I found the chapter on disability in Adolescents at School REALLY interesting. I have had many experiences with people with disabilities through school, church, and other extracurricular/volunteer activities. I think the most memorable relationship I have had with a personal with a disability was in elementary school. There was a girl named Katie in my grade and she had Down’s syndrome. The school formed a group called Peer Helpers that were a group of kids that learned about the disability and were taught how to best interact with Katie and build a positive relationship. The group also planned activities and formed study groups to help her with her homework and other class work. Through this experience I grow to develop a huge respect for people with disabilities and at a young age learned to see past people’s disabilities and get to know them as a person. This benefited me greatly when in high school I when my homeroom was place in one of the special education classroom. Many of my peers where overwhelmed but I found it easy to form friendships with many of the students in special education.
This experience will completely change the way I present and treat students with disabilities in the sense that I will be sure to teach all my students to not define any of their peers by their disability. I think that it is important to make sure that your students are getting this kind of education at the elementary level so that they can carry out these ideas for their whole life and are prepared when they meet a person with a disability for the first time. In art I think a good way to incorporate these ideas into a lesson would be through introducing an artist with a disability into a project and capitalize on the amazing and unique qualities of their work. This way, students learn to focus on the positives and see their disabilities not as limits but as part of their personality and art work.
A good artist to introduce would be Chuck Close because he does really amazing work despite his physical disabilities. He is also the perfect artist to present because is still currently working and can easily be incorporated into a painting or self portrait lesson.