Q 45) Palmer’s last pages talk about the unending concern of parents: “The parents of kids with developmental disabilities can never put their full weight down, never completely relax and enjoy the ride where their offspring are concerned. That’s…
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Q44: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 44) The Palmer men go to see a production of the musical Hairspray. “Hairspray concerns Tracy Turnblad’s efforts to integrate an American Bandstand-style television show in the 1960’s… In the Baltimore high school Turnblad attends, the black students…
Q43: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 43) “Given the thousands of adults with developmental disabilities who don’t have jobs, I guess I should be overjoyed by the news that Ned will soon be working and making a salary. Because I know the alternative…. People…
Q42: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 42) “…I stayed to sing with Ned. This was a huge mistake…For four years Ned began every choir class at Nathan Hale with vocal warming up, but this time he declined to participate. Not making a single sound,…
Q41: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 41) “I moved back to the curtain, watching the crowd out front…I glanced back at Ned once. Ira had found a chair and was sitting next to him, supporting him by his presence alone. In the dim light…
Q40: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 40) “Because Ned has Down syndrome, everyone he meets can tell he has a disability. There is one benefit to that. People tend to make allowances for him, allowances he sometimes needs. He can wear his sweatpants when everybody…
Q39: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 39) “These days when he switches emotionally from being a six-year-old kid to a twenty-two-year-old adult in just a matter of moments may whip his mom and dad around like crazy, but he seems to be able to do…
Q38: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 38) “We’ve always taken the line of least inconvenience regarding his attire, never asking him to wear anything that wasn’t very comfortable and easy to put on. Like pants. If Ned has a pair of regular, zipper-up-the-front,…
Posted in Adventures in the Mainstream Tagged with: adaptations, clothing, representing, stereotypes
Q37: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 37) Ned and his father visit Ned’s high school. “In that place where he was always one of the kids, he came back as an adult, and talked with adults as an equal. Perhaps if the room had…
Q36: Adventures in the Mainstream
Q 36) “At a meeting today with Peter and others to get the results of the assessment, we heard the good news. They think Ned can be a player in the real world. Peter will start looking for a job…
Posted in Adventures in the Mainstream Tagged with: job skills, privilege, socioeconomic status, vocational rehabilitation
