Welcome to the G.I.M.P. Roundup - Growing Involvement in Media and Politics. This is a semi-daily (Mon-Wed-Fri) diary series dedicated to highlighting disabled news, activism, politics and punditry.
In the June 16th, 2010 GIMP Round-up:
- Feds Approve Cut in Special Ed
- Today's Headline News and Action Alerts - Your Next TV Star, Special Olympians Surf, A Teachable Moment
- Closing Thoughts - In The Comments: Ask A Gimp!
FEDS OKAY SPECIAL EDUCATION CUTS IN TWO STATES, MORE PENDING
Via Education Week
At least three states have asked for permission to cut back on the money they provide districts for special education, under a built-in escape clause in the federal special education law that is aimed at financially struggling states.
Iowa and Kansas have both been granted a waiver, which under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can be given out in “exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances such as a natural disaster or a precipitous and unforeseen decline in the financial resources of a state.”
South Carolina has requested a waiver, but the U.S. Department of Education has asked the state for more information before making a decision. Both the waiver requests and the department’s responses were reported earlier this year by the blog IDEA Money Watch, a project of the Washington area Advocacy Institute, which supports parents of children with disabilities.
Special education advocates say this is the first time they’re aware of economic-hardship waivers being granted.
I called it last week, when Los Angeles cut it's services for disabled students. This is going to turn into a wave as districts around the country face budget shortfalls and cuts need to be made. Which would you rather cut? Athletics and sports, or the drooling gimps in the trailer at the back of the school?
It's not like they can meet the new educational standards I covered last week, especially if they're cutting what funding we do get. Why bother even trying to teach them life skills so that they might live as independent as possible, and in doing so be less of a burden on their family and community? Jesus certainly wouldn't help cripples and lepers, after all.
Oh, wait.
When will people start speaking up about this? When will allowing the 'compassionate conservatives' who want to cut spending and gut the Department of Education no longer be considered acceptable? The media is complicit in this. Our elected officials are complicit in this. WE are complicit in this.
I'm not Christian, though I have known a few people in my life truly worthy of the title, but didn't Jesus say, "As you do unto the least of these, you do unto me?" I'm sure that's not it, word for word, but the idea is accurate. We're allowing those who are literally the least able to defend themselves to be tossed to the wolves. Many of them cannot speak up for themselves.
So on their behalf, I'm trying.
Do NOT let the districts dump this off on property owners through tax increases. Many won't pass the bond issues needed to make up the shortfall, anyway. This is simply passing the buck, allowing districts to cut the one part of the budget they hate the most. IDEA and Special Education.
Tom Harkin is the Chair of the Senate Education Committee, and it's his state that's getting one of the waivers. Let him know what you think: 202-224-3254
TODAY'S DISABLED NEWS AND ACTION ITEMS
YOUR NEXT TV STAR
Via Disability Scoop:
A Texas man with cerebral palsy is turning into the latest online sensation as the top vote-getter in Oprah’s Search For The Next TV Star, with support from the likes of musician John Mayer.
Zach Anner entered Oprah’s contest with a humorous video pitching his idea for a travel show. In the audition tape he uploaded to Oprah.com, Anner tells viewers that he has “the sexiest of the palsies” and wants to “make a travel show for people who never thought they could travel and inspire people to go on an adventure.”
The video went viral, garnering praise from Mayer and plugs on sites like Digg and Reddit, bringing Anner’s vote tally to over 2.6 million. The next most popular video has fewer than 1.5 million votes.
Humbled, Anner took to the Web again on Sunday to post a thank you video, declaring, “I don’t know what happened, but the Internet is crazy and I love it.”
Sure, John Mayer's an asshole, but good on him for helping to push this. TV needs more disabled faces and voices. A travel show with the disabled in mind would be a great idea.
And I love his 'sexiest of the palsies' bit.
SPECIAL OLYMPIANS HIT THE WAVES
Via the Orlando Sentinel:
In waist-deep water off Cocoa Beach, 32-year-old Dawn Blanchard is taking only the second surfing lesson of her life, yet she manages to stand, however briefly, on nearly every wave she catches. And each time she does, she flashes a double thumbs-up, beams joyously and announces, "I did it! I did it!"
This continues for two hours. Yet no one — not the surf instructors, not the considerable crowd of earnest spectators on the beach, certainly not Blanchard herself — seems to weary.
"It's awesome," said Deb Spence, a Special Olympics swim coach who cheers from the beach. "She's actually doing a lot better than I did when I started."
Blanchard is one of Spence's Special Olympics swimmers, and this surf lesson is part of a grand experiment to try to introduce surfing as a Special Olympics sport. It's a collaboration between Cocoa Beach's iconic Ron Jon Surf Shop, which is picking up the tab, and Special Olympics Florida. The program launched a week ago with eight athletes, ages 18 to 43. All of them have intellectual disabilities, from Down syndrome to autism.
And another sport gets added to the Special Olympics? That would be awesome.
A TEACHABLE MOMENT
Via Enterprise News:
The parents of a Bridgewater student with Down Syndrome say the “R” word is an offensive schoolyard taunt not a technical term that belongs in their son’s schoolbook.
In February, Tom and Pauline Lewis got a friendly head’s up from their son Ian’s seventh grade science teacher about a passage on Down Syndrome in his textbook. The teacher asked if they would like Ian removed from the classroom for that lesson.
But when the Lewis’ read the passage, they realized the issue was bigger than Ian.
The textbook wouldn’t just shape Ian’s view of himself. It could shape how his classmates see him and others with Down Syndrome.
And not in a neutral way, they said, but with language they consider pejorative, hurtful and outdated.
The textbook, the 2002 edition of “Science Explorer: Cells and Heredity” published by Prentice-Hall, uses the term “mental retardation” and characterizes Down Syndrome as a genetic “error.”
“My feeling is someone could look at Ian and say, ‘You’re a mistake. You’re an error,’” Pauline Lewis said.
But Ian’s not a mistake. He’s not an error. He’s her wonderful, remarkable, irreplaceable son, she said.
Okay, look. I for one am happy to see that Congress is in the process of removing 'retarded' from medical and educational laws. I think that's great. I also think that it should be phased out of books like these. The Lewis' are, however, missing a few points. Read the article in full, then follow me below. I'll wait.
Finished? Here are my issues with this. First, the kids aren't going to magically learn the word 'retarded' from this book. They already know it. Second, replacing the book will cost a LOT of money, and with Special Ed getting cut, now, do the Lewis' really think that buying replacement books at the expense of Special Ed is the right way to go? Third, the school is offering the BEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION EVAR: using it as a teachable moment in class to address disability and bullying. This is how you stop bullying. Removing a word from a book and expecting the teasing to stop is like banning Huck Finn and expecting racism to go away.
Lastly, Down Syndrome IS a genetic error. I was born with a BIRTH DEFECT, Arthrogryposis. Not a Birth Oopsie, or a Birth Wonderful, Remarkable, Irreplaceable Thing. A Birth Defect. My body was NOT supposed to be this way. I accept that. We are not Bob Ross paintings, where we can make everything 'happy genetic accidents'. That's life.
Coddling us to 'protect us' is only making it easier to hurt us.
CLOSING THOUGHTS - ASK A GIMP!
One of my readers in my Obama BP Address diary last night asked me a question about how to approach idisabled neighbor. It got me thinking - there are probably LOTS of people with LOTS of questions that they're uncomfortable asking. Let me help.
In the comments below, ask me anything you like, from personal (yes, I have sex) to general (yes, your disabled neighbor would probably welcome a beer). Nothing is off limits, anything goes.
Larime