Above is my final project for Honors 455. In this paper, I discuss how the environment in group homes can affect staff and clients. In order to write this paper, I had to be working and observing the clients and staff often. I believe that I got the most out of the experience in the group home because I learned so many new things about the culture of people with disabilities while working there and observing everyone. I believe that this demonstrates level 3 and 4 of Self-Awareness, level 3 and 4 of Knowledge and Understanding and level 3 of Communication. Self-Awareness level 3: “Recognizes new perspectives about own cultural rules and biases and compares and contrasts own culture with other individuals and their cultures” and level 4: “Perceives one’s personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede our own understanding; shows awareness of what one does not understand and why understanding is so difficult.” Knowledge and Understanding level 3: “Develops and sustains interactions with people from different cultures and demonstrates how these experiences relate to one’s own worldview” and level 4:”Demonstrates awareness of differences in cultural practices and adjusts own behavior accordingly in familiar and unfamiliar situations in an attempt to bridge cultures.” Communication level 3: “Creates communication that is culturally appropriate in the target language in familiar and a limited number of unfamiliar situations.” Since starting this class and this project, I found myself noticing more things about the culture of people with disabilities vs the culture of people without disabilities. For example, for people without disabilities, it is more common to have all sorts of different jobs. While some people with disabilities can have different jobs in the community as well, they typically do not have the same range of options. I have realized that as a culture of people without disabilities, it is very common to take our life for granted. What I mean by this is we have a lot more opportunities as well as more independence than many of those in the culture of people with disabilities (self-awareness, level 3). Personally, I didn't grow up around many people with disabilities besides people I knew in school. I believe that growing up this way made it difficult to understand those with disabilities. I always understood that they could not always comprehend things the same as myself, however I struggled to understand how differently they were treated. I find myself still struggling at times to fully understand how they act and feel. While at work, if a client is having a bad day, and may be having a bad behavior, it is difficult sometimes to understand why when they are non-verbal. It takes understanding the individual, to start understanding how they act and behave. At the end of the day, even though they are a part of a different culture, they are still human and have feelings that they want to be heard just like everyone else. Although this is probably common sense to most people, it is hard when someone, like me, did not grow up around those with disabilities. You have these perceptions of those with disabilities as one big group that cannot be independent. This is almost a prejudice because it is clear that many with disabilities have the ability to be very independent. It was important for me to understand that to help my understanding and awareness of this culture (self-awareness, level 4). In order to write my final project effectively, I had to combine my personal experiences with research. Doing both of these things helped me to further understand how the culture of people with disabilities differs from mine. Another example of a difference would be that those with disabilities often need extra direction or more clear-cut directions whereas people without disabilities are sometimes expected to figure things out on their own or with minimal direction. Since I could recognize the many differences, I was able to better communicate with my clients because I had a better idea of their point of view. This included giving better direction, talking calmly and clearly and trying to understand their feelings in order to better communicate (communication, level 3). Overall my experience working in a group home has challenged me in many different ways. As I discussed before, it is difficult to communicate effectively at times. Although it's difficult, it's important I stay patient when working to try and understand a client. Working at the group home has also helped me to understand the culture and community of those with disabilities so much more. I feel like I have more patience and understanding for those with disabilities when they are having a bad day or trying to communicate their feelings. It is important in these situations that I adjust my attitude to one of understanding in order to make them feel as comfortable and understood as possible (knowledge and understanding, level 4). Since I have worked with my clients for almost three years, I have gotten to know them as individuals. Knowing them individually has taught me how different each and every person in their community really is and how important it is to see them as their own people. This has changed my worldview in the sense that I try not to generalize one group in any way. By this I mean, I realize now that it is important to see the whole culture, but to remember that the culture is made up of individuals who may differ from one another. For example, I have learned that one of the most important things in understanding an individual with disabilities is understanding that they are a person before their disability and they deserve to be known as an individual(knowledge and understanding, level 3).