Keeping severly disabled kids small????

[Toby'sFriend]

It was a huge controversy in our school district a couple of years ago when they were giving the Learning Disabled students "jobs" as janitors in the school. I was strongly against it because I don't think any student in a High School should be relegated to serving and cleaning for the other students.

One of the school employees wrote a Grant Proposal to develop a more meaningful work and job training program. The students at the High School now run a coffee shop attached to the Public Library (really good prices too), they also help in the Library. Some of them are still just cleaning and wiping, but they are doing it as "owners" of the business. Some of them do nothing more but sit by the table that has flyers about the program. All of the profits go back into the program and is used to buy new technology, take field trips etc.

I think creativity can make all the difference.

 

[momof2inPA]

At the high school where I work, the severely handicapped students have "jobs" working in the cafeteria. They wipe the tables and put up all the chairs after breakfast and lunch. Some of the more capable students bake all the cookies and rolls (frozen dough -- a pretty easy job) sold in the cafeteria.

They also clean the fire department twice a week.

At the Christian school my daughters used to attend, most of the cleaning staff was made up of mildly handicapped adults. They lived (probably for free) in the attached retirement center, so they could just walk to work.

ALL these people have had one thing in common: A HUGE SMILE ON THEIR FACES WHILE THEY WORK. They love doing their simple jobs. I don't work with them directly, so I don't know if it's the routine, the productivity, or what, but they are HAPPY while they work. I think it'd be cruel to deny them the chance to do what you and I take for granted.

I'm sure each person's abilities must be weighed individually, and I'm sure they need lots of help learning their jobs, but I have to believe it's good for them to work.

I'm not talking about wiping off a few tables and sweeping up the floor for a few hours a day. In the workshops, the people, sometimes with mentalities of five and six year olds, might perform the same repetitive task a hundred or more times in one day. If the people working at your school function at a six year old or below level, I would be surprised. Work might be good for the soul, but not everyone is capable of making their own way, and they shouldn't have to be. We as a society should accept that there are some handicapped people who need to be cared for and do our best to make their lives pleasant.

I'm guessing that the people at your school are not that low functioning and my comments probably don't apply to them, but the focus in working with mentally challenged adults is too often about making them productive instead of making them happy. If there were a bunch of five and six year olds cleaning off tables and sweeping floors at your school, would you think, "It's good for them to work"?