[nfbmi-talk] No Diplomas for Special Ed Students in Michigan

Fri Mar 5 18:38:24 UTC 2010

While I agree with the sentiment, I think the bigger problem for us to 
tackle is figuring out why some capable blind people are classified in these 
programs in the first place. Honestly, giving a diploma for an adapted 
curiculum only misleads these people anyway, as they should have gone 
through the regular curiculum in the first place.

J.J. Meddaugh - ATGuys.com
A premier Licensed Code Factory and KNFB Reader distributor
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at comcast.net>
To: "'NFB of Michigan List'" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 12:56 PM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] No Diplomas for Special Ed Students in Michigan

> You can bet this will affect blind kids.  Many blind students are
> misclassified with other disabilities to get out of providing blindness
> skills.  This seems unconstitutional, a violation of ADA and IDEA.  I 
> could
> be wrong.
>
> In Michigan, no more diplomas for students in special education
> March 2nd, 2010
>>From the Muskegon [MI] Chronicle
> A change in state law is forcing Michigan school districts to halt their
> practice
> of awarding diplomas to students with developmental and intellectual
> disabilities.
> A handful of districts statewide, including Muskegon and Muskegon Heights,
> had been
> awarding diplomas to students who had completed an "adaptive curriculum" 
> in
> the special
> education program. Those students will now receive a "certificate of
> completion."
> "It's telling school boards they can't do what they've been doing," said
> Linda Riepma,
> executive director of secondary education for Muskegon Public Schools.
> Some educators have raised concerns about the new state requirements,
> calling them
> too rigid and overly focused on academics. Detractors fear the new 
> standards
> may
> drive up dropout rates among students who know they can't make the grade.
> This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed
> under
> graduation
> ,
> special education
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of fred olver
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 5:48 PM
> To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org; NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Fw: [whoweare] blind Olympic skier will not 
> competefor
> Canada
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Happy Ruth
> To: fred olver
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 4:31 PM
> Subject: Fw: [whoweare] blind Olympic skier will not compete for Canada
>
>
>
> call my chatline 724 444 3592
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Joy Coffman
> To: \'whoweare at yahoogroups.com\' ; happyruth at earthlink.net
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 9:37 AM
> Subject: [whoweare] blind Olympic skier will not compete for Canada
>
>
>
>
> WHISTLER, British Columbia - Canada should have given the podium away. 
> Just
> this once, it should have let Brian McKeever race.
>
>
> It should have done so because the Vancouver Games aren't all about 
> medals,
> times and endorsements. It should have done so because, while legally 
> blind,
> McKeever sees his Olympic dream with his heart - and that's what this 
> should
> all be about. It should have done so because that rallying cry of "Own the
> Podium" isn't the definition of Canadians in these Games.
>
>
>
>
> Brian McKeever competes in the 50K cross-country race at the 2007 FIS 
> Nordic
> World Ski Championships.
> (Gepa/US Presswire)
>
> Most of all, Canada should have let Brian McKeever race because it brought
> him to Vancouver in the first place. It gave him the gift of chasing his
> dream, and something like that should never be taken back.
>
>
> Make no mistake, this was an uncommon, crucial decision. It was the
> difference between chasing national glory and embracing an athlete who
> doesn't need a medal to deliver it. McKeever could have been that athlete.
> If only his country would have let it happen.
>
>
> McKeever, a Canadian cross-country skier who has been robbed of all but 10
> percent of his vision, was slated to race in the 50-kilometer marathon on
> Sunday, one of the final events before the Closing Ceremony. It would have
> made him the first Winter Games athlete to compete in both the Olympic and
> Paralympic Games. But he was bumped from the team Friday night, as 
> Canada's
> cross-country program chose to fill its maximum four entries with skiers 
> who
> had fared well in earlier events.
>
>
> Early Saturday morning, McKeever posted a solitary message on his Twitter
> account: "Olympic dream over. Don't think I've ever been so sad."
>
>
> You have to think the rest of Canada has to be a little sad, too. The
> cross-country program just canceled one of the most moving storylines of
> these Games.
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>
>
> Welcome to classic, clinical Olympic decision-making.
>
> Canada's cross-country program has never been an international power, and
> never won an Olympic medal. But new coach Inge Braten was brought aboard 
> to
> change that trend. So when the Canadian men notched six top-10 
> cross-country
> finishes in these Games - three of them in the 30K event - it became clear
> Canada had a chance to medal in the 50K. A chance that is most reachable 
> if
> the Canadians field their best possible foursome.
>
>
> That reality has left McKeever on the outside, as Braten chose four strong
> skiers who all had better odds at medaling than McKeever.
>
>
> "I have to be professional," Braten told reporters. "I have to choose the
> guys who are best for the 50K. Normally, sorry to say, all four are faster
> than Brian. And I think they can fight for a medal - all four of them. And 
> I
> then have to pick out one who has a medal chance and put in Brian?
>
>
> "That's the situation. I don't like it."
>
>
> To be fair, it's not an enviable position. Taking out a medal hopeful and
> replacing him with a lesser competitor almost runs contrary to the Olympic
> ideal. And in any other situation, it's a cold and understandable choice
> that gets made without much fanfare. Look no further than Alpine skiing,
> where many athletes travel to the Games but never get into an event, 
> simply
> because they are trumped by someone who is a better medal contender.
>
>
> But this isn't a normal circumstance, and McKeever is anything but an
> average story. He carries with him one of the special tales in these 
> Games.
> A beam of light that keeps the Games joyful and embraceable, shining 
> through
> the unavoidable pettiness intertwined with the Olympic rings. He gives us 
> a
> distraction from the feuding teammates and questionable judging and
> commercialization. He lifts us and leaves us with an indelible memory . 
> the
> kind of memory that draws us back again four years later.
>
>
> McKeever is the product of a skiing family; his older brother Robin 
> competed
> in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Brian loved the idea of following 
> in
> those footsteps. A talent on the junior skiing circuit at the time, he
> watched his brother like he was watching his own dream. He thought it was
> beautiful.
>
>
> One month after those Nagano Games, McKeever was diagnosed with Stargardt
> disease. He knew exactly what it was - a genetic macular degeneration that
> leads to blindness. His father had the disease but had hoped it would skip
> over his two sons. Robin was fortunate. Brian wasn't. Two years after his
> diagnosis, McKeever was declared legally blind at the age of 21.
>
>
> Yet he never surrendered his dream of skiing. Despite his eyesight 
> decaying
> to the point where he had less than 10 percent of his normal vision, he
> would step out on the snow, snap on his boots, and do his best to stay on
> the white between the green. The little vision that remained was 
> peripheral,
> meaning he could see the edges of his vision, but not the middle. He often
> compares it to the hole in a doughnut - relating that he can see the outer
> edges of the doughnut, but not the middle.
>
>
> McKeever took that doughnut and did amazing things with it, skiing in the
> 2002 Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City and 2006 in Torino, capturing four
> golds, two silvers and one bronze in various cross-country races over that
> span. All the while, his brother Robin led the way, doing his part as
> McKeever's course guide. But it wasn't until December, when McKeever won a
> 50K Olympic trial race in convincing fashion - and without a guide - that
> his dream became a reality.
>
>
>
> Brian McKeever, left, and his guide/brother Robin celebrate after they won
> gold in the Men's 10 km visually impaired cross country competition at the
> Turin 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.
> (Giovanni Auletta/AP)
>
> One month later, he was named to the Canadian Olympic cross-country team, 
> in
> a fashion that drew national attention. Indeed, it appeared to be the full
> embrace. McKeever was trumpeted as the first Winter Games athlete who 
> would
> compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
>
>
> And he was held up to all Canadians as a testament to the human spirit. 
> His
> status as an active Olympian seemed set in stone - so much so, that Visa
> even began airing his own commercial in February, featuring a voiceover 
> from
> actor Morgan Freeman.
>
>
> "I'm sometimes struck just by the beauty of what we get to do, and the
> places we get to see," McKeever said of the experience. "I'm thankful that 
> I
> still can see what I do. We do live in a beautiful world. Sometimes we get
> jaded by the country that we live in - because we see it all the time."
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>
>
> Things changed for McKeever in recent days, of course. Braten and the
> Canadian cross-country program began to talk of opportunity. Not the
> opportunity of McKeever, but the opportunity of capturing the program's
> first medal. Winning a medal in the prestigious 50K would be a major step
> forward - an attention-grabber that shows the success in Vancouver has 
> been
> more than a fluke. Risking that on McKeever, well, must have simply been 
> too
> precarious.
>
>
> Particularly when your country sunk $117 million into its "Own the Podium"
> initiative, which was aimed at Canada winning the medal count on its home
> turf. The results have been solid - third place in the overall medal count
> and first position in golds - but the message has not. Some Canadians
> recoiled at such a jingoistic slogan. Others in the media focused a 
> critical
> spotlight on the Canadians' deficit behind the United States and Germany.
>
>
> Somewhere in the middle of the race for supremacy, the tangible results of
> competition became more important than the athletes themselves. And a guy
> like McKeever got marginalized. Sure, sitting down another athlete in the
> 50K would have been difficult. But would it have been any more difficult
> than what the Canadians did to McKeever? Is it a coincidence that when 
> they
> chose to cancel someone's dream, the cross-country team went for the guy 
> who
> was most likely to inspire, but least likely to medal?
>
>
> The truth is, Canada should have found a way to let McKeever compete on
> Sunday. It should have sat another athlete, or asked if someone was 
> willing
> to step aside.
>
>
> Instead, it made the obvious corporate decision. It went with numbers over
> nerve.
>
>
> Perhaps Canada will add another medal to the count in the 50K. Maybe it 
> will
> sweep the podium. But 10 years from now, when nobody can even remember the
> medal count, this moment will be remembered as a mistake.
>
>
> Because in most cases, it's better to give away a podium, and own hearts 
> and
> minds instead.
>
>
>
>
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> Warm Regards,
>
> Fred
>
>
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