In reading this article I was reminded of the movie the Soloist, which I hope eveyone in our cohort gets the opportunity to view. As a special ed teacher for many years, I have found it so intersting how teachers, parents, and even students view disabilities. One of my young students had CP, was hearing and visually impaired and at the age of 3-5 (his ages when I had him) fought everyday to look and act normal. He would fight to rip off his leg supports. He would pull off his Kochler (sp?) implant to hid it from others to see. At his young age he know what it was like to be "not-normal". I fought hard to help him reach the goals he wanted. Like Joel, he had the spirit to thrive.
As a mother of a daughter who had special needs, her teachers from Kindergarten through high school would not consider her with a disability even when her grades were hurting. The teachers did not have the skills to recognize her struggles. I had to take charge and get testing done outside of the school system to get the answers I know where there.
I guess my true thoughts on this topic is based on the movie, The Soloist. Of all the disabilities that schools encounter I feel that mental illness is the most ignored of all the disabilities. Like the soloist, this populations struggles privately, especially as the disease begins to surface and becomes evident. However, most family members and physicans cannot put their finger on it. In fact, most people who suffer form weight issues to physical disabilities also suffer from mental anquish and that is the part that, I feel, does the biggest damage. This behavior usually shows up in the class as behavioral issues and withdrawel. It is the biggest diability because it can be so silent but yet so damaging to the total wholeness of the student. My daughter, who was diagnosed as delexia, attention defficet-non hyper, also fought and continues to fight depression from the years of knowing she was not normal and struggling to live in a normal world. Her energy was used to mask and hide her inner struggles.
For students with all kinds of disabilities, life is extra hard, harder than our crazy and frustrating lives are. To add to this, the cruelty of peer pressure, creates multiple problems. I am so happy that Dr. Jackson brought this article forward for our cohort to read. I would challenge all educational leaders to strive to be an advocate to students with disabilities.