Living wellUnit 1

Look at the pictures below. What are their problems?

lose their left legs

lose her hearing

lose her sight

Disability is a lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard. Disability may involve various impairments ( 缺陷 ), mental disorder and different types of chronic ( 慢性 ) diseases. A disability may occur during a person's lifetime or may be present from birth.

What is Disability?

Do you know anyone with a mental or physical disability? Does their disability make it difficult for them to do some things? What have they tried to do to overcome these difficulties?

Do you know these people below and what disease theyhave? How do they face their life with disabilities?

Steven Hawking

physicist / mathematician

famous scientist known for his theory about black holes and big bangs:A Brief History of Time

born mentally disabled with an IQ of a child

famous conductor

Zhouzhou ( 舟舟 )

became disabled at the age of 5, taught herself English and took up writing in 1983

writer

Zhang Haidi ( 张海迪 )

第四届 CCTV 电视舞蹈大赛群众创作表演舞蹈专场中，由残疾人马丽、翟孝伟表演的舞蹈《牵手》令观众震撼。

Ma Li Zhai Xiaowei( 马丽 翟孝伟 )

dancer

though named “ 杨光” ,he has lived in a worldof darkness since he was8 months old.

Yang Guang ( 杨光 )singer

He impressed the audience at 2008 Spring Festival Gala Evening.

Beethoven

musician

Let’s enjoy his well-known work Symphony( 交响乐 ) No. 5. also named The Destiny Symphony.

Beethoven's hearing gradually worsenedin his twenties, yet he continued to compose, and to conduct and perform, even after he was completely deaf.

邰丽华deaf

dancer

邰丽华 : 我感觉残疾不是缺陷，而是人类多元化的一个特点，残疾不是不幸，只是不便，其实每个人的人生都是一样的，有圆，有缺，有满，有空，这是你没有办法选择的，但是你可以去选择看人生的角度，然后带着一颗快乐而感恩的心态去面对人生的不圆满。这就是我对生活的感悟。

Let’s see their performance.

千手观音21 位舞者是生活在无声世界的聋哑人，他们平均年龄 17 岁，最小的只有 13 岁。

Light in My Darkness Helen Keller

American educator/writer

Helen Keller became blind when she was less than 2 years old. She was deaf soon after that. He grew into a highly intelligent woman with her teacher’s help. Her most famous article Three Days to See.

Pair Work

What can you learn from them?

belief

confident

optimistic

patient

persevere

courage

diligent passion

strong-mindedindependent

Look at the pictures on page 1 and read what these people have achieved even though they each have a disability. With a partner, discuss what their disability might be.

The following list might help you.

mental disability learning difficulty hearing problem difficulty with eyesightbrain injury loss of an arm or a legwalking difficulty

Do you want to know more about disability? Let’s get online to http://www.familyvillage.wise.edu

Please read the family village website.

Welcome to the Family Village! We are a global community that integratesinformation, resources, and communicationopportunities on the Internet for persons with cognitive and other disabilities, for their families, and for those that provide them services and support. Our community includes informational resources on specific diagnoses, communicationconnections, adaptive products and technology,

education, worship, health issues and literature,

and much, much more! So stop in, stroll around, and visit some of the Family Village's attractions. Simply click on a place to explore and discover an useful information! Let us know what you like and visit often, for our village is constantly changing.

After reading the website “Family village”, discuss with a partner what kind of things you think people write about. The Family Village website gives ordinary people with a disability the chance to tell their personal stories. These stories are very positive and describe the satisfying lives these young people live even though they have some difficulties.

Other disabled people find the website beneficial because they can read about

people with similar difficulties to their own. The website is also a way for non-disabled people to understand more

about how challenging life can be for people with disabilities.

Homework

1. Look up the new words and expressions of the reading in the dictionary.2. Preview the reading: MARTY’S STORY