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"This is a stirring book. Kliewer presents powerful testimony to support a vision of an inclusive citizenry and a pedagogy of possibility. Compelling stories of children and adults with Down syndrome who have overcome societally constructed limitations challenge us to re-think not only our schooling practices but the ways in which we think and talk about differences and disability. Reading this book is a forceful reminder of the rich, interconnected web of humanity which is diminished when we exclude any member. I recommend it highly to every teacher, parent, and citizen committed to an inclusive future."
–Mara Sapon-Shevin, Syracuse University
"In wonderfully unrelenting terms, to examine how Down syndrome is constructed, Kliewer asks what it means in the culture, in schools, in families, and to people who ‘have it.’. . . This book is peppered with example after example, in several schools, of how teachers can create situations in which the student with Down syndrome can move from being an exile or tolerated immigrant to being an active participant, with nondisabled peers, in democratic classroom life. . . . It links how we think about education in general with how we must think about education for students with Down syndrome and other disabilities."
–From the Foreword by Douglas Biklen, Syracuse University
This engrossing volume traces the history of community banishment inflicted on people with Down syndrome, exposes artifacts of this history in certain contemporary school practices, and then, drawing on extensive fieldwork, describes numerous school contexts currently resisting traditions of segregation. Some of the issues addressed include literacy and language, friendship, behavior, and the cultural construction of disability.
Christopher Kliewer is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
