When I was younger, my Mom worked at a pharmacy that mostly dealt with Nursing Homes. Patient's medications were packaged in little refillable boxes called "cassettes". I remember having to clean these out every once and while when things got busy. While it was easy to do, I was easily bored. Not too long after I remember doing that, my Mom's pharmacy hired a man named Charles to clean all of the pharmacy's cassettes. It turned out that Charles had a disability, and while I'm not entirely sure what it is, I know it is a defect in one or more of his chromosomes. While Charles does have many health problems, he is a very dedicated worker, and he made friends with every single person in that pharmacy, especially my Mom. Charles and my Mom instantly became buddies and to this day calls our house at least twice a week just to chit chat. Unfortunately Charles has no other family living near-by to care for him, and his Mother's health is fading quickly. He talks about where he might have to live when his Mother dies, but he has a strong community around him to make sure he his happy wherever he might end up. His sense of humor is his best quality and his idle threats of "making you go sit on the roof" or "calling the authorities on you" is his funny way of letting you know you are special to him.
To be completely honest I really don't know very much about how to specifically teach someone with disabilities. I do know however, how I interact with Charles and it is amazing how many things he knows and does, he always has something interesting to talk about. So I can imagine sitting down and getting to know a student with disabilities just like I would get to know any other student in my class. Once I got a handle of what skills the student was capable of, and what things they wanted to accomplish, I know that student could get along in my art room just fine.
The title of this post is one of Charles' funniest quotes (he has many)
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