DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

             Welcome to my E-Portfolio web page!

 

Welcome to my e-Portfolio web page. My name is Tobie Buford. I enjoy learning.  My goal for this e-Portfolio web page is to get my readers interested in becoming scholars in the field of Disability Studies. I have been in the field of Developmental Disabilities for more than twenty years. Would you believe that prior to my enrollment in The School of Professional Studies my exposure to people with disabilities were people with intellectual disabilities.  I never considered other disabilities beyond people with intellectual disabilities.

 

Do not misunderstand me people with disabilities have always been a part of my life.  They are my neighbors, members of my church, family members friends and coworkers. I had a blind uncle name (Dowd) and my brother (Darryll) had a hearing impairment and used a hearing aid. I have a lovely niece (Sydney) whom I adore to pieces and she is a person with Autism. Therefore, people with disabilities have always been in my life. The differences are that as family members you do not see the disability because you always see the person first.

 

 

You see their strengths, first, then you see their difficulties with tasks.  So once I began to study disability studies it became clear to me that our society is divided into two groups, ablest members of society and disabled members of society  The moment I completed my first course I knew that my mind was exposed to a field of study that would keep me intrigued for years to come.  

 

I gained enormous knowledge about people with disabilities. Did you know that every person in one way or another will be or has been disabled? A person with a broken leg is disabled. Yes, the impairment is a temporary situation but none the less disabling for that person.

Are you aware that the civil rights movement and the disabilities rights movement helped to make life more tolerable for both people of color and people with disabilities? Both movements took their gripes to Washington D.C. Both groups created bills that are now laws we live by. 

 

This is the Welcome Section of my web page, so it is an introduction for what’s to come. You will see that I get more detailed about the knowledge I have acquired in the Academic Work Section.  I will do a reflection for each course I have completed. I would like the readers of my E-Portfolio to understand that people with disabilities have a voice. People with disabilities have voices they are only shuttered by inadequate resources, loopholes and prejudices against their full participation into society. These issues are not PWDs, rather it is the invisibility imposed upon PWDs by members of an ablest society.

 

I encourage you to read my E-Portfolio. I am sure you will be impressed with the body of knowledge which will be presented to you. Most importantly I would like for my readers to consider broadening their knowledge by becoming disability study scholars. 

 

Enjoy!

  

 

 

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.