Personal Narrative: Recreational Trips With Best Buddies

Recreational Trips with Best Buddies

Each year, a program called Best Buddies recruit a group of students to volunteer in their program. These are people who want to make a friend with someone who has an intellectual disability and want to contribute to the community, promoting a sense of belonging. Throughout high school, I became a part of the Best Buddies group and I am happy I did! Although the school had thorough accessibility for its students, it was interesting to me to see how inclusion was assimilated in outside businesses. The opportunity came to go on a recreational field trip to the movie theatre. On this trip, I remember thinking specifically of how everything, from the transportation to the theater rooms, integrated alternative …show more content…
Before this day, my ideal world may have not necessarily included a more inclusive world. After this day, it was a lot clearer to me where we may lack accessibility and where improvements have been made. I keep in mind all aspects the barriers we face in order to put myself in other’s shoes. In an ideal world, anyone and everyone, no matter their state, would be capable of caring for themselves independently. This would include, showering, using the washroom, making food, transportation, communication. With more and more advancements in technology, these needs are being met and improved constantly. An ideal world would include understanding of all people where ignorance is eliminated and differences are appreciated. If given unlimited funding, I would ensure all public locations have adequate and inclusive assistance for all people of the public. This would include improving physical barriers such as ramps, elevators, and automatic doors. In order to improve communication barriers, sign language should be included in elementary schools. Schools across the world would use the advanced technologies to make communication simpler between all students. All individuals who require assistance in one way or another will receive it through a health plan. The world would respect the principles of dignity, independence and …show more content…
Whether it is through technical developments, educating the public, or implementing laws which require all public places to be fully accessible. In today’s world, large scale public places such as shopping malls and movie theaters seem to cover bases for inclusivity, such as elevators and ramps. This was evident on our trip to the movie theater and again solidified through the students surveyed in the academic paper. On the Best buddies field trip, I learned and witnessed the many barriers touched upon in this paper, most specifically, the physical barriers. When we went to the movies, not only did we encounter physical barriers, but we ran into social barriers as well. The students on my trip felt embarrassed, excluded, and ridiculed. As stated by the children surveyed in the academic journal, the children who constantly found themselves trying to navigate their way around and waiting for their transportation meant feelings of exclusion by peers and family. These children experience barriers in aspects that non-disabled children might ever consider. In an ideal world, the lives of disabled children would be full with opportunity to engage in activities, no matter the location, social, or environmental aspects. These places need to be completely barrier-free in every aspect to enable disabled children to navigate them on their own. It is evident an ideal world is not where we stand today as a society, but are increasingly