Homework for All

Several things have happened over the past month or so that kind of tickled the need for this particular post.  I was working in a district with some professionals who really have not had much experience with children with disabilities, but who very much want to learn.  Specifically, we were talking about deafness, and the conversation turned to understanding more about the impacts on families and about some of the social issues and concerns that come into play for the kids as they get older.  The conversation progressed, and eventually arrived at a time when I had to leave and move on to my next stop on that trip.  I told them that I was going to give them ‘homework’.  Basically 2 movies that I think, while not being perfect, give a good picture of a number of these topics.

About 2 weeks ago, my son asked me if we could request a movie on Netflix that he wanted to see.  It was a movie I had never heard of before, but told him that it was not a problem, to go ahead and add it and move it to the top of the queue, which he did.

The more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I think most folks who work with kids with disabilities or their families (not just deafness or blindness, but kids with any disability) should take the time to watch the 3 movies that I’m going to mention.

The first movie is “Children of a Lesser God”.  It is a good look at some of the conflicts between ideologies that can and often exist between the deaf and hearing worlds’ perspectives.  

The second movie is one that I have a really hard time watching.  I’ve seen all of it, but never in one sitting.  I have to walk away from the movie, and then come back later to see a little more, and repeat the process until it is done.  It is “Mr. Holland’s Opus”.  Most of the articles you read about it deal with Richard Dreyfuss and his life as a music teacher.  For me (and for many parents) it is about his role as a father of a child who is deaf, trying to come to grips with everything that means, and find a way to deal with it.  So many fathers and families go through these same issues.  If you have spent any time in the disability world and not picked up on this, then we really need to have a conversation.  Again, this movie is very hard for me to watch.  It is one that gets into a place inside me that I keep locked and barricaded and this movie tries to force it open.  Truth be told, I think that all of us who are dads of kids with special needs have this place inside of us, and often our ability to function depends on keeping this vault closed.  What we put into it, and how large it is, varies from father to father, but it is there.  For me, this movie tries to dynamite that vault open. 

The third movie is the one I had never heard of until Ian asked if we could get it.  That movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis.  It is called “My Left Foot”.  It is actually a true story, and is based on the autobiography of a man named Christy Brown, who was born in 1932 in Dublin, Ireland.  Brown was born with cerebral palsy and initially his family was told that he had limited mental capacities at best and probably should be committed.  Instead the family raised him at home.  The title comes from the fact that the only limb he had real control over was his left leg.  Without going into all the details that make the movie worth watching, suffice it to say he became a successful artist, writer, and poet.  He published a number of books and three collections of poetry during his life.   It is a movie worth watching simply because everyone, professionals and parents alike, need to be reminded of the potential of the individual, and the need to look beyond a diagnosis and see the individual.