Absurdities and Realities of Special Education
Absurdities and Realities of Special Education: The University of Vermont Center for Digital Initiatives Collection is a complete set of all of the cartoons created by Michael Giangreco with the assistance of the artist Kevin Ruelle. This includes a total of 335 cartoons from four previously published books and searchable CD that went "out of print" in 2019 and a few newer cartoons. Michael Giangreco created the original ideas, text, and sketches for each cartoon and Kevin Ruelle redrew the sketches.
The cartoons in the first three books all were originally in black and white. That was a conscious decision, both for aesthetic and practical reasons. The cartoons were designed to be easily copied on to overhead transparencies for display in classes, workshops, and other learning environments. A group called Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) requested permission to use one of the cartoons on the cover of their magazine and subsequently colorized it. Prompted by Giangreco’s colleagues associated with ALLFIE, Giangreco and Ruelle began to colorize the rest of the images. In this complete digital collection, we have included a total of 335 different digital images; including the 315 different cartoons from the four earlier books, 12 cartoons that were on the CD only, and eight that were not included in any of the previously published books or CD.
Cartoons from the early books have found their way on to the pages of many newsletters disseminated by schools, parent groups, disability advocacy organizations, and professional associations. They have appeared in books, manuals, and journals; a few were even published in a law journal. The cartoons have been used extensively as projected slides or within learning activities in college classes, at conferences, in workshops, and at other meetings. Parents have framed cartoons that closely reflected their own experiences and hung them in their homes or offices. Other parents have used them in meetings with professionals to help get their points across. They have been given as gifts to people who "get it" and handed out as door prizes. The Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights used them as part of "Disability Awareness Day" at the Vermont legislature. The cartoons can be used in innumerable creative ways.
Showing 161 - 170 of 342 Records
Dress Code
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows Mr. Moody dressed in a white suit from the 70's (he is in a classic pose like John Travolta in the Saturday Night Fever). He is dancing and a disco ball spinning colors reflecting around the room. The tag line reads, "Dress Code: Mr. Moody enacts a new policy: 'All faculty shall wear clothing consistent with the era that matches their educational practices.'"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Little Shop of Horrors
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a shop full of all kinds of antiquated and aversive behavioral implements such as a white noise chamber, straight jackets, ammonia spray, zappers, paddles, tranquilizing medication, and chairs with restraining belts. The tag line reads, "Little Shop of Horrors."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Word Problems
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a document labeled, "Mediation Exam." It reads, "27. During a one-hour meeting, if a parent speaks about her child's educational needs at 120 words per minute and a professional listens to 83 of those words per minute while simultaneously scanning 6 pages of the students file, how many years will if take for them to understand each other?" There is a hand with a pencil coming from the right side of the panel getting ready to write in the answer. The tag line reads, "Word Problems."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Great Moments in History
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two people at a desk a woman sitting behind the desk and a man standing in front of her. The woman is erasing something from a bell-curve graph on a document called, "Mental Retardation Definition Change." The man is saying "Tomorrow, when this becomes official, how many people will no longer be mentally retarded?" The woman responds, "LOTS!" The tag line reads, "Great Moments in special education history: The 1970's provide proof-positive that disability is a social construction."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Spin-off Slogans
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon is a panel split into four frames in square pattern. The top right frame is a woman wearing a button on her shirt, the button reads, "What part of 'No' don't you understand?" The tag line for that frame is, "Wide acceptance, short, clear and concise." The frame on the top left shows a man with a beard and a blue buttoned shirt. His button reads, "What part of 'All' don't you understand?" The tag line for this frame reads, "Considered too sarcastic by some." The frame on the lower left shows a man in a suit and tie. His button reads, "What part of 'The Budget' don't you understand?" and the tag line reads, "Leads to many questions people can't answer." The lower right frame is a woman doctor and her button reads, "What part of 'Bilateral Derotational Osteotomies' don't you understand?" The tag line for this frame reads, "Requires too large a button." The tag line for the whole cartoon reads, "Why spin-off slogans are never as good as the original."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Special Class Euphemisms
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows four panels arranged in a square. Each panel shows a door with a different sign. In the top right frame, a door sign shows two hands reaching out toward each other and reads, "Inclusion Room." The top left panel shows a door decorated with a blue star that reads, "Discovery Room." The bottom right panel shows a door with sign with a spaceship and stars on it with the sign, "Space Place." The bottom left door has a sign that is shaped like an apple; the sign reads, "Learning Center." The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Opening the door on special class euphemisms."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Wearing the pants
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows four people walking together in the same direction. The woman and man on the left of the panel are wearing very large pants that clearly don't fit them. To the right of this man are a taller man and woman in underwear acting a bit embarrassed to be without pants. The man in his underwear says, "Excuse me, but I think those are our pants." The tag line reads. "Decisions about a child's life: Someone in the family should be wearing the pants."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Double Standard #5
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two men and a woman sitting around a table talking. The first man in the lower left corner of the panel says, "Fred can't stay in the regular classroom because he disrupts students' learning." The woman says, "So we've decided to recommend placement in a special class." The man on the right side of the panel replies, "So is that designed to solve the problem or just move it?" The tag line reads, "Double Standard #5: If it's not ok to disrupt the education of students without disabilities, why is it OK to disrupt the education of students with disabilities?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Method to the Madness
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a cluster of university buildings, one is a tall bell tower with a person at the top laughing, "Hee hee hee." There are three people in the foreground of the panel one man standing on the left says, "Is the rumor true about Dr. G?" The woman standing in the middle says, "I'm afraid so. After 20 years of conducting research he's regressed to a child-like state of writing cartoons." The man standing on the right says, "He won't get tenure that way!" The tag line reads, "Method to the madness: Unbeknownst to his learned colleagues, Dr G. got more people talking about important issues when they were cleverly disguised as corny cartoons."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Don't Take the Bait! (trap host)
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows five mouse traps. Each trap has a different label where the bait would be placed: (a) "In regular class 2 hours per day," (b) "Separated in the classroom," (c) "Teacher as host only" and this one has a person's finger getting snapped in the trap, (d) "Everything is special," and (e) "Paraprofessional is really in charge." The tag line reads, "Avoid the traps of quasi-inclusion: Don't take the bait!"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks