Developmental Identity Case Study

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Michael’s Developmental Identity Michael, although he has cerebral palsy, up until recent has never considered himself disabled. This is in large part due to his family. Growing up it appears his parents instilled into Michael that he was just like everyone else. While Michael’s parents most likely did what they felt was best, they unintentionally engrained in Michael that he should not acknowledge his disability. Michael’s parents seemed to avoid the topic of his disability and by not recognizing it Michael was never fully able to come to terms with it and accept himself fully. Another reason that Michael has not identified as disabled is because it does not seem he was ever around anyone else with a disability. He probably had some confusion around if he should identify as disabled. He knew he was not similar to anyone he was surrounded by but he had no one to talk to that was comparable to him. He never talked about the struggles he had that were directly related to him being disabled and that only further interfered added to why he does not identify as disabled. He felt like he did not belong with his high school friends because he was isolated from certain events …show more content…
Coming homes means that one is integrating into the community of those who have disabilities (Gill, 1997). One could see Michael is doing this by being friends with another on his residence hall who is also in a wheelchair. That friendship leads Michael to accompany that friend to events that were sponsored by the Office for Students with Disabilities and one would expect that other students outside of Michael and his friend will go to these events and have varying disabilities. Michael is able to interact with these students and eventually he even when to a protest, although with some hesitation, that was dedicated to advocating for the rights of those with

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