Absurdities and Realities of Special Education
Absurdities and Realities of Special Education: The University of Vermont Center for Digital Initiatives Collection is a complete set of all of the cartoons created by Michael Giangreco with the assistance of the artist Kevin Ruelle. This includes a total of 335 cartoons from four previously published books and searchable CD that went "out of print" in 2019 and a few newer cartoons. Michael Giangreco created the original ideas, text, and sketches for each cartoon and Kevin Ruelle redrew the sketches.
The cartoons in the first three books all were originally in black and white. That was a conscious decision, both for aesthetic and practical reasons. The cartoons were designed to be easily copied on to overhead transparencies for display in classes, workshops, and other learning environments. A group called Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) requested permission to use one of the cartoons on the cover of their magazine and subsequently colorized it. Prompted by Giangreco’s colleagues associated with ALLFIE, Giangreco and Ruelle began to colorize the rest of the images. In this complete digital collection, we have included a total of 335 different digital images; including the 315 different cartoons from the four earlier books, 12 cartoons that were on the CD only, and eight that were not included in any of the previously published books or CD.
Cartoons from the early books have found their way on to the pages of many newsletters disseminated by schools, parent groups, disability advocacy organizations, and professional associations. They have appeared in books, manuals, and journals; a few were even published in a law journal. The cartoons have been used extensively as projected slides or within learning activities in college classes, at conferences, in workshops, and at other meetings. Parents have framed cartoons that closely reflected their own experiences and hung them in their homes or offices. Other parents have used them in meetings with professionals to help get their points across. They have been given as gifts to people who "get it" and handed out as door prizes. The Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights used them as part of "Disability Awareness Day" at the Vermont legislature. The cartoons can be used in innumerable creative ways.
Showing 171 - 180 of 228 Records
Three Faces of Beav
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon show a boy who is meant to be a parody of the classic character, Beaver Cleaver from the classic 1960s TV series "Let it to Beaver." He is shown with three faces, oriented left, center, and right, as a parody of the classic film, "The Three Faces of Eve." The left facing Beaver looks grumpy as he says, "Cut it out Lumpy! You know how bad you feel when people tease you!" Under this face is the label, "Advocate." The center facing Beaver is smiling and looking up while saying, "You know Eddie, for a sneaky guy, you can be pretty neat when you wanna be." Under this face is the label, "Looking for the good in everyone." The right facing Beaver is smiling and looking up while saying, "Golly Wally, I felt real proud to have you as my big brother when I saw how nice you were to that new kid." Under this face is the label, "Acknowledging others." The tag line reads, "The Three Faces of Beav."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Nth Degree
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a tee-shirt shop with a person in a wheelchair looking at the different shirts. The sign on the wall is labeled, "Nth Degree." There are three shirts tacked to the wall that read: (a) "Your attitude might be my biggest barrier." (b) "I am, therefore I matter." and (c) "Nothing about me without me!" The person in the wheelchair has a thought bubble that reads, "HMMMM...decisions decisions." The tag line reads, "Peter ponders over apparel to wear to his next IEP meeting." The acknowledgement tag line on the left reads, "Inspired by Dan Wilkins."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Hardening of the Attitudes
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows an overweight, middle-aged man in his underwear sitting on an examining table in his doctor's office. The doctor is standing in front of him listening to the man's heart with a stethoscope. The man says to the doctor, "What is Doc? I can take it!" The doctor replies, "I'm afraid you have a common affliction among veteran educators...Attituderial Asclerosis." The tag line reads, "Harry is diagnosed with hardening of the attitudes."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Flush It!
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a toilet with four buckets of money being poured into it; each with a different label: (a) Inadequate Instruction, (b) Questionable Curriculum, (c) Untrained Staff, and (d) Inadequate Staffing Ratios. The tag line reads, "Unless you spend enough money to meet a basic threshold of effectiveness, you might as well just flush it!"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Treadmill Of Change
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two men running on treadmills with a carrot on a stick tied to the front of the treadmills. There is a big yellow star on the wall and in the star it reads, "Vision: Great Services." The man on the treadmill on the right side of the panel is saying, "I don't get it! I can see where we're headed, we have the skills, the incentives and resources. But nothing seems to change!" The man on the treadmill on the right side of the panel says, "We need a better action plan!" The tag line reads, "The treadmill of change." The tag line on the left reads, "Inspired by Tim Knoster."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
New Scholarship
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows three men and one woman sitting around a table. The man sitting on the left of the panel is saying "I'm sorry, but these materials are totally unacceptable scholarship." The woman sitting in the middle of the panel says, "I concur. They use completely understandable language, are concise, and could be used by people without an advanced education." The man to her right replies, "Plus, they seem to elicit laughter, and we certainly can't have that in serious scholarship." The fourth man is sitting with his back to the panel and is writing on papers. The tag line reads, "University Promotion Mishap #3: New scholarship meets old scholars."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Lunacy
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows the full moon with stars in the dark sky and a dog sitting on the top of a hill howling at the moon. There is a building with a group of people that you can see through a window sitting around a table having a meeting. Someone in the room says "Are we in agreement? In order to teach our students with disabilities to function in our community we should send them away to learn some place else." The tag line reads "Lunacy!? After several bad experiences with the lunar cycle, school officials decide not to hold any more meetings during the full moon."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Hell-Bent on Helping
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 1999
- Description: The cartoon shows two people one in a wheelchair and one on crutches. The person in the wheelchair says to the person on the crutches "The only problem with people in the helping professions is that they are constantly wanting to help you." The person on the crutches says "Go figure?" The tag line reads "Hell-Bent on Helping." A note on the left says, "Inspired by Emma VanderKlift"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Flying by the Seat of Your Pants
Fish
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a seafood market with a fish monger selling fish to a woman with a shopping cart. The tag line reads, "Supported employment lesson #6: Give a person a fish and that person eats for a day. Teach a person to work and that person can buy fish any day!"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
1. Ants in His Pants
- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-
- Date Created: 1998
- Description: This collection includes 111 color cartoon images from the book Ants in His Pants. Giangreco, M. F. (1998). Ants in his pants: Absurdities and realities of special education. Corwin. (out of print, 2019).
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education