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 - 10 of 229 Records
Dieting
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a man in a wheelchair and a woman with crutches talking on a corner at an intersection next to a street sign. One sign says "Diet Lane" and the other sign says "Rehab Way." The woman says to the man, "I tell all my friends with disabilities, "Never get therapy from a P.T. on a diet." The man replies, "You're right! If she doesn't like her own body, she sure won't like ours!" The tag lines reads "The intersection where dieting and rehabilitation meet."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Frequent Includer Program
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The Cartoon shows a male teacher sitting at a desk with two parents standing on the other side of the desk in front of him. The teacher is saying "So, I can earn 20,000 points for each student with a disability I include in a regular class?" The father says "That's right! Redeemable for items in our catalogue." The tag line reads "Desperate parents resort to establishing their own 'frequent Includer Program.'"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Chin Drop
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two frames separated by a zig-zag open space to indicate these are two different places at the same point in time. The frame on the right shows a woman wearing a phone headset and is sitting at a desk. She says to the person on the other end of the line, "Big News! From now on we're expected to actually implement all the provisions of IDEA" The man in the frame on the left is holding the phone and drops his chin on the table making a loud "Thump!" when he hears the news. To which the woman on the other end replies, "Wow. This phone line is clear!" The tag line reads, "After receiving inevitable news. You could hear a chin drop."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
In your face
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two women and a child. The woman on the left says to the other woman, "You must be a very special person to work with disabled children." To which the other woman responds, "Well actually..." The small child standing behind her says forcefully, "Hello?! I'm right here! I can hear you! Hey lady, didn't your mother ever teach you it was rude to talk about people in front of them?" The tag line reads, "Judy's brand of 'in-your-face' Self-advocacy first showed itself at an early age."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Falling Through the Cracks
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a bridge in the sky. There are boards missing across the bridge and the ones that are there have "Standards" written on them. There are children trying to cross the bridge. Some are easily able to get across, some are struggling to hang on, and some are falling through the cracks between the boards. The tag line reads, "How many students are falling through the cracks?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Slumberville
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a group of 5 people sitting in front of an audience at a curved table. The sign on the front of the table is labeled, "Slumberville School Board." The man on the far left side of the table says, "We need staff who can make decisions and accommodations on the spot for students with disabilities in regular classes." The woman next to him says, "...and they have to be adept at dealing with challenging behaviors." The man in the center says, "And they must be proficient in teaching core academics." The woman on his other side says, "...and life skills too!." The woman on the far right says, "...and we hope to accomplish this by hiring a small army of untrained paraprofessionals at $7.00 dollars and hour." The tag line reads, "If you need staff with the skills of teachers and special educators, maybe you need to hire teachers and special educators."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
What's Wrong with This Picture?
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a woman looking at a picture on the wall with a question mark over her head. The picture on the wall shows a woman sitting at a table with three special needs students. She looks frazzled and the kids look out of control. The plaque on the picture frame reads, "A paraprofessional with limited training trying to teach students with the most complex challenges." The tag line reads, "What's wrong with this picture?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Shopping Around
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a woman and a man shopping . There is a banner at the top of the panel that reads, "New Cures and Therapies for Fun and Profit (ours)." There are two shelves of boxes. On the top shelf the boxes , form left to right, are labeled: "Subliminal Message Therapy," "Hydro Pudding Therapy," "Swedish Meatball Therapy," and "Kitchen Utensil Therapy." On the lower shelf, from left to right, the boxes are labeled: "Bungy Jumping Therapy," "Invisible Energy Therapy," and "Bladder Release Therapy." The woman says to the man, "WOW! Cool! Let's try 'em all!" and the man replies, "Do you think the school will pay for all of these?" The tag line reads, "Shopping Around: Do you know these people? They never met a therapy they didn't like."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Tenacious Advocate
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: A parent, (Mrs. Green) is seated a cross a table from her child's IEP team. Her arm is reaching behind her, aimed toward a life-sized cardboard replica of an advocate, who is holding up a document labeled IDEA. The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Mrs. Green resorts to bringing a life-sized cardboard replica of the county's most tenacious advocate to her child's IEP meeting. "Inspired by Marilyn Wessels"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Hanging On
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows a panel with a yellow background and the word inclusion in orange block letters. A man is holding onto the letter N with his teeth and someone from outside the panel is exclaiming, "Hang On!!" the tag line reads "People with disabilities don't have any skin on their teeth, and they shouldn't need any."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants