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Wilkerson · 01-04-2007, 02:34 PM

Okay, here's the deal. I have a neuromuscular disease (it falls under the umbrella of Muscular Dystrophy) and went through 12 years of public school. Well, 13 if you include Kindergarten. The school told my parents that I should be placed in a specialized school. This was the old days; before mainstreaming was commonplace and most children with any handicap were tossed aside and shoved into stark holes filled with children who never were properly educated.

My handicap limited me from certain activities; however I was able to perform for the basic educational requirements. I could read and write and even walk to the chalkboard. In those days I was completely ambulatory, these days it is not the case. The school administration was not thrilled, but as long as I could manage to enter and leave the school unassisted their hands were tied. I took part in class plays, in spelling bees and even grade school graduation....although in all these situations when going up on stage I had to lean against the wall and push myself up the stairs...there was no handrail. The only activity I was not part of that all other students were, was gym/physical education class. For that, the school allowed me a medical excuse as they did for the children who had heart ailments or other illness which precluded them from exerting excessive physical energies such as would have been needed for basketball playing, running, etc. In the 7th grade I sat on the floor in the corner and then a student would help me back to my feet after class. It was a double period, approximately 110 minutes and rather a humiliating ordeal for a 12 year old. The following year I was given a chair except when a chair was not readily available (and that seemed to happen a lot) and then I stood in the corner for the 110 minutes. In High School I was excused from even having to go to the gymnasium but there was the mandatory visit each term, for 8 terms (4 years) to the PhysEd office where the chair of the department would make disparaging remarks. It sucked but it was life and in the long run made me mentally stronger to face the world.

Yes, mainstreaming has its downside...and it's often painful as it happens...but it also has an advantage as it prepares the child and then the young adult for life in the real world.

My inlaws have a child with C.P. and he has been mainstreamed even though he is using a walker...well it's sort of a walker...it's a combination walker/cart. I had neighbor for a while who had a son in a wheelchair and the child was mainstreamed and graduated #3 in his high school class out of more than 400 students, he went on to a top university on the west coast and recently earned a Phd. in some science. Where would he be if he had been summarily dismissed as unable to learn because he was in a wheelchair?

Added to my dilemma in learning was partial deafness in one ear (60% lost through ear infection). Again, the school saw this as a disaster, my parents however made clear I could hear just fine with the other ear. I graduated high school on time...in fact I was 17 at the time, so I was ahead of time...and with decent grades. Nothing stunning, a B average at the end and that was due in large part to my being lazy and not applying myself to my studies. (I rarely did homework, since I saw no reason for it.).

These days, school and society in general are more open to mainstreaming children. Also, placing a child who has physical limitations in with the other students, helps other children...and the teachers...see the handicapped child as a regular human being. Handicapped children are the same as non-handicapped. They can throw tantrums, they can act up...or they can be angelic in behaviour. Some do all their classwork and homework, others are lazy and do basic minimal amounts to get through with a barely passing grade. Handicapped and non-handicapped exactly the same. As they age, both groups go through the teen angst years, both go through the puppylove phases...mainstream them it's the only way to go.

01-04-2007, 02:34 PM	#9 (permalink)
Wilkerson Upright Location: I live in a hovel near a hole in the ground with a gang	Okay, here's the deal. I have a neuromuscular disease (it falls under the umbrella of Muscular Dystrophy) and went through 12 years of public school. Well, 13 if you include Kindergarten. The school told my parents that I should be placed in a specialized school. This was the old days; before mainstreaming was commonplace and most children with any handicap were tossed aside and shoved into stark holes filled with children who never were properly educated. My handicap limited me from certain activities; however I was able to perform for the basic educational requirements. I could read and write and even walk to the chalkboard. In those days I was completely ambulatory, these days it is not the case. The school administration was not thrilled, but as long as I could manage to enter and leave the school unassisted their hands were tied. I took part in class plays, in spelling bees and even grade school graduation....although in all these situations when going up on stage I had to lean against the wall and push myself up the stairs...there was no handrail. The only activity I was not part of that all other students were, was gym/physical education class. For that, the school allowed me a medical excuse as they did for the children who had heart ailments or other illness which precluded them from exerting excessive physical energies such as would have been needed for basketball playing, running, etc. In the 7th grade I sat on the floor in the corner and then a student would help me back to my feet after class. It was a double period, approximately 110 minutes and rather a humiliating ordeal for a 12 year old. The following year I was given a chair except when a chair was not readily available (and that seemed to happen a lot) and then I stood in the corner for the 110 minutes. In High School I was excused from even having to go to the gymnasium but there was the mandatory visit each term, for 8 terms (4 years) to the PhysEd office where the chair of the department would make disparaging remarks. It sucked but it was life and in the long run made me mentally stronger to face the world. Yes, mainstreaming has its downside...and it's often painful as it happens...but it also has an advantage as it prepares the child and then the young adult for life in the real world. My inlaws have a child with C.P. and he has been mainstreamed even though he is using a walker...well it's sort of a walker...it's a combination walker/cart. I had neighbor for a while who had a son in a wheelchair and the child was mainstreamed and graduated #3 in his high school class out of more than 400 students, he went on to a top university on the west coast and recently earned a Phd. in some science. Where would he be if he had been summarily dismissed as unable to learn because he was in a wheelchair? Added to my dilemma in learning was partial deafness in one ear (60% lost through ear infection). Again, the school saw this as a disaster, my parents however made clear I could hear just fine with the other ear. I graduated high school on time...in fact I was 17 at the time, so I was ahead of time...and with decent grades. Nothing stunning, a B average at the end and that was due in large part to my being lazy and not applying myself to my studies. (I rarely did homework, since I saw no reason for it.). These days, school and society in general are more open to mainstreaming children. Also, placing a child who has physical limitations in with the other students, helps other children...and the teachers...see the handicapped child as a regular human being. Handicapped children are the same as non-handicapped. They can throw tantrums, they can act up...or they can be angelic in behaviour. Some do all their classwork and homework, others are lazy and do basic minimal amounts to get through with a barely passing grade. Handicapped and non-handicapped exactly the same. As they age, both groups go through the teen angst years, both go through the puppylove phases...mainstream them it's the only way to go.