Thomas
Hehir paints a disconcerting picture for the reader in his article “Confronting
Ableism”. Hehir defines Ableism as
“society’s pervasive negative attitude about disability”. Hehir targets education professionals,
specifically those involved in all influential areas of special education, as
he advocates for students that are caught in the societal web of
disability. The article explicitly
stresses the need for eliminating ableist assumptions in the world of special
education. Hehir is advocating for
change on behalf of the innocent children that are at the mercy of educational
politics, while asserting the value of involving the student in their
individualized education plan. He
generates the assumption that students are failing because education and
educators are failing them. I have to
say that I completely concur with his assumption. Students with a disability deserve and are
entitled to the same opportunities that what society refers to as “normal”
children are. We need to stop aiming to
cure the disability and apply each of their abilities to the development of
their education.
When
providing potential solutions and strategies for altering the perception of
special education and the ableism approach to disability, Hehir consults
experts. He consults individuals that
exist with what is labeled a disability and applies real-world situations to
his analysis of ableism. Children that
need accommodations made for their disability, yet are repeatedly forced
through the educational system with the same expectations of their peers, are staged
for failure. Hehir describes this
situation as “a human-made world designed with the nondisabled in mind,
children with disabilities can gain an advantage if they can perform like their
nondisabled peers.” It is absolutely
asinine that disabled students are expected to be “cured” rather than treated
as the capable individual that they are!
Tab, I also read the article of Ableism, and came away with a very different perspective. Check out my long and somewhat rambling entry on the blog. When you state that "Children that need accommodations made for their disability, yet are repeatedly forced through the educational system with the same expectations of their peers, are staged for failure" I agree, but in a different way than you. For me, providing special accommodations is great if that is the only possible way for a student to learn. However, if it is somehow possible to educate this student in the same manner as his peers, we are setting him up for success once he is out of school. Employers couldn't care less if little Johnny has severe dyslexia - they are going to pass over him for someone who can write, read and communicate efficiently. As such, we should make every attempt possible at reducing or eliminating his dyslexia all together. Herir appears to want to "embrace" dyslexia and other disabilities, telling us that we should just accept these students for who they are. I couldn't disagree more. Disabilities ARE detrimental, regardless of whether we vocalize this or not, and should be addressed as such. They are not just a "feature" of a student, they are the enemy. If there is no way to combat them, then and only then should we take the position to purely accommodate, but until that point, we should fight to help these students receive the same education as everyone else, using the same methods which will later be valued by employers and society as a whole.
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