Samuel's a Success

Thank you Dan for making Including Samuel. In a way, I feel you made it for my wife and I to help us along our journey. I'm sure other parents and guardians have and will feel the same after watching such a superb description of societies failure to fully integrate the last truly segregated subculture of our time: those with disabilities.

Integration is possible in many aspects of life: family, church, sports, and school, but school, unfortunately in most cases, only happens with a fight. I fear this is what is becoming of my son's education.

I'm jealous of Samuel's opportunity for an integrated education that is welcomed. Is this where my son needs to be, fully integrated? I think so, but will he succeed or will the system fail him? If success, great; if fail, do we keep with it hoping that the experience will work out or place him back in a special day class? As I've said before, my gut begs for the former.

Overall, the documentary was enlightening, thoughtful, insightful, and motivating. It was real, to the point Samuel's brother confessed he felt left out at times because all of the attention being focused on Samuel. Like Dan, I too have been changed by my son's disability. I look at those with disabilities with more understanding and now empathy. I see how my son's peers on his baseball team treat him with respect and care, and they love him for who he is even though he can't talk. They get it, he's different, but I get the impression they think, "What does it really matter?"

Again, thank you Dan for sharing your family with us; for helping families feel empowered by providing a vision for integration; for putting a crack in the wall of segregation; for making a way for freedom for people with disabilities.

Bleesings