Originally Posted by Pepsi Lover

I been working on it.

Originally Posted by Meggie2

FIne. Subject ended

Originally Posted by Meggie2

I sorry I got mix up with my other email.

Originally Posted by Oceanbreeze

She's right, Pinky. I'm hearing, but was born with a birth defect and have been wheelchair bound my entire life.

Because of this, I experienced special ed and mainstreaming and saw all sides of it. I also experienced some of it first hand. I was in a self contained class from the time I started school until 3rd grade. From then on, I was fully mainstreamed. As I went along, I had my own experiences in the mainstream that were akin to the deafies here. I was ridiculed, teased, isolated and so forth. I was pulled out of class for physical therapy. As a result, I missed out on alot of class time.

Things didn't improve for me until HS. It was there that I met other deafies who were mainstreamed like myself, and the majority of them struggled. I did have terps in some of my classes for those students who were profoundly deaf. However, if an HoH student happened to be in my class, they were NOT given terps. They were given preferential sitting, and that was about it. I never saw deaf students assigned note takers. We never did circle seating, except for when the teacher preferred it over lined desks.

As a lot of people have been saying, the mainstream isn't what it's cracked up to be. I did OK. I survived, but did I thrive? No, not really. And, this a hearie saying this! I have a lot of empathy for those deafies who had similiar or worse experiences than I did.

As for Sped, it's a joke, too. It's geared more to the learning disabled population. Those students who have ADD or dyslexia. Services for other special needs individuals like myself and others, leaves a HELL of a lot to be desired.

Originally Posted by Pepsi Lover

I remember one time a teacher told my mother that I had to get use to it.Then my mother jump down her throat and I had to get sent to an another school.That was good to think about your mom.You seem like a strong person.

Originally Posted by jillio

I had a principal tell me the same thing about my son. I told them then he'd better get used to me being in his office every day raising hell!

Originally Posted by jillio

I had a principal tell me the same thing about my son. I told them then he'd better get used to me being in his office every day raising hell!

Originally Posted by Meggie2

Let Go. WE are very proud of who we are

Originally Posted by shel90

A bully slammed a locker door on my hand nearly breaking it. He had been harrassing me all school year and for no reason. I didnt bother him, said nothing about him or anything. Someone told me cuz it was because of my deafness. My hand swelled up and I couldnt play softball for two weeks. I lied to my mom saying that I fell cuz I was ashamed.

Nope, I couldnt handle that..In fact, I didnt deserve that cuz all I wanted to do is go to school, learn and be left alone but no, they had to harrass, threaten and physically harm me.

Originally Posted by The Highlander

Seems to me that some deaf students are a bit more superior in their math skills than English in some ways

Originally Posted by jillio

How many times do people have to say it before we open our eyes to reality?

Originally Posted by Oceanbreeze

I have no idea, Jillio. And, this was from my own experiences and what I witnessed prior to 21 years ago. I don't know what has happened since I graduated and left the school system behind. I can imagine it's probably hell for those students plodding along barely getting by, or those who are lonely, because they have few friends to hang out with.

It's a sad situation.

As people have eluded to, SOME do very well, but we shouldn't assume that all will have the same experiences. The majority of us don't! We get by, but we don't thrive.

Speaking from my own experience, I would probably have done extremely well with a self paced type class like was offered in the college I went to. But, because I wasn't offered a self paced course load and had to do the same amount of work as the other students, I struggled. It wasn't *as bad* for me, because I could hear my teachers in all situations, but I know for a fact that my deaf and HoH peers struggled more than I did.

Originally Posted by The Highlander

In my opinion, I think a lot of deaf students were pushed through the system when growing up in the mainstreamed school. I have met a lot of deaf people and makes me wonder how the hell they got the chance in graduating. Personally, I believe in some situations, where the unfortunate deaf people are allowed to pass with flying colors for one of the reasons that teachers find it difficult to work with them in bringing them on the the level where hearing students were at. I know someone who claims and have seen that he obtained As in most of his classes in mainstreamed and has attended college, resulting in failure. He claimed that these classes were so difficult and he was evaluated of his intelligence, language capacity, only to discovered that he had 3rd and 4th grade level. This is one of the examples that a deaf student MAY not benefit from mainstreamed school. Remember I am not speaking for every deaf students that attended mainstreamed schools, but to point out one of the scenarios that can occur out there.