Believe it or not the school in size was about the size of a typical elementary school. The building is still there but it's a Senior Citizens Center now and county offices.
The kids with disabilities in today mainstreamed schools are not getting the help they will need to succeed later to the best of their abilities. It can mean the difference between independence or institution for some. In short Mainstreaming some kids who otherwise could have been helped in Special Education schools set up for such is simply a daycare program. It does the child, the classmates, the taxpayers, and teachers, a disservice.
The help I got allowed for me to work until age 37 as well as do four years active duty and a national guard enlistment after that. Education wise I'm a high school grad with two Voc/Tech courses afterward. I specialized in HVAC and Commercial wiring. I worked in health care facilities in maintenance and boiler operations. Without it? I may not have made it out of high school.
My time in the school also gave me a very different outlook on persons with disabilities. Kids confined to wheelchairs became my friends along with kids with many other issues. You learn that there is a person there.
Most important was it readied me for events that I would face when I was 27 and my girl friend at the time became a quadriplegic one afternoon when we were on a date. We're now about three months shy of our 28th wedding anniversary LOL.
Looking back I think I got a good well rounded education. I may no longer be able to hold a paying job but I still pull my weight. I'm a skilled caregiver to my wife and soon likely my mother as well. I did my dad's Home Hospice and I am the one Memory Care calls when Sis falls etc and they need family there. I check in on her at least twice a week.
your life story is exactly on point, thanks so very much, because I greatly support our giving a whole lot of help to the kids who need it
having said that,
I am concerned that we are SOMEHOW or other causing, or letting some sort of environmental or food chain thing... increase the incidence of some of these problems, both in kids and the elderly.
I cant prove it. It just seems likely. After all, we do have a lot of new things in our food chain and in our environment these days, or things that are there in much greater quantities or concentrations
we will eventually learn more....