Activism or Advocacy?

Yesterday I wrote about misunderstandings a lot of people have about disabilities. This ignorance becomes critical when it has authority and power behind it. When this happens, it is an abuse of power.

The link is to a blog that is hosted by a real professional special education teacher. The post I am linking to has a lot of dynamics in it. Basically, the teacher blogger read a post (by original poster) on another blog, recognized incorrect information and responded to it with correct information.

The recipient of the new correct information (the original poster) was appreciative of the new correct information, and qualified her ignorance by having only been there nine months and her wrong information came from a 2005 article.

Tiny Bouts of Activism

What got my attention was when the original poster said she would forward the new information to her department director for further follow up. I then became curious about what system was the original poster in.

What I wanted to see was how much power and authority these decision makers had regarding the information on cerebral palsy and the role they played with the person with CP. I googled the original phrase and found the original source. Nova University


I found the original article on page 28. It is a typical article in awe of what a person with a disability can do. I first experienced this "awe" over 20 years ago. Since that time, across the United States and in Australia, I have witnessed people with disabilities doing things that are surprising.

I have learned that the "awe" comes from our ignorance and low expectations. If parents and educators understood the dynamics about their kid's specific disability from day one, understood the educational implications of the specific disability in regards to how each kid can learn in their unique, individualized way, all of our kids would have these amazing outcomes.

Understanding a disability is more than just knowing a label. Effective evaluations, done by professionals, should include the educational implications that are specific to each child.

Department directors should be up to date on the latest diagnostic and best practice teaching modalities so that they ensure that teachers are up to date.