Sadly, there are many different groups of students that subject to marginalization - whether it be based on their race, financial background. family situation, ect. But one group that I am passionate about is the disabled student population. A few months ago, I read the book Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, and it was so very eye-opening. It is an easy read, but speaks volumes of what so many disabled students endure in the school system these days. On a side-note, I highly recommend every future educator to read this (it's only $5 on Amazon, what's there to say no to?) Anyhow, the book is narrated by a little girl named Melody, who has a disability that renders her unable to speak. Through reading this book, I found that so many disabled students are treated like they are dumb, or little children when in fact they are in junior high or high school - and yes, their disabilities make it more difficult for them to learn, but it also means that they are simply able to learn in different ways.
Many programs for disabled students barely have any room for the students to expand their learning by excelling through higher grades or levels - their classes simply stay the same throughout their experience. Some schools are getting better at this, but I just think that many teachers think its easy to run a classroom of disabled students because they don't need to be taught complex ideas. The thing is, they may not need complex ideas yet, but at the very least they need enough new material to stimulate growth. They may grow at a slower pace than others, but they still deserve to be given the best chance to try.
I totally agree with you. I was in an ELL class at Lesher last semester and one thing that was really impressed upon me was that just because a student doesn't understand English doesn't mean they're stupid, they just don't know how to communicate their intelligence in a way that makes sense to US not THEM. This same mentality can be applied to disabled students. Giving them low expectations and zero challenge will do nothing to help students grow, feel useful, happy, and healthy. Though we may not know how to communicate effectively with each other, teachers and disabled students should be on the same side and the same page. No matter who they are and what their abilities may be, all students want to be challenged and given the opportunity to succeed and even exceed expectations.
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