Allison Gerlach

Professor Romano

Introduction to Special Education

December 6, 2018

Images of Disabilities Portfolio

Table of Contents

ANALYSIS OF A VISUAL IMAGE OF A DISABILITY .......2

ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL INTERACTIONS ......................3

ANALYSIS OF A BOOK.............................................................5

ANALYSIS OF A TV SHOW .....................................................7

ANALYSIS OF A BUILDING ................................................. 10

ANALYSIS OF A COMMUNITY BASED AGENCY ............ 12

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH DISABILILITIES ....... 13

ANALYSIS OF A VISUAL IMAGE OF A DISABILITY

Team Supreme is a concept that is in the

process of becoming a reality. This cartoon series will

be about a group of children who all have disabilities

and super powers. The leader of the group is Zeek (in

red). Zeek has autism and has very advanced

intelligence. Zeek’s younger sister, Sweet Pea (in

purple) is a cancer survivor. Sweet Pea uses her inner

strength and thoughts to move things. Their father is

named Dr. Jackson. After his wife died, he became

very depressed and adopted all of the other children

that make up Team Supreme. Dr. Jackson also has superhuman brain power.

The other heroes on Team Supreme include Thumper, Li, Shock, Angel and Mech. The

boy in orange is Thumper and he is deaf. Thumper has the heightened senses because of his

inability to hear, which is called Cross Modal-Neuroplasticity. Like Thumper, Li (in yellow) has

the ability of Cross Modal-Neuroplasticity but she is blind. The boy in blue is a boy named

Shock. Shock was in a car accident and lost his arm from the elbow down. He has a robotic arm

that he can use to do many cool things. However, if he uses his robotic arm for too long, he gets

phantom pain. The girl in pink is named Angel. Angel has albinism and has the super power of

invisibility. And finally, in the back of the picture in the robot is Mech. Mech has polio and is

paralyzed from the waist down. When he gets in his robot, however, he does not face any

handicaps. He is 10 feet tall, 6 feet wide, strong and so powerful.

The very creation of this cartoon is very progressive. There has never been recognition of

children with disabilities in such a powerful way. In media, there are scarcely any representations

of people with disabilities with only 1.7% of reoccurring characters having a disability. And

unfortunately, when shows do try to put characters with disabilities in their stories, they use

unfair stereotypes that perpetuate stigmas surrounding disabilities. It is safe to say that the heroic

portrayal of them is a welcome change. Taking what may be seen as inabilities and turning them

into super powers is very empowering. Children with disabilities can see themselves in these

superheroes and that is so important. Children without disabilities can also benefit from seeing

diversity on their cartoons. Overall, this show is very highly anticipated in the special needs

community and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.

Citations:

Leonard Studios. (2017). Team Supreme. Retrieved from http://www.leonardstudios.com/team-

supreme/

ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL INTERACTIONS

Josiah is a second-grade boy. He is in the process of being adopted by his foster mom of

four years and everything seems to finally be falling into place for him. School has not been easy

for Josiah. He has had difficulty following directions, paying attention to lessons, managing his

behavior and sitting still. After years of struggling in preschool and early elementary school with

teachers who were quick to dismiss him as a troubled child, he has been diagnosed with ADHD

and impulse control disorder by his doctor. He was put on medication to help his focus issues

and the results have been significantly positive.

Josiah’s early experience in school was not that positive. His teachers tried to little avail

to give him rewards to encourage controlled behavior. They would allow him to be line leader or
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to run errands. They would try to give him opportunities to share with the class what he was

working on so he had an outlet for his energy. The teacher would be in frequent contact with his

foster mom to try and keep her up to date on his progress. But, because he could not concentrate

he tended to hate school. He liked gym and recess and lunch, but other times when he had to be

contained to his classroom, he would get antsy and frustrated.

Josiah was given an unofficial 504 plan in first grade and has since been given an official

one for second grade. In his 504, he is granted accommodations for extra test time and breaks in

lessons when he needs to get up and move around. But, because of the medication that he has

been put on, he does not need to use these accommodations. At home, he is much more relaxed.

He can sit down and enjoy doing crafts where he used to only be interested in physical activities

that were sometimes destructive to his home. He is able to sit down and do his homework this

year when last year homework would be a daily struggle.

Josiah is overall happier. He says that his teachers this year are his favorite. He says that

he likes going to school. He is involved in extracurricular activities and has more friends because

of this. At home, he does not need the reward systems that his foster mom had to use last year.

He is helpful and much more relaxed. He is also very proud of his progress. He chooses positive

notes home or positive phone calls as rewards from his teachers. He wants to make sure that his

foster mom sees how good he is doing because he had never had that before.

As for his foster mom’s experience, she is glad that Josiah has gotten the help that he

needs. She has watched him transform and begin actually enjoying the things that he is doing.

She also brought up that her view of him was changed when he got diagnosed. Before then, she

would get very frustrated when he couldn’t follow simple directions or just thought that he was

not paying attention to her. But now she realized that sometimes he can’t pay attention and
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giving him reminders is much more productive than getting mad at him for something he can’t

control.

ANALYSIS OF A BOOK

The book that I choose to analyze for its representation of disabilities in literature was The

Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. This book is written by a thirteen-year-old boy with autism.

The text is set up as a dialogue of sorts between people without autism and people with autism.

There are questions that people frequently ask the author but since he has very little

communication skills, this book is his response to them. The writing is clear, concise,

understandable, heart-warming and heart-breaking all at the same time. Much of the text is spent

explaining how devastating it is when people get frustrated by the behaviors of people with

severe autism. He explains that he feels trapped in his body because he cannot control himself

nor can he express himself to others. He realized that other people are frustrated but it is all the

more frustrating not to be able to control your own body.

While Naoki uses words like relentless, depressing, abandoned, miserable, suffering, and

unbearable to describe the way he feels about his autism. But when asked “would you like to be

‘normal’?” he responds “to give the short version, I’ve learned that every human being, with or

without disabilities, needs to strive to do their best, and by striving for happiness you will arrive

at happiness. For us, you see, having autism is normal—so we can’t know what your ‘normal’ is

even like. But so long as we can learn to love ourselves, I’m not sure how much it matters

whether we’re normal or autistic” (Higashida 45). Naoki is such an articulate inspiring writer, it

is amazing to read what he has come up with. I received a passage from this book as a required

reading assignment in one of my classes and I fell in love with it. I bought the book and have

read it three times through. I have always been curious of the minds of people with autism who
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cannot communicate and this book shut down any negative stereotypes that I could have possibly

thought of.

A feature of the book that I really thought was helpful as a preservice teacher was the

explanations of why they do the things that they do. For example, he explains why he laughs

randomly, or waves his hands in front of his face, or jumps up and down. People with autism are

not just doing these things because they want to behave strangely. In their minds, they have a

rational reason for doing so whether it is because they thought of something really funny, or they

want to see the light filter through their fingers or they like don’t like the feeling of gravity on

them and they want to push against it and feel like they can fly into the air. By reading these

simple explanations it is easier to be understanding of the “random” behaviors that we do not

typically do.

Not only does this book provide insight into the mind of children with autism but it also

provides advice of how to help them learn most effectively. Higashida asks multiple times in the

book that people do not give up on them but simply be patient. He explains that this is the best

way to show your love and support to them. Sometimes their behaviors are out of their control

but they want desperately to overcome them and move on. They want to learn and they want to

please you and they want to be loved. By showing them, as a teacher or a parent, that you will

not give up on them is the best thing you can do.

This book would be a great resource for parents and teachers to use to understand their

children with autism but it is also a great way to help other children understand them too. By

sharing passages with students without autism, they will get a better understanding for why they

act that way or why they do not communicate with them as they expect they should. By ignoring

their differences, you are sending a message to your students that they cannot ask questions and
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that there is something shameful about it. But, by acknowledging these differences and educating

your students, you are giving them the opportunity to be practice tolerance and accepting. In one

part of the book there is a quote about students trying to understand what their classmate with

autism is saying “‘hey, she just said, ‘all of us’!’ ‘So… that must mean she wants to join in with

us, yeah?’ ‘Dunno. Maybe she wants to know if we’re all doing it’” (Higashida 23). It is

heartwarming to think of an environment where children can respectfully accept their peers and

practice kindness and that is what The Reason I Jump offers us.

Citations:

Higashida, N., Yoshida, K. A., & Mitchell, D. (2007). The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a

Thirteen-year-old Boy with Autism. Penguin Random House LLC.

ANALYSIS OF A TV SHOW
Atypical is a show on Netflix about a teen age boy named Sam. Sam has autism. The

show is about his senior year of high school and his quest to find a girlfriend. Sam narrates the

story through dialogue taken from his therapy sessions with Julia. Sam also happens to be in love

with Julia which turns into an issue later on in the show. While Sam is preparing to ask Julia out,

he decides that he will have a practice girlfriend named Paige. Paige likes Sam and all his quirks.

Their relationship evolves through the first season but they ultimately break up when Sam rudely

blurts out that he is in love with Julia and not Paige at Paige’s family dinner.

Surrounding Sam is his seemingly normal family. His mother, Elsa’s life pretty much

revolves around Sam and his autism. She is involved in support groups and is very concerned

with assisting Sam do anything he may need. That is until, she starts to have an affair with a

bartender. Sam’s father, Doug, is an EMT and has a big heart. He is awkward at first and seems

to struggle relating to Sam. It isn’t until halfway into the first season that he really begins to
 8

make a connection with his son when Sam starts having girl trouble and asks for his help.

Viewers watch Doug evolve into a caring and involved parent as his wife drifts from him.

Sam has a younger sister named Casey. Casey has a rough exterior that melts when she

needs to protect her older brother. She may pick on him and be annoyed by his obsession with

penguins but she does not allow anyone to pick on him. Casey does however have a huge chip on

her shoulder from the neglect that her parents show her. They are focused on Sam and do not

recognize her at all. Casey gets an offer to go to a private school on a scholarship for her track

abilities but her parents initially say that she can’t go because she needs to go to the same school

as Sam. In the end, Casey is allowed to go to the new school and she struggles to come into her

own through the transition.

As a viewer of Atypical, I thought it did a good job at accurately representing autism.

Sam has an intense interest in Antarctica and penguins. Sam is hyper-sensitive to noises and

lights and fabrics. Sam has a melt-down in one episode and begins displaying self-destructive

behaviors on the bus. He is painfully rude and insensitive at times and struggles understanding

new social norms. He does not adjust easily to new experiences and is comforted from routines.

Atypical also does a good job at showing the experiences of people surrounding someone

with autism. For example, being a sibling of a person with a disability is very difficult for many

children. Casey displays behaviors that are typical of these children and it is interesting to see

that honest relationship. Sam’s parents are also decent representations of the reality of parenting

a child with a disability. Elsa may take it to the extreme but Doug is the other extreme. It is

mentioned that when Sam was four and Casey was a baby, Doug left the family because he

couldn’t handle it. It is also revealed in another episode that Doug does not tell anyone that Sam

has autism. He just pretends that he is normal because he is ashamed. Elsa, on the other hand,
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takes it as her personal responsibility to give Sam an equal opportunity in life. She takes his

diagnosis and uses it to spread awareness and demand accommodations for him. While Elsa and

Doug are painful to watch and completely empathize with, the core of their intentions are real.

Parents with children with disabilities can go through stages of denial and even shame. Parents

can also use their child’s label as a mission statement.

Contrary to my opinions though, there are many that critique the series for not being

accurate enough. The opinions of people from the autistic community are admitted more

qualified to make these observations than I am. The biggest issue that they found with Atypical

was the stereotypical nature of Sam’s character. He is a high functioning, socially awkward, and

obsessed with penguins. While he has a unique interest, people were upset that Sam was not

created from personal experiences of people with autism. Another critique that they picked up on

that I did not really linger on was the way that Sam treats Paige. In one episode, he locks her in a

closet because he was annoyed with her. This behavior is not representative of people with

autism and it sheds them in a very abusive light. They also raise the criticism that Sam is played

by a neurotypical actor and not an actor that is actually on the spectrum. While the actor does a

good job at sensitively and thoughtfully portraying Sam, he does not have the unique perspective

that would have added value to the role (Moss, 2017).

Citations:

Moss, H. (2017, August 11). My Autistic Opinion: Atypical is a Stereotypical Representation of

Autism. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/my-autistic-opinion-

atypical-is-a-stereotypical-representation_us_598e2e04e4b0ed1f464c0abd

Rashid, R. (Producer). (2017). Atypical [Television series]. Netflix.

ANALYSIS OF A BUILDING

The Somerset Hills YMCA prides itself in being a play where everyone can physically

better themselves. I work in Kidz Korner, a room inside of the YMCA facility that children can

play in while their parents work out. Kidz Korner is supposed to be an inclusive environment

where all children are welcome but there are physical barriers that keep it from being an

accessible environment. First of all, the entrance is made up of two heavy glass doors. The door

handles are loops that can be opened using one hand and they are at the appropriate height. But,

the weight of the doors makes the effort to open the doors too great. If the facility were to make

the doors automatic that would make it less accessible to people in wheel chairs or anyone who

is a little weaker.

Additionally, the entrance to Kidz Korner is not labelled with braille nor is the entrance

to the bathroom inside the room. With no clear signage or tactile cues, people who are visually

impaired have no way of knowing what room they are entering or which door is the bathroom

and which is the closet. The YMCA should put in those signs like the ones that are posted on

various other locations of the building. The loud speaker that is in the room, that is used for

overhead pages and emergency messages, is broken. Even people who have “regular” hearing

cannot hear what is coming out of the speaker. This poses serious safety hazards for everyone,

not only the hearing impaired. If there was a visual display as well as a working speaker that

could be used to communicate important messages, this would make the system accessible to

people with hearing and visual impairments.

Inside Kidz Korner there is a sign in desk, but the counter is at least 48” above the

ground. The idea is that parents can sign in their children and the children will not have access to

the papers but this also means that people in wheelchairs or people who are under 4 feet tall will
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not have access to it either. Similarly, the light switches are high to be out of reach of children.

Not only do the light switches require tight grasping or pinching, but they are also positioned

right above a table. If a person in a wheelchair needed to shut the lights off, they couldn’t.

Moving the light switches and the counters down may result in some behavior challenges with

kids, but it is worth it to make the facility accessible to all.

To get inside the play area of Kidz Korner, there is a five-foot-high counter to get past.

There is a door that is only able to be opened from one side. The door knob on the inside of the

room does not work. This is put in place so that no children can run out but again this poses a

barrier to people in wheel chairs. The door also does not leave the appropriate amount of space

for a person in a wheel chair to be able to open the door, even if they could reach the knob.

Moving this door lower would be the best way to solve these problems as well as reconfiguring

the sign in area to allow for more space.

Inside the play are, there is the problem of inadequate room for someone who may have a

wheelchair. The tables are very close together and there are areas that are narrowly closed in

with doll houses and train tables. If a child had a wheel chair, these toys would not be accessible

for them and that is against the whole philosophy of the room. By rearranging the room to make

it more of an open floor plan and removing clutter, all children could play with whatever they

wanted.

While there is not a sign outside the door of the bathroom that labels it as accessible, it is

certainly not. The door again is extremely heavy and it closes very fast. Children have trouble

getting in the door before it closes and I can imagine a person in a wheelchair would have the

same struggle. The closer needs to be adjusted to make the door easier to use. Also, the area
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outside the bathroom is cluttered with chairs and tables. There is no space to maneuver around.

Again, I would recommend the rearrangement of the room.

The accommodations and modifications that I have suggested for the environment of

Kidz Korner are mainly aimed to help people with disabilities be able to use the room efficiently.

But, all of these changes would not decrease the functionality of the room at all. Children should

be able to reach all the toys that are in the room. Toddlers who are just learning to walk need to

have an open space to waddle around in so they do not get hurt when they fall down. Parents

who just worked out and may have pulled a muscle should not be unable to leave because the

door is too heavy to open. Universal accessibility is important and should be the goal especially

at a place as “inclusive” as the YMCA.

Citation:

Institute for Human Centered Design, & ADA National Network. (2016). ADA Checklist for

Existing Facilities. Retrieved from https://www.adachecklist.org/doc/fullchecklist/ada-

checklist.pdf

ANALYSIS OF A COMMUNITY BASED AGENCY

Our House is a community based organization that provides “healthy, stimulating, and

inclusive environments for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through

community residences, employment services, innovative day programs, social opportunities and

related support services designed to help them achieve their full potential for living meaningful

and productive lives” (Our House, n.d.). They provide housing and support for over 100

individuals in 36 residences in Union, Essex, Morris and Somerset Counties. Their programs are

very helpful for adults who do not have the legislative protection that children under the age of
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21 do. The services that they provide are volunteer opportunities, job coaching and recreational

activities to encourage the individuals to grow and be involved in their community.

Because Our House is funded mainly by donations, they host different events to try and

raise money and encourage people to donate. They no longer receive as much state funding, so it

is important that they raise as much money as possible to fund their transportation, staff, and

houses. It is also very important to them to keep their services affordable for their families so

charitable donations are greatly appreciated. To accomplish this, it is essential that Our House

gets their name out in the community and raises awareness of their cause. By raising awareness,

they are also effectively raising awareness of disabilities. Bringing attention to this diverse group

of people that was previously shunned and hidden is a worthy cause and I think we could all get

behind it.

Citation:

Our House. (n.d.). Our House. Retrieved from http://www.ourhousenj.org

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH DISABILILITIES

I went to a school that did not practice full inclusion. All I knew about the students with

disabilities in elementary school was that they were in the two teacher classrooms or shipped to

one of the other elementary schools. In fourth grade, I was in one of the co-teaching classes and

one of the other students with a disability smacked me across the face in art class one day. I

remember being upset and scared from that point on of people with disabilities because all I had

known about them was based off of that one isolated experience. There were no lessons about

inclusion, no talk of tolerance or acceptance until middle school when bullying really picked up.

Even then, the discussions are centered around being nice to one another and not picking at
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someone’s flaws. In my school, there was never really a discussion about people with

disabilities.

When I got to high school I started working at the YMCA in Kidz Korner, where parents

can drop off their children while they work out in the gym. This was when I first came into

contact with children with disabilities. There was one child who was particularly difficult. He

was hyperactive, he hardly spoke words but yelled frequently, he did not follow directions, and

he was violent sometimes. But, when I met him for the first time he was quiet and sat down at a

table by himself. I approached him and asked him if he wanted to color a picture and his face lit

up. He ended coloring a picture for everyone in the room, myself included. I asked him questions

about school and his family and he would shake his head yes or no in response. We became

buddies and every time he came into Kidz Korner we would color together and we ended up

creating his very own book out of construction paper. He would talk to me a little more and more

every time and I felt so proud of the progress that he had made in our room.

All my coworkers were shocked that I could get him to sit down and work on something

creative. They did not believe that I had conversations with him. They thought that because of

the horror stories of a few bad days, that he was a horrible kid. Personally, I wanted to prove

those stories wrong. I knew that there was a way to make him content and we just needed to find

it. I found that all he needed was someone to sit down and give him calm guidance. Even when

he was bouncing off the walls and acting out of hand, if you spoke to him in a soft tone and made

eye contact with him, it would draw him back to the moment. From that point, I knew that I

wanted to work with students with disabilities. I saw this stigma around special education from

so many people and I wanted to break it. It may be hard work but those kids deserve someone

who will take time to put in that work.