Musings on Special Education
Special education seems to have now become the buzz in the field of education. Thanks but no thanks to the diminishing number of special education teachers in the United States that has led school districts to recruit teachers from a third world country like the Philippines. Thanks but no thanks to the economic and political state of this country that has forced professionals to relocate in other countries for a greener pasture. Thanks but no thanks to the increased number and frequency of human disabilities that has now become the blight of modern civilization.
Notwithstanding the manner by which the trends in special education in the Philippines have grown over the years, there is now an improved awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities and a greater acceptance of their capabilities as contributing members of society. However, meeting the needs of exceptional people is still wanting of an all out support from government and private institutions and individuals.
While it is true the Magna Carta for Person’s with Disabilities and R.A. 7277 provide laws governing the rights of exceptional people, still not so many persons with disabilities have access to support facilities and services. Mobility for one has not been fully responded to. There may be some noticeable positive developments in infrastructural designs that are disabled-person friendly, but the construction and facility of said amenities are limited, not only within communities with marginalized exceptional persons and rural folks, but also in urbanized towns and cities. Not many buildings including institutions that provide basic services have ramps and elevators for the physically challenged and the visually impaired; and where facilities are present, most often they are not free of obstructions -particularly the sidewalk ramps.
In many cases, other support facilities and services provided specifically for specific disorders can be availed of only by those who can afford them.
On the other hand, the needs of persons with disabilities are not being entirely met by families and caregivers because of differing diagnosis, unachievable benchmarks or outright ignorance of the person’s disability. There is still a long way for society to fully accept and integrate something that’s quite different from the norm, not only in the area of special education but also in the many aspects of the Filipino way of life like gender biases, sub-culture and minority issues, religious and political beliefs and many more. Having a special child in the family can be seen as a source of shame and puts a stigma on the parents and siblings of the person with disability, so that often, instead of giving the exceptional person proper and appropriate care, the family may not accept the child’s disabilities and may not be open for intervention. The family may spend more time attending to their emotional and psychological well being as well. As much as possible, the members of a family with a special child should get some kind of professional help but the child’s welfare should be taken cared of first and foremost.
“The field of education has produced a mushrooming industry that is making its living off the growing percentage of students that are supposedly learning disabled, dyslexic, have attention deficit disorders, are neurologically impaired, or have language processing deficits, etc. The list of disorders has kept expanding as more "experts" attach their names to what is supposedly wrong with an ever-growing number of students having trouble learning to read. Now we have testing experts, teaching experts, special classes and a ballooning educational budget producing poor results and many, many very unhappy children!” The problem with this is that often, expert opinions over a child’s disabilities are just that, expert opinions and are detached from what the child actually needs to conquer his/her disabilities. It’s pretty much like the seven blind men describing a huge elephant. Their contributions to the understanding of the animal don’t show the greater picture of what an elephant actually is. Each blind man is stuck with his own “expertise” and doesn’t see the whole animal the way it should be. Similarly, the collaboration between and among experts in the field of special education is sometimes detrimental to the welfare of the child. Instead of providing proper and appropriate intervention for the child with disability, the “expert opinions” only give a profile of the child as seen from different angles. A wholistic approach that focuses on meeting the needs of the child is more ideal.
Certainly, we have seen persons with disabilities who are fully integrated in the academe and in the workforce living lives that are comparable or even better than many people in the mainstream but the incidence and frequency of people with disabilities living productive lives does not represent the majority of people who need adequate and meaningful support and services.
Notwithstanding the manner by which the trends in special education in the Philippines have grown over the years, there is now an improved awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities and a greater acceptance of their capabilities as contributing members of society. However, meeting the needs of exceptional people is still wanting of an all out support from government and private institutions and individuals.
While it is true the Magna Carta for Person’s with Disabilities and R.A. 7277 provide laws governing the rights of exceptional people, still not so many persons with disabilities have access to support facilities and services. Mobility for one has not been fully responded to. There may be some noticeable positive developments in infrastructural designs that are disabled-person friendly, but the construction and facility of said amenities are limited, not only within communities with marginalized exceptional persons and rural folks, but also in urbanized towns and cities. Not many buildings including institutions that provide basic services have ramps and elevators for the physically challenged and the visually impaired; and where facilities are present, most often they are not free of obstructions -particularly the sidewalk ramps.
In many cases, other support facilities and services provided specifically for specific disorders can be availed of only by those who can afford them.
On the other hand, the needs of persons with disabilities are not being entirely met by families and caregivers because of differing diagnosis, unachievable benchmarks or outright ignorance of the person’s disability. There is still a long way for society to fully accept and integrate something that’s quite different from the norm, not only in the area of special education but also in the many aspects of the Filipino way of life like gender biases, sub-culture and minority issues, religious and political beliefs and many more. Having a special child in the family can be seen as a source of shame and puts a stigma on the parents and siblings of the person with disability, so that often, instead of giving the exceptional person proper and appropriate care, the family may not accept the child’s disabilities and may not be open for intervention. The family may spend more time attending to their emotional and psychological well being as well. As much as possible, the members of a family with a special child should get some kind of professional help but the child’s welfare should be taken cared of first and foremost.
“The field of education has produced a mushrooming industry that is making its living off the growing percentage of students that are supposedly learning disabled, dyslexic, have attention deficit disorders, are neurologically impaired, or have language processing deficits, etc. The list of disorders has kept expanding as more "experts" attach their names to what is supposedly wrong with an ever-growing number of students having trouble learning to read. Now we have testing experts, teaching experts, special classes and a ballooning educational budget producing poor results and many, many very unhappy children!” The problem with this is that often, expert opinions over a child’s disabilities are just that, expert opinions and are detached from what the child actually needs to conquer his/her disabilities. It’s pretty much like the seven blind men describing a huge elephant. Their contributions to the understanding of the animal don’t show the greater picture of what an elephant actually is. Each blind man is stuck with his own “expertise” and doesn’t see the whole animal the way it should be. Similarly, the collaboration between and among experts in the field of special education is sometimes detrimental to the welfare of the child. Instead of providing proper and appropriate intervention for the child with disability, the “expert opinions” only give a profile of the child as seen from different angles. A wholistic approach that focuses on meeting the needs of the child is more ideal.
Certainly, we have seen persons with disabilities who are fully integrated in the academe and in the workforce living lives that are comparable or even better than many people in the mainstream but the incidence and frequency of people with disabilities living productive lives does not represent the majority of people who need adequate and meaningful support and services.
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