Asmens lygiavertiškumo puoselėjimas – orios asmenybės ugdymo prielaida
Nurturing a person’s equal value as a precondition for dignified personality education

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the issue of the importance of heterogeneous environment for the development of pupils’ attitudes and beliefs towards the acknowledgement of persons’ equal value. Phenomenographic method was applied for the analysis of the perception of dignified life of equal value of a person with disability held by 235 pupils educated in heterogeneous environment. The respondent group comprised 209 ordinarily developing pupils and 29 pupils with disabilities. Their reflections on their daily school experience of learning together with pupils with walking disability and those with learning difficulties were analysed. The pupils were asked to continue an idea of “Pupils with aforementioned disabilities feel of equal value when the school..., when friends..., when I…” Moreover, the respondents attempted to imagine themselves deprived of an ability to walk, moving around in wheelchairs, and selected possibilities of future life that they find acceptable. The results of the research revealed that the pupils who share the environment with their peers experiencing the situation of disability every day recognize the importance of implementing equal opportunities and see a possibility of realizing the principle by means of ensuring a person’s equal rights, perceiving and recognizing another person’s situation. The following have been established as being important for the assurance of equal rights of a person with motional disabilities: on an institutional level: equal rights recognition; on the communal level: focus on friendliness and equal value; on a personal level: cherishing friendliness. In the realization of equal value of pupils with learning difficulties on all levels, particular importance was attributed to support and assistance observing the principle of discreetness. The need is of particular significance on the communal level. According to the pupils, observing the requirements of respect towards a person is of the same importance for the assurance of a person’s equal value. The pupils who constantly see the situation of a person experiencing disability and those who find themselves in the situation of the same kind perceive full-rate life with limited possibilities to move as a life of an active member of society through studying, working, caring for one’s family. Particular importance for the feeling of equal value and dignity of a person deprived of an ability to walk falls on preserved friendship, unaltered attitude of the surrounding people towards him / her, studying opportunities followed by a possibility to work enjoyable and socially valued work. The results of the research suggest that assuring equal opportunities in everyday life situations by recognizing a person’s difficulties, providing necessary and expedient help, and creating conditions for him / her to act form preconditions for the development of a person’s dignity.

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