Matt’s EDIS 231 Blog

In the psychology class I peer facilitate for, we had a couple of speakers from the BGSU group, Speaking From Experience, talk to the class about mental illness. The goal of the speakers was to inform students about treating mental illness and learning how to cope with these conditions that often interrupt one’s entire life.

Overall, I really enjoyed their presentation. Educating people about mental illness or any disability is a big factor in helping others learn about the disabilities others have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and help to educate others if they or a family member or friend ever encounters mental illness.

The speakers were positive and offered hope to listeners that one can overcome a mental illness with the proper treatment. Some of the speakers talked about medication, psychiatric therapy, having faith in God, and even art to deal with the stress and effects of a mental illness.

Mental illness can range from depression to schizophrenia. While it is no fun to deal with a mental illness, as the speakers noted, many of the speakers stated they would not change what they have had to go through because the illness made them stronger.  I found it interesting that the speakers noted that after overcoming the deepest depths of their mental illness—they emerged thankful and relieved to have battled back and won. However, they noted that they must still confront the effects of their mental illness from time to time, just not on a constant basis. 

A former resident of my hometown, Connor Gifford, has written a book titled America according to Connor Gifford. Gifford, who has Down Syndrome, wrote the book to detail the history of America.

According to Gifford, he wrote the book to help people understand the importance of studying history. Gifford believes that a good understanding of the past is important to our interpretation of current events.

Gifford grew up in Perrysburg, Ohio and now lives in Nantucket, Massachusetts. This month, he returned to Perrysburg to promote his book and participate in a Veteran’s Day parade. He is now an ambassador for the city to help people with disabilities.

To read excerpts from the book and learn more about Mr. Gifford:

http://www.hargravepress.com/index.htm

After watching “Autism is a World” and reading chapter 11 in the text that deals with Autism, I decided to do some research on Flutie Flakes.

Flutie Flakes was a breakfast cereal developed by former Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie. Flutie created the cereal to help raise money for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. Flutie’s son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. The goal of Flutie’s organization is to raise awareness about autism and help families who have children with autism.

Flutie Flakes, which were originally released in 1998, are currently set to be re-released to help commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. Proceeds from the sales of Flutie Flakes go to help the organization. The Buffalo News calls the cereal the foundation’s star fundraiser.

While most likely the cereal will only be offered in grocery stores near Buffalo, New York, people can still pick up their own boxes of Flutie Flakes by going to the website: http://www.plbsports.com/

After watching the CNN documentary, Autism is a World, I came away with a lot of respect for Sue Rubin. Sue’s story was very impressive. One of the neat things I noticed at the end of the film was that Sue was listed as the writer.

While the introduction to the documentary made it clear that the story was Sue’s personal narrative and she was explaining it, the simple reminder of who the writer was, made me stop and think how awesome it was for her to write the dialogue for a short-film while also having to deal with Autism. Especially how Sue essentially explained that Autism can “suck” one into a zone, as evidenced by her standing over the sink pouring water over spoons.

Overall, Sue’s story is impressive. She had to battle against being improperly identified as mentally retarded and then once finding out that she was not, had to learn how to properly deal with Autism. Sue’s personal webpage (http://www.sue-rubin.org/) has the title of, “Living and Thoroughly Enjoying Life in Spite of Autism.” Sue has definitely not let Autism get the best of her and it is very impressive that she has accomplished so much by making others aware of her situation and how she can help them. 

I have recently started teaching the Kindergarten Sunday School Class at my church. It has been an interesting experience and I have been working on making sure the “big idea” of my lesson is clear. There is one student with a learning disability and it is hard to determine what she is saying at times. Secondly, I cannot determine whether my teaching style is helping her learn.

Therefore, I have been employing the principles of universal design when teaching. Overall, I have been using pictures, music, and posters with important words/ideas printed on them that pertain to the story. Instead of just writing down notes and teaching the week’s Bible story, my use of various visual aids has not only helped the students remember the lesson, but has helped me present a lesson where I am not constantly looking at my notes. Finally, I have found that everything flows together much nicer and it keeps a student’s attention focused on the lesson. 

Last night on the news, I quickly caught a story regarding people with disabilities and voting. I believe the news anchor stated that people with disabilities make up the largest minority voting bloc. However, I have been unable to find more information regarding those numbers.

This story got me thinking about voting, which led me to do some research on the topic. Below is a summary regarding some information I found concerning people with disabilities and their access to the ballot box.

Overall, there are 33.7 million Americans with disabilities who are of voting age/eligible to vote. However, many polling places are inaccessible to people with disabilities because the polling place is often in a church basement or the upstairs of a building. At these locations, there is sometimes no access to an elevator or ramp. Additionally, people with vision problems, such as the blind, do not have the option to request a Braille ballot, requiring them to have somebody else “vote” for them/interpret the ballot.

To provide evidence to these frustrations, a recent study found that people with disabilities are 20 percent less likely to vote and 10 percent less likely to register to vote than their non-disabled peers. The aforementioned stories regarding accessibility at the polling place, probably has left many people with disabilities discouraged and hence, they give up the motivation to vote as this study seems to indicate.  

Below is the link for the article where I found this information…it is pretty interesting, and goes more in-depth.

http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/voting/

Over fall break, I started my service hours. I am working in a third-grade class, where there are students with learning disabilities mainstreamed into the general education classroom. Overall, it was a tiring experience because the general education students have focus problems and behavioral issues…which can lead to a whole domino effect. For example, if one student gets out of hand, the whole classroom goes crazy. 

One of my assignments was to help a student with a learning disability take a test, which was hard because every student wanted help on the test once they saw me working with the particular student. Additionally, I felt it was hard to give attention to each student, because some of the students with learning disabilities required constant attention/supervision in order to complete their work.

For the most part, I enjoyed working with the entire class. However, based on my observations, it is tough environment to teach both a general third-grade class while also aiding the students with learning disabilities. 

This past Sunday, 9/28, I ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. In general, one may question whether this event has anything to do with disabilities, especially since I was running in the race. However, there is another aspect of the event that I feel needs to be shared with others.

One of the neat things I noticed during the race was that people run the race in honor or in memory of a family member who has battled breast cancer, other runners and walkers participate because they are either battling or have survived the disease. Some survivors are still weak from various treatments like chemotherapy and were pushed in a wheelchair through the course. Other survivors participated by riding a trolley.

A disease like cancer can leave one extremely weak, causing them to leave their jobs and daily activities behind. Some people must even go on disability from their job. Therefore, despite the debilitating effects of cancer, I was struck by the determination of the survivors who participated in Northwest Ohio’s 15^th Annual Race for the Cure to fight back against the disease, by charting the 3.1 mile course either by running, walking, riding a wheelchair, or taking the trolley.  

In my sociology class, my class is currently learning about statuses. In life, we maintain several statuses. The following are statuses: Gender, age, race, and occupation. Additionally, one can hold several statuses in life. For example, one can be a male and work as a teacher. 

However, some statuses are more distinct and more identifiable than others. People with disabilities often hold the master status of being disabled, meaning their disability determines how others perceive them and generally tops all other statuses they maintain. 

In the text for my class, the author mentions Stephen Hawking. Hawking, who suffers from Lou Gehrig’s disease, is also a physicist, and according to the author, ranks with the likes of Albert Einstein. Therefore, Hawking maintains two master statuses: being disabled and top physicist. 

This distinction made me think of Stephen Hawking in a new light. Previously, I always thought of him as a man with a disability. However, looking beyond the obvious master status, I also have realized he is a physicist too.

The 2008 Olympics did not end until this past Wednesday. No I am not joking—the official end of the Beijing Games came on September 17^th with the closing ceremonies for the Paralympic Games. The games featured opening and closing ceremonies as grand as the ceremonies for the International Olympiad.

Athletes competing in the Paralympics participated in events like swimming, rowing, and sailing. Traditionally, gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded to the top finishers in each event. China won the medal count, with Great Britain and The United States rounding out the top three respectively.

Remarkably, I did not even realize Paralympic Games were being conducted until I read a small article in the newspaper. The article led me to investigate the games more, and I was impressed with how magnificent the overall event was carried out…just by looking at the official website for the Paralympic Games.

Check it out for yourself: http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/index.shtml