Segregation in MN
Minnesota remains highly segregated when it comes to adults with disabilities. Read this new Star Tribune report.
Tag: inclusion
Segregated Proms are Segregated
A segregated DC school throws a segregated prom and applauds itself for its segregation. Everyone in this story has nothing but good intent. They are working hard for their students. But this is the wrong attitude. “If we had these students in a conventional school, they’d probably sit in a corner and not engage, or …
Jeff Sessions is Anti-Inclusive Education
All of the Trump cabinet appointees are likely to be, in my estimation, bad choices. There are few elite Republicans whose position on the function of the federal government I share in any way. That said, there are two clear types of appointees. 1) Those who are eager to use the coercive power of the …
Inclusion Denied in West Virginia
(Reposted from 9/16/15 on a defunct part of the site) In West Virginia, a young man with Down syndrome is being told he can’t attend the inclusive school near his house. It all started when Roy’s parents noticed he was becoming more disinterested in school while attending Magnolia High School during his freshman year. In …
Is Church Only for the Neurotypical?
In America, an English-language Jesuit magazine, Mary Berth Werdel (a prof at Fordham) has a powerful essay about church and her autistic son. She begins with diagnosis and all its complexities, a story I’ve heard many times from many parents (which doesn’t make this story less important or well-written!), but I really want to focus …
Inclusion, not Same-ness: Walgreens and the Disability Cliff
Over the last few months, I have been focusing more on “the cliff,” which is a way some disability advocates refer to turning 22 in our system. Until then, special education provides support for school, training, and even certain kinds of therapies and other activities throughout a child’s life. At 22, nothing. Work is hard …
Tale of Inclusion: Down Syndrome and Violence at the Play Area
Yesterday I got a comment on another post from a parent who ended up on my blog. The short version is that at a public play-place her son was hurt by a child with DS and she didn’t know what to do about it, because how can you blame a child with DS for anything? …
“It’s so sad when people have special needs”: Thoughts on Inclusion from the Bus Stop
Not Nico’s Actual Bus “It’s so sad when people have special needs.” A caring, sweet, 4th-grader said this to me at the bus stop a few minutes ago. My son and I crossed the street, running and laughing, happy. Then he asked me to go see a dog that was being walked across the grass, …
Awkwardness and Inclusion
I’m off to a workshop today, but wanted to offer a few quick thoughts on a great series of videos. Scope, a British advocacy group, has made an outstanding series of videos that are fundamentally about inclusive society – how to you shake a hand that’s not there, how do you talk to people in …
Education – Individualized; not-sameness
I’ve been writing about work and inclusion this week. I actually began the week by writing against the sheltered workshop model and celebrating a Rhode Island decision. But as I clarified in that post, the goal isn’t to end all sheltered workshops, but to end the default slide into segregation that dominates the work-life of …