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Posted on 05/22/2012 9:07:52 AM PDT by shove_it
A Texas high school has recalled its yearbooks after special needs students were described as "mentally retarded" within its pages, angering teachers, students and their parents.
Mesquite High School's yearbooks were initially distributed on Friday, but were recalled by school officials within hours.
"They told the entire class that they have a slight mistake that needs to be fixed," a senior at the school told Fox's KDFW affiliate.
An introduction to the "Special Education" section read, "Some of the disabilities the students in the Special Education Program have are being blind, deaf or non-verbal" and described two students as "both blind and deaf, as well as mentally retarded."
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
When I was a kid the Polio epidemic was just coming under control but the results of it were all around. A good parent will do all they can do no matter what a childs handicap or disability to help them go as far in life as they can go. My parents were no exception. They did it for me. No I didn't have Polio but I live with a person it did hit and went undetected for several decades.
At age 12 I was placed in a school for kids with physical and mental disabilities. It was actually two schools on one campus. Due to the student needs those with Downs and retardation were at one school and the rest at another. I was lucky. I could walk, see, hear, and didn't have Muscular Dystrophy, CP, Polio, BiPolar-Schizoprenia, ADD ADHD, Spinal Bifia, or other more serious issues my friend and classmates did.
I was from birth and still am uncoordinated, have Vestibular {Inner Ear Damage} one eye functional vision, And a very short concentration window on most days. That was me at 14 when I finally got help. At age 54 I am over 50% deaf now and walk with the aid of a cane. The Inner Ear issues make employment impossible as I have seizure activity from it. But I still am a full time medical and personal caregiver.
The help I got in my two years at the school made it possible for me too later after high school join the Navy & do an Honorable four year hitch making expected rank of E-4 during that four years. It allowed me to work till I was about 37 when I had to medically retire. By work I mean I was an HVAC/Electrical mechanic. I worked in Three Phase equipment and on 300 ton A/C units.
You want too write people off who by no fault of there own were born with disabilities. I don't. The man with Downs Syndrome working at the local supermarket understands how to bag groceries correctly. The teenagers do not. The deaf woman who is a cashier also does her job quite well. Actually I didn't realize she was deaf for quite a while. I have a cousin who can only move a few fingers. She has a college degree. Her sister who is also confined to a wheelchair is a wife, mother of her now grown kids, and a bookkeeper in a trucking company. Their parents didn't write them off.
Perhaps the one most dearest to me and my hero is a person I would not give up on. Just when her life was reaching a point where things were really looking up for her the Polio which they believe may have went undetected came back with a vengeance. Quadriplegia at C-5 C-6 which is in the neck. That happened in 1985. November will be our 27th year being married.
This isn't the 1800's where those who have disabilities are shut up in some room out of sight out of mind. Almost all can be helped. It is by having adversity and learning to live with and overcome as much as possible mankind has accomplished and risen up.
Very true. But in years earlier schools did not allow persons with disabilities of any type. A man down the road from me is in his late 60's now. He was born with mental retardation and has the mind development roughly of about a 10 year old. If he had the help available to him in his youth he could have likely lived in a group home or even independent and took care of all his own needs. As it stands today his parents are both dead and thankfully his brother and his brothers wife care for him.
Another woman in our neighbor was born with Downs but she married a man who had some physical disabilities so bad he could hardly walk. They had a kid together. The kid is grown {my age} graduated college with honors, and has a family.
Very true. But in years earlier schools did not allow persons with disabilities of any type. A man down the road from me is in his late 60's now. He was born with mental retardation and has the mind development roughly of about a 10 year old. If he had the help available to him in his youth he could have likely lived in a group home or even independent and took care of all his own needs. As it stands today his parents are both dead and thankfully his brother and his brothers wife care for him.
Another woman in our neighbor was born with Downs but she married a man who had some physical disabilities so bad he could hardly walk. They had a kid together. The kid is grown {my age} graduated college with honors, and has a family.
I just read the state board membership and me and you are in the same vicinity I’m maybe 10 miles east LOL. I spent two years 7th and 8th grade at D.A.R.C. :>} I think you know of the place I’m talking about down on Emory Valley. It sure taught me a lot about persons with disabilities. It was a shame the county closed it. It was the best Special Education school in this end of the state when it was in operation.
"In the same year, 1906, an amendment to the Political Code changed the name from the Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, to the California Institution for the Deaf and Blind."
Be extremely grateful this is just the internet.
Bttt
“This isn’t the 1800’s where those who have disabilities are shut up in some room out of sight out of mind. Almost all can be helped. It is by having adversity and learning to live with and overcome as much as possible mankind has accomplished and risen up.”
Very well said. Thank you for your personal testimony on this. I agree that no one should ever be deprived of the opportunity to reach their full potential. And NO human being is “furniture”. That’s just vile.
Cool. I live just east of Oak Ridge! Yeah, that school had an excellent reputation. I guess the classes are now all integrated these days, though.
I hope you have a great weekend!
Fletcher J
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