I don't know if anyone caught one of the ads during the Super Bowl with the 2 Deaf men trying to find their friends house? Well, did you know that the ad was created and acted by Pepsi Co. employees who happen to have a disability? (Saginaw News, Linda Potter, February 8, 2008). Just because a person has a disability does not mean that they can' t work. I have a deaf friend that I have known for well--almost 20 years now--and there have been numerous times that he has said to me in the past years that he has been unable to find work because he is deaf. He did receive a job in a hospital, but had additional help from his mother who currently works at the same hospital and he doesn't really HAVE to communicate with anyone while he is there. I am all for having relatives or friends to aid in getting a job, but when a person with a disability has talent, why not give them a chance? He said that his job was so boring because he never communicated with anyone while he was at work. They ended up giving him horrible hours, which led to him working nights mostly and quitting as an end result. He did however tell me that he has a wonderful opportunity to work at Cedar Point for the Summer! Yahoo for him! I am so happy for him and I think that would be such a cool place to work! I asked him what he will be doing and he did not know exactly what at this time. He said that he will keep me posted. I hope he does well and I can't wait for him to start. I believe that there are so many people who have disabilities have so much talent, I just wish that there were more agencies out there that would give everyone a chance! I will include the Saginaw News link as soon as I find it! What are your thoughts on this? I guess being a Special education teacher has made me become such an advocate for people with disabilities. I look into the future of my students now and hope that they too will become successful! I see so much potential now in them now, I just hope that employers will see it in the future!
Here is the link to the Saginaw News for this topic:
(When you get on this link, just click on "Disabled people an overlooked talent pool"--it is on the left side of the page)
http://www.mlive.com/columns/sanews/index
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I worked with a teacher during my first education class-Exploratory Teaching. It was the class that I had to observe for 90 hours. The Upper Elementary Resource Room teacher that I worked with was, and still is, an awesome teacher. I think about her quite often. One of the things that she told me about working in the special education field is, "Disability doesn't mean that they can't. To me, disability means different ability." She stressed to the kids that just because they have a "difficult" time with something, they shouldn't give up. (Most teachers are advocates of this, right?) She really showed compassion when working with the kids. I was very happy that she was my first "mentor" in my first days in education.
By the way, I was sent to her classroom because the "original" teacher that I was supposed to work with was in the middle of a project, and wanted to finish before I joined the process. On my first day, my original teacher told me to head across the hall to help out. I definitely got more than I bargained for. It was an incredible experience. I ended spending about 75% of the time with this wonderful lady and the kids.
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