Christopher Kliewer

Christopher Kliewer

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

1.) “It’s not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We’re all here-kids, teachers, parents, whoever- it’s about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that’s what learning is. Don’t tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail.”

I really liked this quote from Shayne. She did not see or label any of her students as defective. I think that’s a great thing because separating children with disabilities from the other students technically does not help them. I believe it’s best for teachers to include students in all activities no matter if a child has a disability or not. This is exactly what Shayne did. She realized that segregation from the other students in the long run sets them up to “fail.” I believe having every student needs to participate because even the children with disabilities will get some type of positive feedback from the lesson or activity. We need to look past their disabilities.

2.) “If you come into the room and were told there was a retarded child in the class, a child with special needs, I don’t think you would pick Lee out. The kids really agree that he’s as capable as they are. Intellectually the same."

This is a quote from Colleen Madison a teacher of 27 students, 3 were defined as disabled. I found it interesting when Kliewer kind of questions this quote because he mentions that when Lee was 7 he was at a 2 year old level. He finds it to be obvious that an outsider would defiantly realize that Lee has a disability. I agree with Kliewer in the sense that it would be obvious but Colleen has learned to look past it. It like she sees her entire class as equally capable, which I believe is an awesome quality for a teacher to posses. This is Colleen’s response to Kliewer:

3.) “Lee is in a way he’s branded. People see him. They see Down syndrome. They see mental challenge, retardation, whatever you want to call it. That’s why they see, but wouldn’t be seeing him.”

I found this response to be a great way of looking at this. If we generally see children with disabilities as incapable then we wouldn’t be giving them a chance. We “wouldn’t be seeing them” but if we look past these labels then children with disabilities will have a better opportunity in their future.

I really liked this article, although it was a little lengthy. I feel like I would have been able to relate to it more if I was going for special education but this piece truly opened my eyes. I loved the examples he gives throughout the article. I feel like this article can defiantly help me in the future because I now know how much children with disabilities can benefit as long as teachers look past their “labels.” I feel like teachers think there doing students a favor by not including them in activities or lessons. They feel they are not capable of but in reality it’s hurting them.