Saturday, July 31, 2010

Wonderful story here about a young man who started his own dream business (a food cart) under the guidance of a community mentor. Thanks to the Williams Syndrome Association for this video.

WCSH6.com Portland, ME Video

Friday, July 30, 2010

Somewhere, there has to be a book about this...

In November of 2006, I read a New York Times article entitled, "Just an Ordinary Girl" about a young woman with Down Syndrome who was attending college in Massachusetts. The article went on to detail other post-secondary education initiatives for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I searched the internet for about six weeks, before coming to the conclusion that there were no books on the subject.

I have since written one, published by Woodbine House Publishing in November 2009, titled The Power to Spring Up: Postsecondary Education Options for Students with Significant Disabilities. Other books have since become available, including Think College by Meg Grigal and Deborah Hart.

Young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities need as many (if not more) opportunities to expand their worlds. College expanded many of our worlds - what a great place to start making the world a bigger place for all students who are ready to learn.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

There's a story about that...

As promised, here is the story behind the unusual title of the blog. I have been called an "outside of the box" thinker; special educators often are. When the neat boxes that apply to typical learners were handed out, I guess I had stepped out of the line (my family believes that I was in the bathroom). The working title of the blog was "What box?", but some clever soul had already claimed that one.

I attended conference recently on postsecondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The great Cate Weir of www.thinkcollege.net gave the opening presentation on person-centered planning. She shared the following stanza from the poem Six Significant Landscapes by Wallace Stevens:

Rationalists, wearing square hats
Think in square rooms
Looking at the floor
Looking at the ceiling
They confine themselves
To right-angled triangles.
If they tried rhomboids,
cones, waving lines, ellipses --
As, for example, the ellipse
of the half moon
Rationalists would wear sombreros.

By far, this is the best description I have ever heard about outside the box thinking. My goal with this work is to find stories about adults with disabilities (especially intellectual and developmental disabilities) who are living meaningful lives and to study how they do it. I'm not looking for inspirational or overcoming stories, but stories about real lives. What's to overcome, anyway? There is room in the world for people of all abilities and I'm not sure we can figure out how to continue making the world better if we don't have good examples.

As for the use of ellipses, I use them frequently in speaking and writing, because stories about real people are in constant evolution. You can't put a period on a sentence until a thought is complete. My thinking is never complete... just ask my husband.


Monday, July 26, 2010


Twenty years... what a long, strange trip so far.

I'm beginning this venture in honor of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (July 26, 1990). I began my career teaching full time in special education in September of 1990, so I have had an orchestra-level seat to the changes that have taken place since that day.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." ~ Confucius