I don't mean to be racist, but...

This entry is going to be half blog half rant. 

Today we mainly discussed and contrasted the stories of two individuals.  “Ashley” from the Ashley Treatment (google search Ashley Treatment) and Rick Hoyt of “Team Hoyt” (again, a google search on this will turn up many stories).  If you are unfamiliar with either of these stories I urge you to read/watch them. 

As well an interesting point of view brought up during the lecture was the social model of viewing disabilities where the “disability is situated it society’s failure to adapt to the needs of its citizens”.  I think this is an important distinction that has to be made and more widely thought of.  Individuals with disabilities are only “disabled” by the fact they do not somehow function within societal norms.  As to what these norms are, is completely constructed by the world around them.  For example, if the entire country was deaf, we would have much more efficient methods of visual communication.  But since most people are not deaf, it is not a priority to develop such a system. 

So here is where my rant comes in.  When we had this discussion in lecture, specifically while contrasting the two stories of individuals with MID and their families, it seemed the “societal model” of viewing the stories went right out the window.  Almost every person that raised their hand started with something along the lines of “I don’t want to judge, but…” and then proceeded to judge the parents of Ashley while applauding the work of the Hoyt family.  To me, this is very similar to people who say “I don’t mean to be racist, but…” and then make racist comments. 

First off, the discussion we ended up having was ridiculous and unproductive.  The path we went down was not of a constructive evaluation on societal pressures both families have with children with intellectual disorders, rather one where parents were either right or wrong for their decision.  As someone who is an able-bodied white, straight, male, the amount of ways society disables me is quite minimal.  Most the people in the class are very similar, so our ability to relate to these parents or children and pass some form of judgment is laughable. 

More importantly however, is how quickly we were able to completely forget the societal model of viewing disability in favour of giving our own opinion and the individual model of disabilities.  It’s scary that in an hour of being presented with that information it was disregarded, when this is the model we should be keeping in mind in our classrooms and schools for the rest of our lives.  The best way we can help students with MID’s in our classes is by asking what can the school board do for this student?  What can the class do for this student?  What can I do for this student?  And the more we view news stories and other ideas with the societal model the easier it can be to do the same in our classrooms.  Ultimately this will be the best for our kids.

My child is a snowflake!

I was watching a House episode where the patient had to decide whether to keep her perfect memory (her ability to recall every instant of her life) or take pills to get better (which would make her lose her ability).  She struggled with the decision, of not wanting to be normal.  In the end she took the pills.

“if you want to be special, you’re going to have to be alone”

(notice how I’m sticking with the alone theme here…seems somewhat important, eh?)

What does this have to do with education you ask?  Well in the world where “every child is a snowflake”, at least to their parents, the idea and what it truly means to be “special” should really be examined.  This woman, who I believe truly is special, would probably have gotten an IEP in my classroom (I she can’t, who can?).  However the way I see the development of IEP’s and the expansion of learning disability diagnoses is this: I will have 20 kids in classroom with 20 IEP’s. 

Fantastic, no?  My child is a snowflake, going to be the next president, and fly to the moon, they should be getting individual attention from teachers.

So I ask again, what does it mean to be special when everyone else is special?  Does our education system deteriorate when we are unable to discern between those that truly need a more focused attention and those that would succeed if they just applied themselves a bit more, the parents were more involved, or a wide variety of non-“lesson plan accommodation/modification” methods?

My concern and heart goes out to those that truly feel alone because they are special.  Who cannot succeed the same way as their peers, not because they don’t try, but because they try every second of every day with little avail.  My concern and heart goes out to those that might not be seen as that “special” for too much longer going the way we are.

“I was tired of being alone”

That statement stopped me dead in my tracks while reading a document very close to:

http://www.canadianliving.com/life/community/growing_up_lesbian_or_gay_in_canada.php

an article that describes athlete Mark Tewksbury experiences through life and current awareness and education fronts on  Lesbian and Gay youth. 

The reason these 6 words made me put the article down is because in such a short, concise manner this man has described everything wrong with teaching, especially when it comes to youth who are queer in our classrooms.  There are very few people in this world that can fathom what it means to be alone.  This is especially true in every other way you should fit in (this boy in particular was athletic, presumably doing well in school, probably otherwise socially adept) but for one reason that you cannot change about yourself you are ostracized. 

Now what about youth “in the closet”?  They would feel the exact same sense of loneliness (not being able to relate, be a “normal” student in the eyes of society) except.  We have so many terms these days, just look at the alphabet soup of lgbttiqqccp2sa, and as teachers it is very easy to say something that will make a student feel more alone.  Especially when we are the role models of the classroom and set the tone of most interactions in our school.  Now I am not saying lets all jump on the PC bandwagon, but a certain care must be taken to inform ourselves on all of these issues.  Otherwise we will continue to make students feel more alone, and not even know it.

Autism Spectrum

The latest lecture we had was on Autism Spectrum Disorder.  What really hit home with me was the activities we played, revealing how everyday interactions can be very difficult for those who are autistic.  Idioms, for example, cloud communication as people with autism tend to take statements at face value.  From the usage of “face value” you can see how I enjoy idioms and use them in every day conversations.  We all tend to.  However we are blocking the understanding of people we can possibly be speaking to.  It is not unlike English Language Learners.  If someone were to say to me “avoir la chaire de poule” I might hear something about chicken and get a little hungry. 

So when we are in the front of classrooms, and we bring who we are to the profession, how easy will it be to continue this pattern of speech?  To continue this disconnection we have between us and students with autism?  Just something to think about.

I will admit this was the subject out of all the exceptionalities and equity issues we have discussed that I am the least comfortable with.  I do not know a lot about the subject of autism and I am a little embarrassed about it.  However it was great to have a lecture on the subject and I’m definitely going to read more on the subject.  You should learn something every day, right?