Slowly, we, along with the actor, became accustomed to the differences until no, they didn t go away, but because the kids were neat kids, we didn t either. Probably the best examples seen at the Congress of humorously confronting absolutely silly stereotypes was one of the films that tied for first place in the Drama category, Hold Up. A robbery takes place in Anytown. Let the REAL people solve this crime. This attitude persists despite the fact that each of the people who are disabled have solid jobs and are, for the most part, successfully mainstreamed into the community.
Knowledge lessens fear and fear can hinder interaction.
And the biggest boost to accurate information again leads back to people speaking for themselves-the actors who have disabilities, the parents, siblings, friends. Timely issues were raised in such a way that the average viewer could understand AND be interested in them, e.g. legislative changes, accessibility, adaptive house planning, technological advances, assistants for people with disabilities, etc. Vital areas of the total rehabilitation process were portrayed. The most outstanding example, and one that applies to nations at every stage of development is that of Early Intervention. Viewers witnessed the benefits of detecting disabilities in children at the earliest possible stage, of infant stimulation and participation of family members as well as the use of simple adaptive devices to ensure that children go through, as much as possible, normal stages of development.