sit down so they don't have to raise their neck to look at you. Don't get on your knees like you would when talking to a child as this looks weird.

3. 

   
   
   Consult before supporting. If you come across a disabled person struggling with something, you instinctively jump in to help. However, if you do not know the person's specific needs and intentions, then the action to help may not be appropriate. You should consult them before assisting.
   • Sometimes people with a disability look like they are struggling, but they are all right. Just because they take longer to do it, doesn't mean they need your help. If you think they need help, you can ask.
   • If you see someone struggling, you can ask, "Do you need any help?" or "Do you need my help?" Don't say anything more.
   • If the person refuses to help you, don't feel offended or refused, but do as usual. They know their needs better than anyone else, forcing them to be seen as rude.
   • Do not give medical advice, especially if you are not a doctor. It may seem helpful to advise people with chronic pain to practice yoga, but they all have doctors who know their medical history and give advice without acting.

4. 

   
   
   Speak and behave respectfully. When interacting with people with a disability, you must always show respect in your words and actions.
   • When referred to a person with a disability, a handshake is always required. Even someone with limited hand movement could manage. This is a polite gesture and grabs their attention.
   • Talk with your usual tone of voice. People often speak more slowly and louder than usual, especially when communicating with deaf people, but this is a rude and intellectual act. Communicate as usual.
   • It is normal to do something to make communication easier. For example, if you interact with a person with a hearing loss, look directly at them so they can read their mouth and understand what you say. Sitting down and making eye contact with a wheelchair user is a polite person. For someone who is not able to speak, instead of pretending to understand what they have to say, you can politely ask them to repeat.
   • Be yourself in conversations. If you happen to be using casual communication, such as saying "see you soon" to the visually impaired, don't panic and apologize. The person understands this as an informal gesture and you have no intention of offending them.

5. 

   Make a question. We often worry about whether we unintentionally offend people with disabilities, so we appear confused when communicating. This can be considered a distance for people with disabilities, so you must be yourself and be very calm. If in doubt, ask them if relevant to the current situation.
   • Often times people with disabilities want you to politely ask them instead of being so confused. For example, it's okay to ask a deaf person if they can read oral speech and if you can see them face to face while talking. If you are planning an event and the wheelchair ramp is at the back of the room, you can always ask "Do you know where the wheelchair paths are? It's a bit hard to find, I just want to make sure you know. place. "
   • People are often afraid to ask questions because they don't want to attract the attention of the disabled. However, avoiding the obvious questions sometimes attracts more attention than asking them directly. As long as the question was related to the current situation, they wouldn't consider it a curious or sensitive question.
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Part 2 of 3: Volunteering

1. 

   Find volunteer opportunities in your area. You can find this in the community because there are many organizations that strive to support people with disabilities.
   • Ability First is an organization that supports children and adults with disabilities through employment, entertainment and social programs. Ability First has branches in many different countries and they all need volunteers. Depending on which path you choose, you can work with people with disabilities in office jobs helping departments run programs and events smoothly.
   • The Law Center for the Poor in the South (SPLC) has a program called Teaching Tolerance, where instructors with college and high school students discuss ways of communicating to young people similarly. cooperation with people with disabilities. You can visit the SPLC website to see if the show is taking place in your area and contact the team leader to see if they need volunteers to arrange, advertise and run errands.
   • The Disability Association (UDS) is a non-profit organization that strives to help people with a disability so they can live more independently, including veterans and seniors. They help find homes, provide medical equipment, homemade wheelchairs and service dogs. UDS recruits volunteers who cover a wide range of areas, from office work to public relations and fundraising. The organization's headquarters are in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but they have branches everywhere.
   • You can find opportunities through organizations where you live. Call a hospital or nursing home to find out if they need volunteers or talk to carers of people with a disability.
   • Some organizations like Autism Speaks do more harm than good. So you should check carefully before joining any mass organization.

2. 

   Fundraising and money raising. Fundraising is also helpful sometimes. People with disabilities need a lot of money to pay for medicines, home repairs, etc.
   • All of the above organizations conduct periodic fundraising. Donating money, even if it's just a small amount, helps. You can encourage friends and relatives to donate money. If it is on a birthday, wedding or big event that you get a lot of gifts, try asking them to donate money instead of giving them gifts.
   • If you know a person with a disability needs money because of a disability, you can help raise money. You can organize an event, like a dinner or a party, sell admission tickets and spend that money on paying for the other person's medicine. You can raise funds through an online campaign on the GoFundMe website. You can host a contest or draw a lottery, collect exam fees or entrance fees. There are many ways to raise funds to help people in need.
   • If you are still in school, you can look for organizations that hire college student fundraisers for the summer break. You can find organizations that help people with disabilities, apply for fundraising positions. Thus, you can both help people with disabilities and gain professional experience.

3. 

   Help in your power. Often people with a disability need a support person at their side. You can voluntarily help with this.
   • If a person with a disability is unable to drive themselves, you can help them move like driving or help them get on public transport.Many volunteer organizations employ many people for this work.
   • Many organizations want the world to be more friendly to people with disabilities who have difficulty moving, and build wheelchair-friendly paths in public places. You can help by writing letters to the authorities, asking for signatures of people to work together to make projects to help people with disabilities move easily.

4. 

   Volunteer to train service dogs. If you love dogs, getting involved in dog training is a great way to help people with disabilities.
   • Service dogs are dogs that are trained to support the physically or mentally disabled. Before they can be returned to their owners, they need to go through special training and live with the volunteer owner until 18 months of age.
   • If you volunteer to keep a service dog, make sure you attend regular home dog training and training sessions.
   • Training a service dog is a reward but also a difficult experience. It is difficult to leave a dog after you become attached to it. You need to prepare mentally before accepting the mission.
   • This is an option for college students. First of all, many college students want pets but cannot keep them for long periods of time. Second, college is the best way for your dog to socialize as there are many activities going on on campus.
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Part 3 of 3: Communicate to others

1. 

   Take advantage of social media. Since many people use social media like Facebook and Twitter, it's pretty easy to raise awareness on it.
   • Links articles about people with disabilities, communicating with people about physical and psychological disabilities. Don't just share facts, provide links to articles on how to talk to people with disabilities and the benefits of helping and volunteering.
   • If you are trying to raise funds or collect signatures, social media can be a really useful tool. Posting a link to tell people where to donate money or signing up is the quickest and most convenient way to go in your case.
   • Choose articles that people can read on their computers or phones. Normally, internet users often choose short articles, presented in list style.

2. 

   Express your opinion. If you see someone making an offensive comment about a person with a disability, whether that person intentionally or not, you should still speak up.
   • Often, people misuse the wrong word. In that case, you should politely correct them. For example, if you hear someone say "she has a broken girl" you can fix it like this "you should say 'she has a knife'."
   • The words "retarded" and "retarded" are used a lot, even in the media as a term to describe something unpleasant. People often justify their words and say they don't "mean it", you can explain to them that the word is offensive, whether they are intentional or not, and should not be used.
   • If you see discrimination against people with disabilities in the work or school setting, reflect the behavior above to the appropriate agency. If you are unsure of who to report to, you can contact a disability support organization and seek advice.

3. 

   Guide everyone in the right direction. Many people don't intentionally hurt or offend, they just don't know how to interact with people with disabilities. If you find someone confused or confused, you can show them the relevant website or organization to help them learn how to interact with the person with a disability. Education is a powerful tool in promoting social development and creating a more welcoming, friendly world. advertisement