Reflection Of Including Samuel

Including Samuel is a documentary about the experiences of many individuals with disabilities in the traditional education system within the United States. While focusing on inclusion and the environment of schools with individuals with disabilities in mind, the film explores many interesting viewpoints on the subject. In the main spotlight of the documentary lies Samuel, a boy born with a disability and his families efforts to allow him to grow up in an integrated school system. While this family struggles with many of the daily issues of having a son with disabilities, their efforts were immortalized in this documentary. It was incredibly interesting to see this documentary from the viewpoint of my own life, growing up in a traditional …show more content…
While the observations and stories from the parents introduced the overall tone of the documentary, it was later revealed the greater issue at hand for this family. In some of the first scenes of Samuel at school, you could tell that many of the teachers were in fact trying their hardest to help Samuel integrate with many of the other children in the classroom. However, it was apparent over time that the family as well as the teachers were struck in almost the same dilemma. How do you successfully integrate as well as design the most positive education plan for someone with disabilities? While this unspoken question would rear its head several times throughout the documentary, it was incredibly apparent at the beginning following the parent’s descriptions of their struggles. This unaddressed question seemed to help the documentary though, motivating many of the viewers to think of alternative and interesting strategies to help both the teachers as well as the family. Bringing this issue to light and creating discourse on this topic in the hearts and minds of viewers through the story of the documentary definitely helped the cause at …show more content…
Keith Jones, another individual with disabilities would go on to share a very interesting viewpoint of the education system. As an African-American, Keith described many of the unique situations he went through in his life related to his disability. This brought to light another issue where individuals with disabilities are often discriminated against by not only their disability, but also through other areas easily targeted by prejudice. Keith’s story did indeed raise another even deeper question for the audience, how do we provide an equal and positive educational experience for those with disabilities while also keeping in mind many of the already present prejudices within the world we live in? Is there a way we can help dispel many of these already horrific prejudices while also providing the best educational experience for everyone? Keith’s story was indeed beneficial to the documentaries target of raising awareness of the segregation and failure on behalf of the American school system and yet also raised awareness of those with disabilities that are already effected by many other