My two younger daughters had sports day today. It was in many ways a fun, happy day but unfortunately I witnessed terrible humiliation of a seven year old boy that was inflicted upon him by adults who were in the position of caring for him. This young boy has what I would call spunk, he is cheeky and has a fantastic sense of humor and also uses a self propelled wheelchair (with great dexterity I might add). The staff of the school made him race against the other children in his year level. Now I don't know how anyone in a wheelchair even an adult who uses a wheelchair on a permanent basis could keep up with hyped up seven year old boys on a drought stricken grass track. Honestly it was clueless, he was so terribly embarrassed when all the other children had finished there race and he was left there to battle the whole way to the end. Why he couldn't have had a head start for one and someone to help him push a little so he could still be part of the race without the humiliation of being left on the track finishing the race on his own I don't know. He had tears streaming down his face by the end of it and the teachers had the hide to ask what was wrong. Why is it so difficult to include students with disabilities while adapting the environment to level out the playing field. I though that was what inclusive education was about, making accommodations and modifications so students with disabilites could equally be part of the school community.
1 comment:
Hi --
I hope I am not intruding, but I found you through The Preemie Experiment blog and I have a request. I'm a newspaper reporter working on a large project about prematurity. I was hoping you would consider participating in the below questionnaire, sending it out to as many people as possible or putting it on
your blog/website.
I understand if you can't, but I appreciate your consideration.Thanks!
Andrea Ball
(reporter and mom to 22 and 24 weekers)
P.S. If you would like to learn more about my work, you can see me here:
http://www.cartercenter.org/health/mental_health/archive/author/ball.html
Dear Preemie Parent:
Hi. My name is Andrea Ball and I am a reporter with the Austin
American-Statesman in Austin, Texas.
I am writing a large story about the mental health effects of premature
birth on families. This story is funded in large part by the Rosalynn Carter
Mental Health Journalism Fellowship Program.
The main story follows a family with three premature children. We look at
their childrens' hospital stay, their challenges at home, the effects on the
parents' marriage and the financial problems caused by medical costs. We
explore the issues of depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress
disorder. We are also looking at the long-term effects on prematurity on the
child.
As part of this, the newspaper would like an online presence of parents who
have been through all this.
If you are interested, please answer the following questions and email them
to rquigley@statesman.com and aball@statesman.com>
Please make sure you put the words PREEMIE PROJECT in the subject line so we
are sure to see it. Here's what we need:
Your name
Your child's name
Your city and state
Hospital photos and current photos of your child.
If you have videos of your child on YouTube, please send us a link.
Then, please answer these questions (there is no word limit):
What were the circumstances of your premature birth and at what gestation
did the baby arrive?
What was your NICU experience?
What has been your experience since your child came home?
Please discuss any mental health effects you or your child have experienced
as a result of prematurity (depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress
disorder, marital stress, OCD, bipolar disorder)
Please discuss resources you used to get your family through the
stressful/emotional part of this time. (counselors, spiritual leaders, etc)
Thank you so much for your help. Your kindness is greatly appreciated.
Andrea Ball
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