talking points # 8 on Kliewer

Premise:

• citizenship


• school


• teachers


• down syndrome


• segregated


• "special ed"


• disabilities


• stereotypes


• individualism


• dominant culture


• community


• learning


• segregation


• uniqueness


• ineducable


• "normal"
• perceptions
• equality

Author's Argument:

Kliewer argues that children with disabilities can learn and that teachers must accommodate all children. There is community value in all children and we must get rid of segregated classes. Students with disabilities should be placed in the same classes as everyone else because each child contributes a unique value to the class.

Evidence:

1. Shane argued "that each student contributed a unique and potential valuable dimension to the web of relationships that formed a school community."
2. "The class would not be half what it is if any one of those kids got segregated." This quote shows that kids with disabilities are valuable in "normal" classes and how they should not be segregated.
3. "In classrooms that recognize all children as citizens, teachers and peers have rejected the image of community burden attached to Down syndrome."This quote shows that all children should be recognized as citizens.

Questions/Comments/Points to share:

I really liked this article because it mad a good argument to why children with disabilities should be accepted into the community. It also showed me that kids with disabilities are not burdens they are stimulates to the class. Even though the author makes a valid argument, I still do not know where I stand on this argument. Should kids with disabilities be segregated or mixed with mainstream students. In one sense I think they should because I believe in equal opportunity to every student. I think that all students are deserving of the same education. In another sense I say no because students with disabilities may distract the other kids in the class. I am not staying this to be disrespectful, I just think that they may be distracting students without them knowing it. As you can see I am in the middle on this issue and I do not know if they should have special-ed classes or not.

A quote form this article reminded me of the article written by Johnson. In this article there was a quote that say "Lee is, in a sense, in a way he's branded. People see him. They see Down Syndrome." In the second chapter of Johnson's book he talks about how people with disabilities are seen only for their disabilities. This is very true the person becomes the disability and nothing else. This is sad that people are only seen as deaf or crippled and not for their personality. When you talk about the person you say "yeah the deaf kid" or something like that. People do not even call them by their name, they call them by their disability. We need to become more sensitive and treat people with a little more kindness.