By Jackie Witherspoon
The Chanute Tribune
April H. recently graduated with the second class of Kansas Partners in Policymaking. Trainees in the program analyze disability issues and build skills to influence legislation and learn to work to create changes in the public system for people with disabilities.
April knows the challenges firsthand. Her son Kyle, 7, has cerebral palsy, seizure problems and learning disabilities.
April is an advocate for other parents of children with disabilities, working with school systems, service agencies, medical professionals and other entities to help them better understand the special needs of children.
"We have some very wonderful people who work with children with disabilities", she said, "but there are also those who have been taught a particular way of doing their job and don't want to vary from that to meet the needs of the individual."
"Too often people try to put children into categories with the thought 'Let's get it taken care of. If medicating them helps lets do that.' They've closed their minds to other opportunities and measures that could be utilized," she said.
"The parents of children with disabilities are often portrayed as being difficult and not wanting to work within the system, but we are the ones with this child on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are the expert on that child. And each child should be considered individually," she said.
After becoming involved with the Partners in Polilymaking program, April says she is actually more frustrated than before.
The program teachers parents about the legislative process, at both the state and national level, and how to work for changes within communities.
"The program helped me to be a more effective advocate for our children, but learning to navigate the system has also made me more aware of the changes that need to be made," she said.
"We still have public areas that are not accessible to people with physical disabilities and educators working with our children who do not realize they need to adapt their curriculum to teach all children. Teachers are there for all children, not just the easy ones or the smartest ones."
"A real issue I think is that classroom teachers often think special education students are not their concern. They see them as children for the special-ed teacher," she said. "That distinction needs to be lessened and the classroom teachers need to adopt a different attitude toward children with disabilities."
"All people with disabilities should have the same basic rights as everyone else. They shouldn't have to have those rights legistlated," she said.
Changing the mindset of those who work with children with disabilities is April's primary goal.
"Someone once asked me if I thought Kyle used his disabilitly to get out of doing work," she said. "Kyle doesn't even know he has a disability."
"Knowing our rights and being able to apply them are two different things," she said. "my involvement with Partners In Policymaking has helped me to see that"
"Working to make changes with Kyle will impact a lot of other children," she said. "We need to all work together."
Printed in the Tribune December 6, 2000