# But how about people with additional disabilities?

Category: Let's talk

## Post 1 by Inesle1987 (Account disabled) on Thursday, 10-Feb-2005 16:31:16

Okay, another question: Have you ever been in a school where there was a part where people with additional disabilities (for example blind and deaf or othe rdisabilities) were tought? Did you get in touch with them? For example, I did. I had to drive in a bus with three of them every day. I had to sit between two of them and keep them from hitting and biting each other, while the third one was hitting against the window all the time. That was kind of annoying. I just like to know your opinions and experiences with people who have other disabilities, inside or outside school.

## Post 2 by The Wicked Witch of The East (we deserve each other) on Thursday, 10-Feb-2005 16:42:03

umm. my school is small so we dont have many people. however; we have a class of about 10 autistic students. they eat lunch with us, besides that, we never see them. two of them are my best friends (they just dont know it yet) there names are Doug and Chris. They are adorable! I ate lunch with them a few times. there so nice. everyone else is kinda scared of them but I lOVE them.
-Heather
*spice up your life!*

## Post 3 by fastfinge (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Thursday, 10-Feb-2005 18:48:47

Our school has a bunch of downs kids (several different sevarities). They don't bother anyone, really. I don't know anything about the condition, but from observation they seem to be about on the level of a fairly clever eight year old. Disconcerting when the person in question is 17, but you get used to it and it stops becoming an issue. Most of the students are fairly aware (at least a little) of what these kids can and can't do. The only time I believe disabled students need seperat classes is when they disturb the class environment in a manner that makes it impossible for any other student to learn.

## Post 4 by Inesle1987 (Account disabled) on Friday, 11-Feb-2005 5:34:00

I agree. I saw a lot of autistic students or students with other disabilities who had class with blind students without other disabilities. But in my old school they were so desturbing and were on the leven of maybe three or four years old.

## Post 5 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 11-Feb-2005 9:02:10

I became friends with Kenny when we were both 5 he has cp and is vi..I was just learning to speak and he couldn't,so I would try to decipher what he was saying in order to give him some sense of belonging..Kenny eventually learned to speak quite well and we were close friends by this time..the experience helped me cope with my condition and his wicked sense of humour was a definate bonus....I have had some negative experiences but I've learned to be more tolerant.

## Post 6 by krisme (Ancient Zoner) on Friday, 11-Feb-2005 21:49:07

At my old school I shared my adaptive Phys Ed class with several kids with learning disabilities or things like that, and one girl who couldn't walk well due to polio when she was young. I think we also had some autistic kids oo, and one guy in a wheelchair. I liked these kids. Most of them were in Special Ed while I was in regular classes, and I always defended them when people made fun of "the retard bus".

## Post 7 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 12-Feb-2005 14:00:24

Agree with Krisme. I actually haven't met too many people with multiple disabilities, but there was one girl in elementary school I've never forgotten. She couldnt' talk but she could sign and understand people. People used to always talk to her liek she was a baby and it used to make me soooo mad! Lol! I knew she wasn't a baby, but a normal person, and I always hung around with her even though we couldn't really communicate because I could talk and she couldn't, and she coudl sign adn I couldn't.

## Post 8 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Sunday, 13-Feb-2005 14:45:27

In my junior year of high school, I had a class with a student with Down syndrome. He had an assistant with him, but sometimes I feel like she and the teacher would treat him like he didn't know much, like kind of wanting him to just be quiet and stay still even when he wasn't doing anything wrong. But he would talk to me once in awhile, and once tried to help me on a mask I was making. He would even tell the teacher it was time for me to go when he was leaving (which was about the time I would leave anyways, because the teacher would often get too busy with other things at times.)
Also, I had regular PE in middle school, but during one semester, my coach had me with the students in Special Ed. (It was kind of weird because I was supposed to be in the regular one, but he had me go with that group instead. Or actually, it was the other coach, and she would work with me individually.) Most of the time, though, I would be left with another special needs student and a nondisabled student, and we would just take turns on an excercise bike, shooting baskets, or best of all, riding those little floor scooters. *smiles*
Leilani

## Post 9 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Sunday, 13-Feb-2005 15:17:28

I love the little floor scooters! Well yes, i think some Special Ed teachers think that the only thign that can be done with a multiply disabled child is to make him/her be quiet. I personally think this is absolute rubbish. As long as they behave, or try to, and know their limits, I see no point in babyign them and husing them up. Let them be themselves just like the other students as long as it's appropriate, I say!

## Post 10 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Sunday, 13-Feb-2005 15:19:19

it is a difficult one to call. It is quite common practice now for students with disabilities to be integrated into main stream schools, and while this is in part a good thing because it means they grow up in an able-bodied world, and it also teaches non disabled students to be more tolerant of those who are not the same as them, they are often still kept separate and educated separately due to the nature of their disability. Children with autism for example can be extremely disruptive, and it is not possible to educate them alongside the other students because this can have a detremental effect on the class. so while these chidren are integrated, in actual fact they are still seen as different.

## Post 11 by Inesle1987 (Account disabled) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 3:53:17

I agree. Well, we didn't have many classes with them, but driving in the same bus is something different, I felt like baby sitter.

## Post 12 by Senior (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 8:20:28

Obviously Autistic people shouldn't be allowed in mainstream. It's not good for them gbecause they'll have very few friends and most of those people will be do gooders anyway. It's also not good for people who don't have there problems who didn't go to school or college to put up with the problems those people have. They can be disruptive and they're also quite irritating after a while. I can't see any justification for putting them with people like me. They don't really benefit and I definitely wouldn't benefit. They should be asessed to see exactly how they can contribute to society and then they should be dealt with according to the conclusions of the asessments.

## Post 13 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 8:31:34

wo ww that's a bit harsh isn't it? people that don't have those problems shouldn't have to put up with them? they should be dealt with ...? While I agree to an extent that children with autism should not necessarily be main streamed, purely due to the fact that in general children with autism have limited communication skills and are very disruptive, locking such children away out of the way where they and you will benefit will only cause to add to the ignorance that already exists around disability. How would you feel for example, if someone said ... blind people should not be integrated into main stream schools because the sighted people shouldn't have to guide them. It comes down to the same thing. people who are different are seen as different. and only by integration will we be able to change the world's opinion.

## Post 14 by Inesle1987 (Account disabled) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 8:37:47

It's always that way that people like that are locked out of society. I think that's very sad because they're people like me and you. Of course they're difficult but I think it's the same as with sighted people and us partially sighted/blind ones: Some sighted ones don't want to deal with us. This is sad.

## Post 15 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 10:34:21

Exactly. People with autism should be mainstreamed as much as possible. I still think that most behavior problems with them are more secondary things and therefore, they can and should be taught at least an acceptable way to communicate with people without autism anyway. It's not fair if they'd just have to be locked up in special classrooms/schools. Some students' behavior might be so disruptive to where it would be hard to have them in regular classrooms, but I think most should be integrated with other students whenever possible. When they graduate from school, they are going to be back in the community with people without autism, so why not start integrating them in regular classrooms at school? Blind, physically disabled, and mentally challenged students are integrated into classes, some who need an assistant to work with them, so it should be the same with people with autism.
Leilani

## Post 16 by Senior (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 10:48:28

There's a difference between people with physical disabilities such as not been able to walk, see or hear and people with autism and other difficulties which affect their behaviour. Blind people like me have the mental capacity to think properly, to determine how they will be able to make a valuable contribution to society and then we have the mental capacity to put that into practice. For example, if we want to be journalists we know what we have to do in order to become journalists. In that respect we're the same as sighted people. These autistic people are most of them going to require perminent parenting, The tax payer has to pay for them to be properly looked after because they get benefits and what does the tax payer get in return for this? When the tax payer pays for students at college like me, at least they know that eventually thanks to them I'll be able to make a better contribution to the country than I would have without college/university education. That is the big difference between people with just physical disabilities and people with mental disabilities.

## Post 17 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 11:27:37

so what exactly are you saying ww, that we shouldn't try and educate people with mental disabilities at all? that we should just isolate them from society and forget about them?

## Post 18 by Puggle (I love my life!) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 11:29:29

ww you've obviously never seen the movie rain man? while autistic people may need perminent care in some areas, the majority of them have briliant minds and I strongly believe that no person with a dissability of any kind should be under estimated. It is some what narrow minded of you to say that they can't make a valuable contribution to society when thre is significant evidence to the contrary. DId you know that robbin williams is slightly autistic? and he is probably one of the most brilliant actors there is. at least in my oppinion. Autistic people need structure, and routine, and that is the only reason why I don't think that mainstream education is always a good thing for them. There are to many surprises and disruptions to their pattern in mainstream schools. The autistic kid I went to schol with was constantly stressed out by the other kids who thought it was funnny to tell him that his taxi that took him home in the afternoon was going to be late. This would infuriate him obviously, which the other kids thought was funny. It's just crewl. But as Sugarbaby said, what is the alternative? do we deal according with the small majority of heartless kids who think it's funny to tease kids like these, or do we lock them up away from all society, where noone can learn to accept them, and be taught by them.

## Post 19 by Senior (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 11:52:52

This is why I said autistic people should be assessed so we can establish what contribution to society they can make. After their assessment, the conclusion of that assessment should determine what happens next. I realise that people are autistic to different extents and they're affected in different ways by their autism. This is why they need to be assessed individually so that the best solution can be found for not just them as individuals but the tax payers and society in general.

## Post 20 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 12:05:45

I think what you actually said was that the tax payer has to pay to educate people and that at least with someone like you they know they're going to get something in return, but you implied that with an autistic person they weren't necessarily going to. so what then, about all the blind people on this site who don't work for a living? should the tax payers write those off as well? after all they're not making a contribution to society!

## Post 21 by Inesle1987 (Account disabled) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 14:26:47

I agree to Tinkerbell's statement: After school every disabled person has to deal with nondisabled ones, so the earlier they start to cope with them (and vice versa) the better. This can also be a good experience for nondisabled people.

## Post 22 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Monday, 14-Feb-2005 19:58:13

Agree with Inesle1987 on this one.

## Post 23 by Caitlin (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2005 0:58:10

Wainderful Waingel person, you are mistaken. I know a bunch of autistic children that are mainstreamed, and they function quite well, and have many friends. Not all autistic children should be kept out of mainstream. That's a very general statement to make.

## Post 24 by Senior (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 16-Feb-2005 6:59:50

Well obviously if the asessments that these people were subjected concluded that they despite their autism could manage in mainstream and make a valuable contribution to society, they wouldn't be prevented from doing so. The reason that I think they should be asessed is because their autism doesn't affect them all in the same way. If I didn't realise that autism affects people who have it in different way I'd have the same view on what should happen to them all. All people who are able to work should be encouraged to, and if they're not working because they've lost their job, they should be given benefits and encouraged to get another job. The rules shouldn't be any different for blind people who don't work than they are for sighted people who don't work if these people are capable of working.

## Post 25 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 17-Feb-2005 10:56:22

on the subject of educating the mentally disabled many autistic people are incredibly talented at recalling facts which many, myself included, would forget straight away,they also can add, subtract and divide like a damned computer, so WW do you have the right to judge whether we shouldn't help autistic people, to develop their gifts and give them every chance to succeed NO! because in your arrogance you forgot 1 vital detail,1 day they may play a vital part on this earth when the so called advanced people, have made a complete mess of things as usual.
.....................
Also my brother Ally has for the last 3 years, been running an art class for children and young adults with mental disabilities,he has seen dramatic results,thanks largely to his infinite patience and to these people being allowed to express themselves thru art, many for the 1st time, 1 boy Kevin who hadn't spoken for 15 years! marched up to my brother and said "ALLY MY FRIEND!" if that isn't conclusive proof WW I dont know what else you need.