My Left Foot

This is a great biopic about Cerebral Palsy. Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for his portrayal of Irish writer Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. Without having any intention of bringing up domestic experience, I believe Daniel Day Lewis played marvelously. I’m convinced that he really tried hard to study everything about CP (Cerebral Palsy, not Cut/Paste) since he had to do most of anything using only his left foot. I read once that Lewis remained in his wheelchair between takes in order to absorb the character he portrays. “Day-Lewis’s portrayal of Christy Brown and his handicap is so convincing that it is difficult to believe that Day-Lewis is not actually stricken with Cerebral Palsy” – Amazon

I’m feeling grateful for Ariq’s disability

Caring for children with special needs

Having a child with special needs, for some people, can be disastrous. We commonly use the term of special needs to describe the limitations as well as the inabilities possessed by such children. Children who suffer from special needs, both as a result from birth defects and injuries may experience such things from mild disabilities, developmental delays until mental retardation or even psychiatric problems. In other words, the disabilities can be medical, developmental, learning disabilities or even all three of them depending on the seriousness of the case.

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going

A Day In Ariq’s School:

THE BRAND NEW HOPE

I went to my son’s school, Kitty Center, this morning just to see how he endures one therapeutic drill after another. Honestly, I’m glad that his condition is not as bad as we have always thought. I saw his other friends whose conditions are far more heartbreaking than him. Alhamdulillah, his progress is good and quite promising. So far all the officials and therapists at school have been cooperative as well as informative. They keep us informed whenever the school requires us to participate more in his therapies. They keep emphasizing that the best therapies would be the combination of those at home and school. They also tell us how to be a bit persuasive, in the sense of not being too pushy, whenever our son is bored and tired with all of his drills.

School of Shock (Part 2)

The students at the Rotenberg Center are mainly divided into two major groups. Slightly more than half the residents are what the school calls “high functioning”: kids like Rob and Antwone, who have diagnoses like attention-deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other emotional problems. The other group is even more troubled. Referred to as “low functioning,” it includes kids with severe autism and mental retardation; most cannot speak or have very limited verbal abilities. Some have behaviors so extreme they can be life threatening: chomping on their hands and arms, running into walls, nearly blinding themselves by banging their heads on the floor again and again.

The High-functioning students

The Low-functioning students

School of shock (Part 1)

Jennifer Gonnerman

This interesting article was written by Jennifer Gonnerman, published in Mother Jones – Smart, Fearless Journalism, August 20th 2007. This has been a photo essay on the Judge Rotenberg Center; formerly known as the Behavior Research Institute, a facility where autistic, mentally retarded, and emotionally troubled children from eight states are subjected to food deprivation, social isolation, and even electric shocks. A look inside the taxpayer-funded program that treats American kids like enemy combatants. Eight states are sending autistic, mentally retarded, and emotionally troubled kids to a facility that punishes them with painful electric shocks. How many times do you have to zap a child before it’s torturing?