Citizenship in School; Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

Citizenship in School; Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

Christopher Kliewer

Quotes

"It’s not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here-kids, teachers, parents, whoever-it’s about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that's what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."

First off I think this is a great quote and something that we as aspiring teachers should live by. Second, I read an article in my Special ed 300 class that was called “The Least Dangerous Assumption” the whole article was based on the idea “In the absence of absolute evidence, it is essential to make the assumption that, if proven to be false, would be the least harmful to the individual.” It tells a couple of stories about a few children with disabilities but basically it is saying that if you put a child with disabilities in a special education class would you ever know if they would succeed in a general education class? You would never know. The article supports inclusion so that special education students aren’t labeled because most can do well will a little bit of differentiated instructing, and I just thought that the article really fit well with this quote.

“The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with developmental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities”

            This quote in a way sort of bugs me, not because of what it is stating but because that people actually have negative attitudes about people with disabilities. When is the last time you heard someone say retard or idiot (idiot is the old word before mental retardation) in a positive manner, probably never. It also irks me that the reasons why stereotypes are even present are because society excludes people to make them be stereotyped. We exclude people with disabilities, put them in “special ed” If these people weren’t out-ed as “special” would people ever started having negative attitudes? Would we have people who think blacks are worth less than whites if we didn’t have slavery? Or that men are better than women if Eve came before Adam? The answer probably not, so maybe we should stop “outing” them. The barrier does need to be broken because it’s sickening that there are so many negative attitudes about people with disabilities.

“Lee is in a way he’s branded. People see him. They see Down syndrome. They see mental challenge, retardation, whatever you want to call it. That’s what they see, but wouldn’t be seeing him.”

I really like this quote. If we generally see children with disabilities as incapable then we wouldn’t be giving them a chance. We “wouldn’t be seeing them” but if we look past these stereotyped labels then children with disabilities will have a better opportunity in their future and not be so “branded”

This is a video about a school in MA where inclusion is really working and it's sort of close to home so I thought it was interesting.


In class I want to talk about our personal opinions on inclusion and if it is better or worse.