This is my younger brother Jake. He was adopted from Brazil when he was nine. We didn't find out until he got a little older, but Jake has lead poisoning. Most likely, he got lead poisoning from eating lead paint while he was in the orphanage. Jake is happy and fun. He gets along with people very well, and, in many ways, his disabilities are not evident. Scholastically, he is learning on about a fourth grade level, and he loves every minute of school. However, Jake has faced some challenges from lead poisoning. Oddly enough, the biggest obstacle he's had to overcome was completely external...
bullying
Jake went to a public middle school where he faced a lot of bullying. He wasn't entirely aware of just how horrible the other kids were being to him. He was shoved into lockers, tricked into "buying" things from other students, teased in class for not working at grade level, and generally excluded from social events. His middle school used full inclusion, and, though it was a good idea, it was not executed well because they didn't even offer a resource room as an option and Jake was stuck with his bullies all day with no reprieve. Thankfully, my mom was able to apply for Jake to attend a private school instead. Now, he's in a much smaller high school where the other students treat him with the respect he deserves.
60 percent of students with disabilities report being bullied regularly compared with 25 percent of all students.
our duty as educators
As future educators, we should be aware that disabled students can fall prey to bullying for things they can't help. It is our job not only to look out for disabled students, but also to educate normally developing students on how disabled students should be treated.