Comments on: Inclusive education means everyone

By: k neich

k neich — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:26:52 +0000

PPS that is, normal kids could have benefited FROM those techniques.

I’ve kept coming back today coz i just cant believe how shoddy my writing here is, which does not advance anything of what i started out to say…. merely commenting on crip stuff still makes me pretty jittery coz of past experiences.

Anyway, the kids who did mediocre at college, are probably like the spec educationalists who came out to kimi ora from the ministry occasionally…! everytime with some new fangled plan and plethora of buzzwords… so i hope that new report is the one to rattle a few chains in a fundamentally different way.

By: k neich

k neich — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:36:34 +0000

PS. DON’T TRY to separate out all the different kinds of categories of people i’ve mentioned here, coz i’m dizzy with tryna sort it out myself!

Cheers, excuse the mess,
k

By: k neich

k neich — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:18:28 +0000

actually, apologies, coz i now read you above and i think you and that report would full well be in agreement with those who just wanted to ‘get on with it’. I’ve just been scarred by spec educationalists who just had no clue at all that, plainly, i loved my formal education and tuition, and i wasnt at school for just some feelgood end. they would laugh away at how they had no time for science – boy, that gave me some faith, NOT! some were just a bunch of touchyfeely clowns.

By: kay neich

kay neich — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:43:09 +0000

Thinking about it now, my family, therapists and myself fought so damn hard to get me out of Kimi Ora, and then when I came involved for a short while with disability politics, again, special schools were pooh-poohed to bits as terrible draconian places away from the ‘commooooniteeee’. But, now, I just don’t know. I think I became by far a more independent thinker and learner without all the sheep-herding peer pressure that just got up my nose at college. And it was quite hard to deal with a lot of people later that, I think influenced by disability politics in their own way, turn around on me and say, “ah, but you’ve been institutionalised, you don’t know the real world”. I found that really cruel and denigrating.

I have friends who had the opposite at Kimi Ora, and say it really was detrimental to their self-confidence. Others say it was the best years of their life. Funny thing is, I know a lot of this through keeping in touch with staff too.

I’ve the impression that there’s supposed to be solidarity amongst those who advocate for crips and all that, but I’m a bit worried for those who just want to get on with whatever makes sense for their academic success, to have to piss around under the umbrella of having “spec ed needs”, when spec ed is becoming known in the general media for kids with a whole slew of very complex needs, deserving nonetheless. I find it an insult to think I’ve been put anywhere just for social decoration. For others, I know just how vital the social stimulation can be.

I don’t know the brief, but I have teaching friends who believe that it’d be better if special teaching aides could be there to help with the whole class in it’s entirety, if integration really was the goal with kids who needed that much support. Hell. I saw heaps of able-bodied kids at college who could have benefited the techniques I gained through Kimi Ora. So, you know, baby/bathwater – I think I see reasons to ensure we don’t throw all of what’s been connected with the bad past away. I trust this has been said before, but I’ve reiterated.

By: k neich

k neich — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:05:58 +0000

Kimi Ora wasn’t nearly as bad as one would think given all the bad rep about spec ed. It was the lack of science labs and teachers trained in maths & science that provided an overwhelming impetus for me to get out of spec ed. Socially, Kimi Ora provided me with heaps more leadership skills and treated me more as if they expected me be a responsible adult. At the mainstream Auckland college I attended, the staff were exceptional with me and many students, but I believe this was inspite of a couple of heads who still seemed to think they were running a kindy, borstal or something… man, it was wierd. … and so began my introduction into a part of nz i guess i had to understand… alas…