Kliewer

"Jason ponders, "How do we erase those negative attitudes?" in light of the fact that "people without disabilities are Judging us" (Kingsley, 1996,p. 6)."

"Though many of us have a certain level of control over who we meet and interact with, none of us can come close to claiming complete control. So we must learn to work with others, and

this holds true whether we ultimately are destined to..."

Reading this article tugged on my heart a little. First I would like to say that I stand by Kliewer for this piece. My best friends brother is on the spectrum and so is my boyfriends sister. They both started off taking special classes for their disabilities. Granted they both are different ages and have different disabilities, but thinking of it right now they are both integrating into "regular" classes. Im very proud of my best friends brother because he had struggled most of his life and now being a senior in high school is doing so well and is able to take classes that interest him. 

These two quotes above stuck out to me while reading. I wanted to connect these quotes to the articles by Oakes and McIntosh. Oakes talks about how school systems keeps students in groups while also in ways keeping them at a disadvantage. kids with disabilities are somewhat held at a disadvantage. I understand that their special classes help them a lot with specific individual learning needs but at the same time I have seen that it does separate them. this separation starts in school and then later in society. Almost like segregation. The special education students classroom at my high school was literally held in the basement to keep them away from the regular classes. The only time they didn't stay in the basement was for gym, lunch and by their senior year they are able to take some "normal" classes. Relating this to McIntosh, I feel that maybe a part of the problem has to do with that a lot of people have the privilege to not have such a disability. Without having a disability, it's hard to relate to what it's like to have one, so you just simply don't know. When someone doesn't know much about something or someone they automatically judge. The second quote itself reminded me a lot of the Johnson article. Especially when Johnson quoted Rodney King saying "Can't we all just get along?" People with disabilities are .. people. they are humans, and depending where they are on the spectrum they are still capable of having regular conversations. they are capable of doing day-to-day things. just some need a lot of help and support, there's nothing wrong with that. they are still human beings and should be given the opportunity to take "normal" classes if that's what they want and have the extra help in doing so.