Thoughts on last semester

Over the course of last semester, I have been surprised by how much my mindset has changed about people with disabilities. At the beginning of last semester, I did not agree that people with disabilities should be integrated into regular classrooms. I thought it was unfair that so much time and money was poured into a select number of students when it should be used to benefit the greatest number of students possible. I thought all special education teachers believed the opposite of what I believed. Our advisor, Dr. Da Fonte has shown me that not all special education teachers push for complete immersion. Some people with disabilities benefit from an integrated classroom and their presence does not inhibit the learning of the other students. Dr. Da Fonte said that the government misunderstands what special education instructors say about students with disabilities: some students should not be in an integrated classroom. Their disability not only hinders the learning of other students, but often, being with other students is unhealthy for the student with a disability. Before pushing for unquestioned, complete integration, the government should consider the inappropriateness of integration for some students. Our Mayfield spent the Fall semester learning about the People First Language. What we have learned has given me a fuller understanding of how people with disabilities should be educated, integrated, and most importantly, seen as people first.