Being
of Greek decent I have always had an interest in Eastern European
Countries. As I consider the United
States my home, I also include Greece as part of my home as well. Over the last 10 years or so people from
Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia and Armenia have been migrating to Greece because
of poor economic conditions in their own countries’. Life was more prosperous in Greece with
adequate housing and employment, however with current economic turmoil facing
Greece, more and more people will be negatively impacted and poverty will once
again be on the rise. Montenegro on the
other hand is obscure to me; my only knowledge of the country is what I have
seen through the travel channel. It is a
beautiful country south of the Adriatic with lots of beautiful beaches, lakes
and mountains. It sounded perfect and I
wondered if in this gem of country were people also suffering from
poverty? Were children receiving
adequate health care and education services?
My research was a very different type of tour.
Sadly
the people of Montenegro live in a state of misconceptions with regard to
children with disabilities. Parents lack
information with regard to disabilities and are embarrassed and ashamed of
their children. Families often times
hide their children with disabilities in their homes, refusing anyone access to
them. These children are in essence invisible and have no contact with peers or
society. Parents would rather ignore the
situation than face it head on. Families
who want their children educated in mainstream programs say the education
system needs to provide teaching assistants for children with disabilities;
sadly it is not a regular practice.
Other families institutionalize their children with disabilities rather
than caring for them. Montenegro has one
of the highest figures of institutionalized children in the World Health
Organization region of Europe and Central Asia (UNICEF).
The
risks for these children are high; they face delays in physical and
psychological development. “Attachment
is an important marker for social and emotional development” (National Center
for Children in Poverty). Parents and
caregivers play “an important role in supporting children’s healthy
development” (NCCP). Unfortunately these
children are not provided the opportunity for healthy caregiver
attachment. If children with
disabilities are in school, again proper care, instruction and resources are
extremely important to a child’s development, any deficit in any of these
impact children negatively and can “impair early school success” (NCCP). As children get older they are more likely to
develop behavioral problems, antisocial behaviors and delinquency (NCCP).
We
see only a glimpse into a country; we may see pictures of the landscape and its
people and we are satisfied with the beautiful images. Why examine the picture for
imperfections? We convince ourselves
that beautiful images mean a beautiful existence for not only those who travel
to these far away places but for the citizens of the country. We also convince ourselves that these modern
countries have modern notions with regard to education and children with
disabilities; they must be on par with our beliefs and laws that protect
children with disabilities. I am going
to look beyond the brochures and pictures, examining the lives of the people
and the lives of the children. I want to
be aware of the ills effecting other people so as to have a better
understanding of their existence as well as have a better understanding of what
diverse populations may have encountered and lived through in their home
countries. As an educator, I feel this
is a wonderful Social Studies lesson to be introduced and discussed in
education settings, children learning about other children in the world who are
similar to them. We are all part of a
global community and that global community shares commonalities such as
disabilities with us. Disability is not
something to be feared or hidden; it is a topic to be discussed out in the open. People and children need to “learn to
interact knowledgeable, comfortably and fairly with each other, whatever their abilities”
(Derman-Sparks, & Olsen Edwards, 2010, pg. 126)
Resources
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias
education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Trustees of Columbia University, (2010). The National Center for Children in Poverty
(NCCP). Retrieved from: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_882.html
Georgia-
ReplyDeleteI find it so sad that families are embarrassed and find it necessary to hid their children with disabilities. Through all the research I have done on different countries through this program I am finding it happens more than we want to admit. I believe that most of it is do to lack of information on various disabilities and for some it is a belief that a curse has hit their family. It is very sad that the children are being punished just for being alive.
When reading your post I also found it very sad that families are embarrassed by their children when they have disabilities. I think as well that it happen quite often because we are informed with the proper information about the possible disabilities that children have and how we can help them. It saddens me to think that children are given the opportunities they deserve because they were born with a disability that they had no control over.
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