Lesson 4: Common Disabilities and Types of Mental Illness

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     Blindness and Visual Impairments: Suggestions to Improve Access and Positive Interactions

•        To guide a person who is blind, let him or her take your arm. If you encounter steps, curbs, or other obstacles, identify them and pause briefly before proceeding.

• Speak directly to the person in a normal tone and speed.

•     Do not pet or play with a working guide or service dog.

• When entering or leaving a room, say so.

• When a person who has a visual impairment is meeting many people, introduce them individually.

• Remove displays or other objects; avoid clutter; use large letter signs; raise low-hanging signs or lights.

•   Use alternative formats for written materials.

              Deafness and Hearing Impairments- Improve Access and    Positive Interactions

• • Using a normal tone, speak clearly and distinctly.
  • Use facial expressions, body language, and pantomime.
  • If a sign language interpreter is involved, speak directly to the person who is deaf, not the interpreter.
  • If you are writing a message don’t talk at the same time.
  • Ask the person to repeat himself or herself if you do not understand. The goal is communication; don’t pretend to understand.
  • Avoid standing in front of a light source or window that might silhouette your face, making it difficult to see you clearly.
  • Install a Teletypewriter (TTY) in your office.
  • Learn how to find a sign language interpreter on short notice.
  • If you know sign language try using it. It may help to communicate but also demonstrates your willingness to meet the person halfway.
  • Arrange for people with hearing impairments to sit near the speaker in lecture/performance
  
  

       ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Improve Access   and Positive Interactions:

• Get the person’s attention before talking to them.

• Be patient when communicating with someone with ADHD.

• Give positive reinforcement.

• Decrease the length of tasks and divide tasks into smaller parts to be completed at different times.

• Keep instructions simple. Limits, rules and consequences should be clearly stated and carried out consistently.

• Keep the participant close to the activity leader during group activity times, when attending or participating becomes a problem.

• Take frequent breaks.

• Keep a consistent daily schedule.
  
  
  
  
  Learning Disabilities-Disorder-Improve Access and Positive Interactions:
  
  
  • Be aware that occasional inattentiveness, distraction, or loss of eye contact by a person with a learning disability is not unusual.
  • When communicating with a person with a learning disability, discuss openly the preferred way to communicate.
  • Be sensitive to the fact that some information processing problems may affect social skills.
  • Provide structure and clear concrete expectations.
  • Provide positive reinforcement. Do not embarrass the participant by asking him or her to do a task that will draw attention to the disability.
  • If the participant has difficulty with coordination, be sure to analyze activities for any safety issues and to manage any identified risks.
    
  Mental Illness- Types and definition
  
  
  
  
  1. Depression
  Everyone feels “blue” or sad occasionally. But if that emotion continues for long periods, and if it is accompanied by feelings of guilt and hopelessness, it could be an indication of depression. People who suffer serious depression say they feel their lives are pointless. They feel slowed down, “burned out” and useless. 
  
  
  2. Manic Depressive Bipolar Disorder
   Sufferers’ mood may swing from depression to an abnormal elation or mania that is characterized by hyperactivity, scattered ideas, distractibility, and recklessness. 
  
  
  3. Anxiety Disorders
  when a person’s fear becomes an irrational, pervasive terror or a nagging worry or dread that interferes with daily life, he or she may be suffering from some form of anxiety disorder.
  There are many different expressions of excessive anxiety. Phobic disorders, for example, are irrational, terrifying fears about a specific object, social situations or public places. Psychiatrists divide phobic disorders into several different classifications, most notably specific phobias, social phobias and agoraphobia.
  
  
  
  
  4. Schizophrenia
  The hallmark of schizophrenia is a distorted thought pattern. The thoughts of people with Schizophrenia often seem to dart from subject to subject, often in an illogical way. Patients may think others are watching or plotting against them. Often, they lose their self-esteem or withdraw from those close to them. The disease often affects the five senses. Persons suffering schizophrenia sometimes hear nonexistent sounds, voices or music or see nonexistent images. Because their perceptions do not fit reality, they react inappropriately to the world. In addition, the illness affects the emotions. Patients react in an inappropriate manner or without any visible emotion at all.
  
  
  5. Substance Abuse/Addictive Behavior
  Substance abuse, the misuse of alcohol, cigarettes and both illegal and legal drugs, is by far the predominant cause of premature and preventable illness, disability and death in our society.
  Many people who struggle with mental illnesses also struggle with alcohol or drug habits that may have begun in their mistaken belief that they can use the substance to “medicate” the painful feelings that accompany their mental illness. This belief is mistaken because substance abuse only adds to the suffering, bringing its own mental and physical anguish
  
  
  
  

  Suggestions to Improve Access and Positive Interactions for Mental Illness

  
  

  
  

  • Remember that people with mental illness do not have lower intelligence.

  • Be aware that people with more severe mental illnesses may have difficulty processing

   or expressing emotions.

  
  

  • Be sensitive to the fact that some people with mental illness may overreact to

   emotionally charged topics or conversations.

  
  

  • Learn more about the nature of the person’s diagnosed mental illness
  
  
  Resources 
  
  

• I  I am adding my application for the assignment in how to help a child with ADHD and a learning disability. https://1drv.ms/p/s!Ano_1vcorOeMp0jUjuA1Wchp9hEc

• š Adding some videos that others people added for the Professor tool box, that can help support those with mental illnesses and how to treat them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VRRx7Mtep8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yco8av5NL1I

• š Down Below I added different Disabilities and how to have positive interactions with them and I also added about the different mental illnesses and their definitions.

• š I I also added a video of people who lived a mental illness. It called Living With Schizophrenia: A Call For Hope and Recovery (Documentary. It is what their live is like and their struggles. This is great because it gives us insights what their reality is like and that they are normal just like us. https://youtu.be/2HSSxT0PSww