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 1 - 7 of 7 Records
Large Caseloads
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a woman sitting at a desk in the dark with just one light on, papers all around and a calculator in her hands. She says "Looks like I have an average of six minutes a day to support each of my students with disabilities in regular class. That includes planning, assessing, adapting, teaching, consulting, evaluating, communicating with parents, supervising paraprofessionals..." The tag line reads "Large caseloads for special educators: The numbers just don't add up!"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Lead Balloons
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a woman standing with her hands on her hips looking worried. There are a lot of balloons floating up into the air and four just sitting there in front of her. The one on the far left is blue and says "More Paperwork," the next one is green and says "Too Many Adults," the next one is red and says "More Meetings," the next one is pink and says "Bigger Caseloads." The tag line reads "The Lead Balloons of Special Education."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Mission Impossible
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a man sitting in an airplane with headphones on listening to a tape player. The message says "Good morning Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to provide special education supports for a caseload of 40 students with a wide range of disabilities who are placed in General Education classes. This tape will self destruct..." The tag line reads "Mission Impossible."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Piece of Cake
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two teachers standing to the right side of the panel with their backs to a gigantic piece of layer cake, the size of a three-story building. On the top icing of the cake is written, "Other Duties." The top layer of cake it labeled, "IEP," the icing between the layers is labeled "Meetings," the middle layer is labeled "504," another layer of icing labeled "Meetings," and the bottom layer labeled "At Risk." One of the teachers is saying to the other, "Don't worry about your caseload this year. It's a piece of cake!" To which the other teacher responds "Thanks!" The tag line reads, "How much cake can one person eat?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Parapro Door
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2007
- Description: This cartoon shows a person who has opened a door with a sign over the top that says "Paraprofessional Issues." With door opened it reveals a cluttered mess of objects (e.g., ladder, bike, sports equipment) and boxes with labels including: self-determination, family issues, peer supports, teacher engagement, access to general education, teaching formats, special educator caseload. The person who has opened the door says, "Wow! I never realized all this was in here." The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Going in through the paraprofessional door."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, CD Only
Thin Ice
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a person skating while carrying two very large stack of papers, three feet higher than his head, one in each arm. The image shows the skater on thin, cracking ice with open water on one side where two small fish watch in fear. The tag line reads, "If your caseload is too big, you are skating on thin ice."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Dart Board
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows two men in front of a dart board. On the dart board there are 6 sections, there are pieces of paper tacked in each section. The papers say in clockwise order, River Rd, Central High, West Middle, Grand Ave, Main Street, and East Middle The Man in the lower left corner of the panel reads from a list in his hand and says, "Next is April Baker, occupational therapist. Where will we assign her next year?" The man in the lower right corner has a blindfold on and is holding a dart in his right hand ready to throw it at the dart board. He says, "Let's find out!" The tag line reads "Parents finally discover why their children seem to have new support staff every year."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants