"I started to notice that I didn't like that classes that I was taking called special education. I had to go through special ed. all of my life. I wanted to take other classes that interested me. I had never felt so mad , I wanted to cry."-- Mia Peterson
This is a shame. Children with special ed. should not always be secluded for the other children. Yes, for the children that are severly mentally challenged then being in a secluded special ed. classroom probably works to their benefit but, if the child is only mildly delayed then they should be in a classroom with the other students just getting extra help when needed. The least restricitve learning environment is a great thing for children with special needs because it gives them the change be in an environment that benefits them the most which is awesome because in the past it was not always like that as you can tell from the quote above. Peterson should have been able to take other classes if who school had put her in her lease restrictive learning environment.
"Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about the people with developmental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disablities"
I can not believe that this person said "now that we know" this just sounds so rude. They never gave people with disabilites a chance as you can tell how this is phrased and thats not good. People with developmental disabilites are the sweetest people in the world and they should be treated like so. Society is rude and terrible sometimes and it often decgrates them. Now in the 20th century they are more accepted and treated a lot more equal compared to the past and that is how it should be. They should not be treated differently because they have a developmental disability.
"Different perhaps in their minds and in their bodies, but not different in their spirits or in their willingnessand ability to contribute to mosaic society"
This nails it right on the head. Yes, people with developmental disabilites may look, talk and or act different than a typically developed person. But, they are still a person and they are a memeber of society just like everybody else. Just because they are different they should not be treated so, especially because it is something that is out of their control. I can not express this enough. I am a special ed. major so I could go on about this all day. I work with adults with developmental disabilites as well so I feel very strongly about this topic.
See i feel that even students who have severe mental or physical delays should be allowed in the same classrooms with other students. I know of two instances, once in my 5th grade class and in my brothers Kindergarten and Pre-School class where students who had mental of physical disabilites, even severe, were allowed into the class. Now i can not speak on how much they learned because i was never made aware of that knowledge but i do know that the students were very supportive and fully included them in the classroom and the confidence and happiness of the disabled students was clearly visible. In my opinion, its good for everyone to learn that they are different rather than just teach people that we are all the same, because when we do that, they eventually learn that we lied.
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