Getting back at the wheel here is refreshing to have my outlet, I want you to all know these are my views and often I write from my heart so if I offend anyone it is not my intent , it is my intent to share my inner most feelings about my journey parenting today and the daily issues I face...
I struggled if I should post but today I had a meeting with Kaitlyn's new High School to set her schedule. we went on to their website and found the Freshman work sheet that is clearly a choice of classes, choices, lots of choices.. It is easy to follow. You start at the top and these are mandatory classes and then step two you choose and here is step three and you sign your child signs... Seems simple enough. Well that is for THOSE OTHER KIDS. Today we had one option..well I am not really sure option is the factor. You see we went to get the schedule and were put into a conversation about LIFE SKILLS. My child is 16 was FULLY INCLUDED K-5th successfully. Her best education growth was K-5th. We went IA for Middle school because the powers that be said it is best for middle school....for three years Kaitlyn made NO GROWTH.. she reads at the level she read in 5th if not a little less. She loves to read, she loves to learn, she loves school. So today even the words LIFE SKILLS seemed so inappropriate .. of course they added that it is full of HIGH FUNCTIONING GIRLS "we just love our girls in there" OK what is with this.. Come on it is 2011 and INCLUSION IS LAW... I wounder if their child was told she needed to go to the place under the bridge to shop, she can only buy things that are yellow.. I tell you it gets me right to the core of my heart.. HOW DARE PEOPLE.. My child deserves to be educated in the seat next to her peers and I simply and getting tired of repeating that. Why is it so easy for people to just assume my child would be better off in the rooms over there, those that are in close proximity to one another so they are CLUSTERED FOLKS ... they are singled out and DISCRIMINATED... because do not think for a minute you are not LABELING THEM... you have set THEIR CLASSES with lights and sirens for the "cool people" KNOW who is whom... PLEASE STOP !!!! Educate all children all together and do the job TEACH!!! Just TEACH. Especially the child who wants to be taught... I knew when i woke up this morning this was going to be a day.. I thank my higher power for the strength to keep the torch for my kids lit. I have a girl who wants to go to college, she wants to drive a car, she wants to be a teacher, she wants to have an apartment, she wants to shop and buy her own things... WHY THE HELL WOULD ANYONE STOP HER... because putting her in Life Skills is not going to teach her to deal with the real world. placing here in clusters that are not the normal world environments are not where she is going to live, she has no special walmart to shop or Publix to enter.. She is going to enter each place in this community that each and every other freshman is going to walk through the Entrance of and I want her prepared for that. OK, so I got her in sign language ..YEAH me.. LOL It is a foreign language.. it is imperative for her life long abilities because she has no handicap in her arms, hands or fingers so nothing will stop her from communicating like everyone else who signs and her world in signing will open like all other people who sign.. then we go on to signing up for swim team... they need to check on LIABILITY... for real that was said...When you come in Friday please check with the athletics department because we need to check on liability... have you EVER heard any one say that to your NON SPECIAL CHILD... OK ...I held it together because I have waited years for the day my child would enter the front doors of this school and I am excited for her... I really am I just was not fully prepared for the work ahead of me.... I feel like that mom back in 1997 in the front office enrolling her into the Kindergarten class where in a crowd of people I was told if her shots were not up to date she could not start school because of her CONDITION... I must say today I have a little more class than that moment I had not prepared to experience.. To be sure we did not have an epidemic of Down syndrome in the school I assured them her shots were up to date.
