Kliewer-Citizenship in Schools

In this article the author Kliewer talks about the citizenship inside the classroom as it relates to children with down syndrome.  In fact any child with a disability is placed in Special Education classrooms whether they have down syndrome, autism, or some other type of disability.  I love how the Kliewer talks about teachers who made it the norm to intergrade their students with disabilities into the communication and community of the classroom.  As Kliewer states that is very important to live as we know it.  Networking, communicating, social interaction.  Students need social interaction to feel part of and motivate them to be better humans.  It is human nature to want to be part of and students with disabilities want to be part of too.  I love what Jessica said in her blog. "they have a disability, but their disability is not who they are."  I can not agree with her more.  People with disabilities are people too the disability is not who they are.  Just like Shayne's aide Anne was her own person and to be honest didn't really like working with children and yet the committee put her as an aide and she was going to have to do that for the rest of her life and not be happy.  But what she was happy with the most was movies and she wanted to be a Hollywood director and Shayne helped her get a job in a movie store. Shayne said "It's not Hollywood, but it's a start." And she is right.  Anne got a job and is good at it and knows everything there is to know about movies.  But because the committee didn't really listen to her they didn't know that and didn't think she could do it.  That is the problem, people in society think that people with a disability can't do certain things but if they just stopped and listened to them they might find out that they really can.  For example Isaac.  Just because he couldn't speak in words doesn't mean he didn't know what was going on or couldn't communicate.  He communicated in sounds and acting things out and was really passionate about it and good at it.  It was Shayne who had to figure out how to learn from him in order for her to teach him.

Now here is where the problem sets in.  Students with disabilities are segregated into classrooms with other students who have disabilities and not with the other students in the school for the most part.  Some students with disabilities are more severe than others.  Now I agree that every person with a disability is his or own person and I can only relate this to my own experience.  My fiancé's brother has sever autism and is one of the smartest people I know but struggles in social events and large crowds of people.  He can learn very quickly and can retain information but has a hard time staying focused.  Now in my opinion I do not like that they segregate the students but in my future brother in law's case this classroom helps him.  Now I believe that every student with a disability can be integrated into "normal" classrooms.  Some students with disabilities are good with music and can function in a normal music class.  Some can play an instrument and can be in band class.  Others are great in math and can take classes with the rest of the students in math class.  I believe every student with a disability can be in gym class with the other students.  This gets them into social interactions with other students and they can express their individuality.  Now in the case of my future brother in law, he is fantastic with computers, movies, and tv shows.  He can tell you how to play any type of computer game but not only that he can show you have to use computers, fix them and set up different programs on them.  He knows almost every movie and tv show.  So why couldn't he be integrated into some type of film class.  Or even better a type of tech class fixing computers?  He most certainly could be but isn't.  This is what Kliewer was talking about in the article and the citizenship of students and the dialogue.  Because people do not think that people with disabilities can think for themselves or even make the right decisions for themselves but they can.  They are their own person and know themselves better than anything and if people just took the time to listen to them and get to know them they would know what they want and what they are capable of doing.  It's human nature and yes people with disabilities might seem different but they feel the same way as everyone else does and in reality they just want to fit in.  Especially kids, every kid in high school wants to fit in and it is not different with kids with disabilities.  They want to interact with other kids and play with other kids and do what other kids are doing.  So why can't they?  This is a very touchy subject for me and I am very passionate about it.  I have always treated people the same way and that everyone is equal and that means people with disabilities as well.  My fiancé is a Special Education Pre-School teacher and I love volunteering in her classroom and working the little ones.  My brother works with adults with disabilities and I love visiting with his clients and talking to them about their day and their jobs and what is going on with them.  Like I said people could do so much more to make people with disabilities feel more part of and that is what this article is saying and what I am talking about here in the blog. 

Some questions for the class.  How many are looking to teach in Special Education?  How can you work on integrating your classroom once you are a teacher?  What can you do to change the "norm"?