Citizenship in school: Reconceptualizing down syndrome, Kliewer

Christopher Kliewers article, "Citizenship in school: Reconceptualizing down syndrome," was an inspirational, eye opening piece about "eras[ing] negative attitudes about people with developemental disabilities." Kliewer believes that people with down syndrome can function in todays society if given the necessary opportunities. Instead of casting out people with this disability because they are different and may need different accomidations, the rest of society should be welcoming and accomidating because they, "...add a unique and valuable dimension to (that) community."
Diversity is all around us. Everywhere you look there is someone different than you. different races, cultures, some people are good at sports and some people are different in a way that seams to be very looked down on. A quote that was brought up a lot in class and for good reason was was Kliewer said, "To value another is to recognize diversity as the norm." He expands on this this by describing that recognizing diversity as the norm will benefit not only the students with dissabilities but also those without a dissability.
In my highschool, we had a student named Austen. he had a dissability. He had to walk with a metal wheeling box and was hard to understabd when he spoke. Despite his dissability, however, he was bright and funny and kind. He was in my phisics class with me and we worked on projects together, in groups, he took tests with everyone else, took notes, did everything that everyone else did accept he didntwalk into class with his legs like most students did, instead he wheeled into class, sometimes getting stuck on the door or had trouble getting into his seat but no one laughed at him, or thought of him as a burdon. Austen braught a lot to our classroom and wasnt only seen as an equal but was/ is an equal to the rest of the students that were in that class. The teacher used to make jokes sometimes about how lucky Austen was that he didnt have to walk around all day and would even sit in Austens wheely thing (i really wish i knew the nane of it) during class and wheel around the classroom in it. It seamed to make Austen feel comfortable and exepted because the class didnt only tolerate his dissability but saw it and loved him more for it. This recognition and equality exemplified Kliewers point that there is a, "fundamental right of every student to belong."
Another point in this article that i like was the huminization of people with down sydrome, really stressing at the point that they arent downsyndrome attached to a person, but a unique individual who has a dissorder and that dissorder is only one part of them. When Shaye Robbins talks about not having a set way to teach children with downsyndrome because, "they are not all alike," i could feel myself learning...i know it sounds strange but i wasnt just reading about something, i really fealt myself learning something that i could apply to much of my life. Just because people with down syndrome share this one likeness does not mean that they are like each other and able to learn the same was and like the same things. They are individuals and sticking them all in one classroom together is not going to help them learn any better then if they were placed in classes with students without dissorders. Like the parent said in the movie we watched, "it is all about expectations."
I feel that Kliewer did a really great job on this article. though i had to read many lines several times to fully capture the meaning, i fealt like it was worth the extra work because the purpose and message behind the big words was beautiful and important.