This is not a photo shopped picture. I saw this image on Facebook and thought someone was having fun making a horribly wrong photo. Surely more than 20 years after the ADA was passed into law such a gross violation could never occur. This is wishful thinking at best and at worst pure fantasy. Segregation of people with a disability is not only still present but rampant. The only substantive change I have observed in the last twenty years is the type of prejudice encountered is no longer the same. The violation of disability rights is now couched in ever so polite and legal terms. Institutions know the ADA must be adhered to. Institutions know IDEA meetings must take place. This does not mean institutions want to follow the law or be inclusive. In my opinion, lip service is paid to the law. ADA violations are common place and twenty years post ADA stock replies, excuses, abound. Of course we are committed to being inclusive. Oh how many times I have heard that line used as I was excluded from participating in multiple activities at my son's public school when he was a boy. For instance, one year in elementary school the teacher sent home a note stating she was desperate for parents to go on a filed trip as chaperones. I filled out the form and wrote I would be happy to help. The next day I got a note "You cannot be included but thanks any way". Deeply annoyed, I asked exactly why I was excluded. Another note came home: "Chaperones must be healthy and there is no accessible bus". So much for the ADA. This pattern of exclusion never wavered in my son's public school. Public school administrators hated me and I will confess the sentiment was shared on my part. Inclusion from their point of view was costly and not necessary. I was not advocating for people with a disability but for myself alone. I was perceived to be singularly unusual and selfish in the extreme, a drain on limited resources better spent on students--average students, meaning students without a disability. There was a fundamental miscommunication that was never resolved. The school was, and to the best of my knowledge, remains hostile to the inclusion of parents with a disability. Given the above, why was I shocked by the image? The exclusion is so stark and so obviously wrong no excuse is possible. This sort of segregation is over the top. It is blatant and makes me shudder. I shudder because it was public. We anthropologists would consider this a humiliation ritual. The group, meaning the audience and participants, do not value the person sitting in the wheelchair. Every man woman and child in attendance learned one thing at this event. Segregation of all people that use a wheelchair is socially acceptable. It is the norm. Inclusion is an ideal we can choose to talk about but it is not really something that is valued or readily achieved. Inclusion is something we get to pick and choose out of the goodness of our heart. Surely I am being too harsh, too demanding, too uppity. All words I have heard levied at me again and again. No, words cannot express my outrage. And like my son's public school, the school this child attends does not get it. Once the above image went viral the school released an apology of sorts. The school in question press release stated:
"It was a regrettable oversight that the student with special needs was not positioned with the rest of his schoolmates during the choral performance. The student has been a member of the chorus for the entire school year and there have been no prior issues. The choral director has cited several reasons why this occurred but accepts responsibility. The matter will be investigated and, if necessary, appropriate personnel action will be taken. That action could include a letter of reprimand and/or sensitivity training."
A regrettable oversight? Reprimand and/or sensitivity training? No excuse can explain away the the public humiliation this child endured. A humiliation sanctioned by the teacher, audience, and participants. No amount of sensitivity training is sufficient. No reprimand too lenient. Blatant bigotry reared its ugly head and the school did not even recognize it. This is as bad as the event itself. Worse yet, I suspect this is the tip of the veritable iceberg. I attended many public school events when my son was little. Children are repeatedly told to be on their best behavior. Notes are sent home about dress codes that cannot be violated. The reality is the teachers and school are putting on a show, a public demonstration celebrating how good the school is. Look at us, we are great. What I want to know is what happens to this student daily. Is he segregated during recess, gym, art class, on the school bus? Most likely. How many regrettable incidents take place when there are no cameras around? How often is he shunted aside during choir practice? Is what he experienced the norm?
The boy's mother said her son was inspired to sing in the choir because of the TV show Glee. I lowered my head in disbelief, deeply saddened. This boy's role model is a fictional television character played by a man without a disability. I again thought of my son's experience as a secondary school student.One day he brought home an assignment about civil rights. Great I thought. I told him to go to my office or the library and pick out a book that was of interest. Did he follow my suggestion? Of course not. He went on line instead and somehow stumbled upon the name Ed Roberts. I was thrilled. He filled out the terrible rubric secondary schools rely upon with a short paragraph about Ed Roberts life and fight for disability rights. The next day the rubric was returned with a short note "The assignment is supposed to be about civil rights. Disability is not an appropriate topic, it is different than real civil rights". And here lies the heart of the problem. There is no social mandate for disability rights. Sure a multitude of laws exist. Laws that are violated daily. Laws that are not valued. Laws that are mocked. Laws that are not even perceived as civil rights legislation. This makes my blood boil. What gets me the most angry are secondary schools that explicitly teach students and adults the segregation of people with a disability is not only acceptable but the norm, mere oversights easily negated by sensitivity training. At no point do students learn about disability rights as civil rights. Until this becomes part of the core curriculum in secondary schools and on college campuses I do not envision change taking place any time soon.
Oye! That really is an example of marginalization! It could easily have been me. I am fortunate to have done theater with a large number of people who went out of their way to create inclusion. Of course, there have also been others who preferred not to be engaged with disabled bodies - but they are a minority.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, the picture is enraging.
I have personally encountered another method employers can use to avoid ADA compliance. People can be penalized for the side effects of medications they take for their medical condition an/or disability.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me furious. Our rights are seen as kindness and as favours.
ReplyDeleteI talked to a Sociologist once about discrimination of people with disabilities and he looked at me like I was speaking nonsense and said this doesn't exist.
The note on the rubric...wow...I am speechless.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I am not a great fan of the theatre. In part this is because I have found most theatre to be an access nightmare.
ReplyDeleteTDE, You are absolutely correct r.e. medication and discrimination.
P. It never ceases to amaze me how close minded academics can be. Much complaining about students with disabilities takes place among faculty. Thank goodness it was a sociologist and not an anthropologist who said that!
Claire, Rubrics have infected every aspect of secondary education. It is efficient in terms of grading for teachers. For very young students rubrics can be a useful tool. However, they stifle any creativity and independent thought. I have even seen them used in college! Yes, the corporate mentality has taken over college campuses.
I saw the photo and was equally appalled. I shake my head at your offers to chaperone being rejected and your son's civil rights paper being disregarded. Stupid, stupid teachers.
ReplyDeleteWhat, rights of people with disabilities not a civil right? In what kind of world does that teacher live?
ReplyDeleteOn a brighter note, I'm in college and was on a seminar on minorities in the United States, and PWDs were mentioned as a minority and I could do my presentation on them. Then again, the Prof's mother is a disabled activist...
Catherine, The public school my son attended was hostile to any sort of accommodation I requested that would enable me to participate. In grades 1-12 I encountered only one teacher that valued my input. All others were either dismissive or disrespectful.
ReplyDeleteLouna, I cannot tell you how rare your experience is with a seminar on minorities that included people with a disability. I have suggested similar such inclusion and it was dismissed as ridiculous. Faculty member after faculty member tell me that disability based discrimination is "different" and not worthy of discussion. This never ceases to amaze me. I always dreamed college professors were progressive and open minded.
You are very much on target. bill. I was a high school principal for 30 years, before and after IDEA, before and after ADA. Neither law and corresponding regs made much of a difference. It allowed parents, like myself with a severely disabled kid, fight with backing. Nothing changed the attitudes of teachers and school boards and the electorate. Most teachers rued the day that they would have to put up with a handicapped or crippled kid in class. They put up with it because it was the law, and breaking the law could get you fired (maybe). Tolerance is not embracing...you have to give up your fears to do that. That music teacher, btw, should have been hung out to dry. The excuses are lame, pardon the insult to the disabled. The reality is that too few care to care enough!
ReplyDeletePhil, Schools follow the letter of the law and violate the spirit. I too see no difference from 20+ years ago in terms of attitudes. Given half a chance every kid with a disability would be kicked out of school. HAve you ever read The Short Bus by Jonathan Mooney? Awesome book.
ReplyDeleteThe ridiculous thing about this is that the student in the wheelchair could have easily been accommodated. All they had to do was have the first row of singers standing on the floor, not on the bleachers/steps and he could have sat alongside them in the first row. To have him stuck all by himself, nowhere near the choir-- insane. You're right, it looks like it has to be a fake photo because no one in their right mind would subject anyone, disabled or not, to this kind of humiliation.
ReplyDeleteErica, What bothers me the most is not what took place but how easily it could have been prevented in the first place. I think this illustrates how pervasive segregation is for people with a disability. The thought of inclusion and full participation was not even considered much less thought about. No one expressed outrage. No one acted.
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