Board Topics

On Saturday, February 20th, we met for our Promise Board Meeting at our home base in Sandusky. The meeting included reports, discussion on the issues, and updates on technical progress.
Topics included:
An afternoon colloquium at U.T.:

Providing Care for Children with Disabilities in NW Ohio: the Engler Family and the Development of the Sunshine Children’s Home, 1950-1964” Samuel Di Rocco II

Kathleen discussed some interesting things she learned from that presentation about the early history of the Sunshine Childrens' Home in Maumee. Among other things, she informed us that the Sunshine Childrens' Home is no more. It has now become the "Sunshine Foundation, Inc.".
We also discussed how some things have changed, and other things haven't, with respect to the struggle of parents attempting to care for their special needs children and to find adequate resources to do so. We are particularly interested in looking at the process by which many of the larger organizations of today grew from the roots of families, like the Englers, who did what they did and learned to care for their special needs children because there was no one else who could or would.

Other topics presented and/or discussed at the meeting will be elaborated upon in following posts, but include:
--Status of Research on Special Education due process cases in NW Ohio;
--The Catching Stories Oral History Institute being offered at Kenyon College in June, about which absolutely everyone expressed serious interest. Kathleen will follow up and request an application(s).
--The recent webcam case involving invasion of privacy by a suburban Philadelphia school district. This "just breaking" story hit a nerve with many of us,because it underscored existing anxieties and distrust that has become almost inescapable in relationships between parents and school districts.
--Need for MUCH more work establishing a working blogspot and learning how to get maximum benefit from it with respect to the story collecting project. Kathleen, Angie, and Carol will meet on March 2nd, to work exclusively on technical and blog issues. One thing we all agreed on, however, is that there is still a lot to learn about how to do this blog-thang.

A Connection

So. It's been awhile, and sometimes it takes me a little longer to get things done than others. Previously I suggested we would post some information and/or data from the Department of Educations' public records.
I had also mentioned and posted a link, I think, w/ respect to Susan Schweik's book, The Ugly Laws, N.Y. University Press, 2009.
Another time, I vented about health care and health care insurance.

Since then, I did conduct some research into special education due process cases and the decisions of DOE appointed hearing officers. I was not particularly surprised by what I found, but was rather overwhelmed by how much I discovered. So far, I've entered the data into an Excel workbook, and did some preliminary comparisons with charts & graphs. Putting it all together is something that will take more time than I realized.

Maybe, however, there's something to be learned here. A thread connecting individual experience (in this case, with special education and health care insurance) with the gatekeepers entrusted to distribute resourses and provide what is needed.
Some school districts seem more willing to spend significant amounts of money to oppose parents trying to get services for their children, than it would cost to provide the services which they consider unnecessary. A common concern, often implied but left unspoken, is that special education is a "drain" to the general population-- that providng special education to a child with a disability must be "at the expense" of their more deserving peers.

Why is opposition to providing services, including education, to persons with disabilities so pervasive, so vehement? In the big picture, how far has our community come in 2010?

Susan Schweik wrote, regarding the history of disability in the United States between 1867 and 1920:

Ugly law was begging law, although contemporary American disability activism did not know this. Unsightliness was a status offense, illegal only for people without means.

Think about it.

Questionable Practices

Smell anything fishy here..................?


The LURE

In the course of business, I needed a certain standard form. I could do it from scratch, like a homemade cake, or get the form ready-made. As luck would have it, just about then I noticed a link, to a website ..... offering . . . “free legal forms”.
Perfect. Download the form from Rocket Lawyer.com and save myself some time and money. After locating the exact form I want, and entering my name and email address . . .

The BAIT

Whoa. There’s more. Seems Rocket Lawyer.com is offering me a whole month of access, absolutely free. Must be my lucky day.


The HOOK

Next screen prompts me to enter all my credit card information.

So, I’m wondering, why does Rocket Lawyer.com need that kind of information to give me something free? Well, as it turns out, that question has been “frequently asked”, wouldn’t you know, and the answer was right there in the FAQ section at Rocket Lawyer.com. This is what I learned.


The BARB

Yes, the offer is true. Free forms for a whole month. No catch. However. However, at the end of the completely absolutely free month, the same access is available as a subscription…..and can be purchased, after the free month, at a very reasonable subscription rate. No pressure and I can opt out without penalty. In fact, it seems Rocket Lawyer.com won’t actually be using my credit card at all. They only need the information for security. Not only that, but I guess it saves time and avoids the hassle of filling out forms later.

LINE & SINKER

Oh, one more thing. The FAQ information did mention that if something happens to appear on the credit card statement—not to worry. In that unlikely event, it’s just something posted as a “pending” charge. Just in case I accept the offer, I suppose.

Questions to ponder for next week......

Between 2001 and the present.....

1. How many impartial due process cases do you think were decided in Northwest Ohio?

2. What would you estimate to be the ratio between the number of decisions
favoring parents and the number favoring school districts?


Hint:
http://webapp2.ode.state.oh.us/exceptional_children/p

History Happens

Howard Zinn, 1922 - 2010

Howard Zinn, unorthodox historian and author of A People's History of the United States, died yesterday.
Zinn's perspective on history made the majority of his peers uncomfortable because it challenged conventional thinking, assumptions, and conclusions.
Significantly, Zinn believed in "the eloquence of ordinary people" and sought to "bring to light little known voices from U.S. history".
http://howardzinn.org/

A People's History of the United States Harper & Row; HarperCollins, 1980 (1st ed.) 2003 (more recent ed.)

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727), Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675

It Got Me Thinking.....

I've been thinking about __G.'s story, where a school district proposed transporting the elementary school student to and from school in a mail truck ...
G's story illustrates two important things, at least.
First, this child was never actually required to travel between home and school like parcel post, because her parents (1) were able to obtain qualified legal representation, and (2) filed an administrative complaint and prevailed in an "impartial due process hearing" [here is where I'd like to insert a link referencing Special Education law & regulations]
The second important point to her story is that it illustrates the viseral nature of community attitudes and embeded biases with respect to disability. In other words, makes you wonder just how much so-called progress and enlightment reflects simply a growing sophistication, the trend to cloak discriminatory intent with inclusionary rehetoric, and the abiltiy to get away with substituting "appearance" for substance when it comes to real tolerance, acceptance, and equality.

Oh, and justice.

Suggested Reading:

The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public
Susan Schweik, New York University Press, New Your and London www.nyupress.org (c) 2009

In 1881, the Chicago City Code read, "Any person who is diseased,
maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed... shall not... expose himself to public view." These "ugly laws" began in San Francisco in 1867, then spread through the U.S. and abroad; many in the U.S. weren't repealed until the 1970s.
http://www.nyupress.org/

Hit & Miss : Trial & Error

By default, I suppose I have become the systems administrator or blog moderator, assuming I’m using those terms properly, for purposes of Project Promise and/or the Promise Foundation.

Please bear with me, as I try to get a handle on all this. It’s very new territory for me, and I remain a bit intimidated especially when encountering “net-talk”….i.e. URL, hhtp//, java script (which, apparently has nothing to do with coffee).
BYW, Angie, thanks for the feedback and encouragement. Can’t wait till you’re actually a follower too.

One thing I am still not getting is ….links & how to write and use them, which is important because we will want to reference other sites and information.
AND, please tell me, what exactly does …>,a href=””> < /a > < blockquote> mean, anyway?

Maybe we need to think about finding a little assistance with this kind of thing.

A Little About Formats
The Promise Foundation now has a Facebook “page” and a “blogspot”. I am unsure about the older website, and how that plays into all of this.
Although I managed to include the Promise Facebook page in my own groups, I remain unsure about how to proceed from there. One thing I do like about the Facebook page, is that it provides discrete sections, i.e. the “Wall”, “info”, “boxes”, notes and the ability to add new tabs, but I am still exploring how they might be used for purposes of the Promise Foundation, as discussed earlier this month at the Kurtz Enclave.

The blogspot looks promising too, but I am really struggling to understand the underlying systems. It does appear that when I post something on the blog, like this here….
a copy of it is sent to my own email. But, I wonder if that applies to all followers?
In the meantime, I think it’s important to kept inching forward, and
describing the Promise Foundation—it’s mission, vision, goals & projects—
for others as well as for ourselves.