“To be honest, I love having a label”
Tyler works everyday with people with disability and self-identifies
with Autism. How does he change people’s views? He says that he does not
inform some of his friends about his disability until later on in their
friendship. When he does tell them about it, their views on people with
Autism change because the taboo is lifted and they can openly discuss it
with him. Being ‘label-free’ to some of his friends, and later
intentionally talking about his disability, shows the people around him
that disability was already part of their life. This, he says, changes
their views towards other people with Autism and Aspergers, because they
are not, [as he jokingly put it] “diseased” or off-limits.
Tyler continues to say that Arts2Gether is “showing that people can
achieve no matter what… if their brain is wired differently or
physically disabled… it makes no difference”. Even though Tyler
identifies with disability, he liked our idea of a label free space: “A
space where people can make artwork, and people are defined by what they
do rather than how they are perceived”. His call to others is a
critical perspective which was able to be expressed in the space (Bigby
et al, 2013), “think about yourself and what benefits you” otherwise
people with disabilities won’t meet their needs because society doesn’t
necessarily account for them. He is encouraging people from his
community to support themselves first, and lead the way in the
transition to inclusion.
A new perspective of the
different