"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

I found the film, “Confronting the Myth,” both hysterical and an eye opener. Keith Jones’ presentation was captivating the entire time, as he shared his experiences with us. I found him to be a comedian, yet realistic as well. I think the overall point he was trying to make during the film, was to inform us that we have these false preconceived notions that a person with a disability is helpless. They are unable to speak, hear, and are dependent on everyone else.  He goes on to say that a person with a disability is not human. They don’t exist. I agree with his statement, “They’re not just people with disabilities; they’re mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins, teachers, doctors, etc.” Too many of us focus only on the disability, which they use to define that person. This is why we have to say the person with the disability, rather than, “He’s autistic.” Saying that someone is autistic eliminates the human being behind the disability.  One of his myths that struck me was how people with disabilities are unable to go to college. I then put myself in his shoes. If someone ever said that to me, those words would be enough to motivate me to achieve anything. And then I’d go back to that person after finishing college, and shove my diploma in their face. I liked when he said,  "No one has the right to take your dream away.” I believe this is true in any situation, not just with people with disabilities. Something I never knew or thought of before was the two schools of thought for people with disabilities. Some people with disabilities are angry and feel as though it’s a sense of loss, while others are told from the beginning, they could never or never will do something. I feel that it would be harder for someone to acquire a disability later in life, after having experiences that are suddenly taken away from you. I found it shocking to hear Keith explain about his high school experience with his teachers calling them crippled. If you called someone crippled today in school, I feel as though it would not go over very well, as times have changed. It was even more interesting to find that Keith and his friends did not think of themselves as handicapped. They were teenagers, in high school and graduating, but they never thought of themselves as cripples or handicapped, because it did not define them. My favorite two lines from the video were, “stupidity should be a disability,” and “disabilities challenge people’s morality.” Although I find the first quote to be funny, I think people are poorly educated with the topic of disabilities, and how to act around people with disabilities. I was never educated in high school and up until college did I learn about people with disabilities. I think it would be beneficial for children to learn about disabilities starting in high school or even earlier. The second quote was a favorite of mine because I think it ties back to those preconceived notions. People have previously thought those with disabilities as being dependent, unable to speak, unable to go to college, hold a job, have kids, etc. With the changing times, I hope people are becoming more aware of how they should treat people with disabilities, and seeing the human first, instead of the disability.