Single Story

There are many single stories out there. When I was 4 I was my mother walked me into my first kindergarten class. As the teacher introduced herself to us she noticed my mother didn't speak English very well. Automatically she began to slowly explain that I would be placed in ESL and she would not need to worry about me. Then, being the sassy 4 year old I was I told my soon to be teacher "I know English I don't need help".
I though of this moment because I think it was my first real confrontation with a single story. They saw my mother and automatically assumed that I did not know English. Many times we let single stories cloud our judgement and make us assume. With social media, new outlets and just word of mouth these assumptions are easier to come by.
This is not the first time I watched this video. I previously watched it in my social work class as well. The biggest problem with these single stories is that we make a single story not just for individuals but for groups of people. We use these to make assumptions of a group of people and don't realize their individuality.
Youth are still trying to find out who they are. Every move they make is judged. One video that stood out to me about "the other side" which I will post along with this is about a select few individuals. These individuals all have hopes, dreams, talents, that are not seen due to a single story. What single story is that? Their disabilities. Because of the way single stories have shaped us we see people as "the man with depression" instead of "the brilliant piano player".