Inclusion

DAMMIT, I’M PISSED NOW.

I read this story about a special ed teacher (who is qualified by certifications and degrees, no doubt) who put together a club at her school, “Creating Exceptional Character,” which is a local chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children – a national organization devoted to special education. The club brought typical students into classrooms after school to work with students with special needs. She then created an elective course (offered to general education juniors and seniors) that would “follow a goal related to the club, which is to introduce the history and interaction of individuals with disabilities."

The article called it a “reverse inclusion” class. I have severely mixed feelings about it. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off! I would like to start off by saying that I am very, very sure this teacher had good intentions in creating this club and elective course, and maybe I’m being overly sensitive, but a couple things really get me going.

First of all, the typical kids who take this elective course are referred to as “positive-peer role models.” Excuse me, but why are the kids without disabilities the "positive role models?” Don’t you think that those kids stand to learn a lot from the kids with disabilities? Why aren’t the kids in wheelchairs considered positive role models? I would say that my daughter models ultimate levels of patience, kindness and immeasurable love, for starters.

The teacher stated in the article, “I saw really good students not knowing how to interact with special-needs students, and it gave me an idea to design a course that would educate typical students." That’s great. I really like the sound of that. Then she goes on to say, “You can’t imagine what it’s like to watch a football player who’s popular and has a girlfriend, feed a Thanksgiving dinner to a student in a wheelchair.”

WHAT??

So a POPULAR kid with a GIRLFRIEND feeding a kid in a wheelchair at dinner….THAT’S the standard of successful inclusion??? WT?!!!

Why do people automatically assume that people with disabilities should be pitied and have people around them saying things like, "Awww…look, he’s so cuuuute when he’s trying to tell a joke or flag a taxi or just wanting to socialize.” You know, those things that everybody else on the planet does.

We need to look at people with disabilities with the SAME EYES we look at people without disabilities. If you wouldn’t say, “awww” to a man in his thirties who is not disabled, why would you do that to someone who is? That’s called INFANTILIZATION. Yes, it’s actually a real word and a real occurrence. And it’s also really annoying.

When I went to the Down Syndrome conference a few weeks ago, one of the self-advocates there was a young man who is 21 years old, and he gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Why We Are More Alike Than Different,” comparing people with Down Syndrome to those without. I was sitting at a table with a bunch of college girls and all they kept saying, Every. Single. Time. this man said anything was, “Awwwww! He’s so cuute!!” And they all looked at each other with their shoulders raised, eyebrows up, corners of their mouths turned down…you know, that dumb “aw shucks” look girls get sometimes. I wanted to slap them every time. But I didn’t want to get fired that day, so I held off. I mean, he was making sense, putting forth a very reasonable and logical argument: he IS more alike than different! But I have this nagging feeling that they didn’t hear what he was saying. They were just thinking how "cute” this boy is, standing up there in his cute shirt and tie and…oh, look! He managed to tie BOTH his shoes! AWWWWWW!!!

So back to the “reverse inclusion” idea, I know some of you out there will wonder, “What’s the big deal?” Well, here it is: why is it that when a program, social activity, ‘fun gathering,’ whatever, is organized for people with disabilities, it seems like it’s a great big pity party? I mean, doesn’t my daughter DESERVE to have fun stuff to do – not because she’s disabled, but because she’s a great kid?

Take the Girl Scouts, for example. Is it an organization that gets girls together to give those poor kids something to do? No! They teach them things, and the girls get to make friends, have fun; they impact others around them because of their different strengths and abilities. There’s a purpose behind it. Something bigger than getting the crippled kids together in a big room and inviting the cool kids to smile at them and feed them mashed potatoes.

Anyways…this program, the “reverse inclusion” one, although it started out with a good intent, I believe it is a piss-poor example of how inclusion SHOULD be done.

Damn, we got so much work to do!!!

Melissa is an advocator of social & civil justice for people with disabilities. She is a mom who fights for equality for all – ALWAYS! – on her blog, The Seed.