an ill fit

[2eclipse]

so

Comments

[lucifermourning]

i worked with learning disabled people for about 2 years, sometimes full time, sometimes part time. everyone i worked with was at least able to understand speech, even if they didn't use it, and interact to some extent. some folks were quite high functioning

[2eclipse]

thanks. i have a cousin who is LD and mostly it doesn't slow her down, although we don't share an interest in books.

you are very kind.

better late than never

[ashoe]

Late to the party (out of town and haven't been on lj) but we used to have young adults with these types of problems on work study at the museum. All were higher functioning than you describe, but I also had no trouble with the outgoing high functioning ones and quite a LOT of trouble with the lower-functioning, uncommunicative or aggressive kids. (by kids I mean: 17-20 years old). We also occasionally had a group of severely -and I mean blind, drooling, uncommunicative, wheel-chair bound & some fed through tubes- disabled children (ages 4-12) that would be brought on'field trips'. Let me tell you, those were rough days, trying to find ways to offer stimulation - things they could touch but not chew on, etc. I always left those days feeling both horrified and brokenhearted, and a little angry with the caregivers for bringing them out. I never felt the children got anything from their visit to the (often loud, crowded) museum, but rather that the whole thing was more like an attempt to impose artificial normality that simply didn't