The
Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
A memory I have of experiencing oppression, was
growing up having a speech impediment. I was subjected to teasing and
embarrassment in elementary school. There was one boy in particular that was
cruel. This specific oppression diminished equity by isolating me from
peers. I avoided many social
interactions and events because he made me feel “different”. Reflecting on this brings back memories of
embarrassment, anger, sadness. Growing up I was always afraid to speak aloud in
class and be overly social with my peers. Family members thought it was cute
and funny and even mimicked words I said. This hurt my feelings even more. My
parents took me to different speech classes to try and help correct the
problem. “While there is usually little impact on intelligibility, the impact
of a lisp on a child's 'image' can be quite powerful. Of course, some children
grow up in an environment where their lisp goes unnoticed, or where it is not
regarded as cause for concern. Other children gain positive recognition because
they lisp, particularly when the lisp is regarded as sweet, funny, or
endearing. By contrast, others face criticism, ridicule, nagging and teasing”
(Bowen, 2011). In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater
equity I had a lot of soul searching and maturing to do. It took a long time
but I was able to overcome the inequity I felt. Now that I am an educator
myself, I understand the impact speech impediments can have on a person’s self-worth.
I am an advocate for students and families facing this and provide as much
support as I can for them.
References
Bowen, C. (2011). Lisping: When /s/ and /z/ are hard
to say. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/
Staci,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story of your own personal struggles ad being teased. I felt the sadness as you shared it as well. Teasing and bullying experienced by a child can lead to a lifetime affect of discomfort or challenges. I was teased a lot by my oldest male sibling who is 18 years my sibling who referred to me as a walrus because I was overweight. Till this day he still display immature behavior to others ad I still do not respect him because he is a cruel and unforgivable type of person. Because of this I have distant myself and limited contact with him. It is easy to say forgive him and move o but when I see 30 plus years later he still displays the same behavior he is the one long overdue to having professional help for his ow insecurities.