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 11 - 20 of 100 Records
Tip of the Iceberg
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows the ship, the Titanic, coming from the left side of the panel running into an iceberg. Under the water is the sound "CRUNCH!" One of the shipmates says, "OOPS." The tip of the iceberg, above the waterline reads, "Para Ed Issues." Multiple parts of the iceberg below the surface of the water are labeled as: (a) Generic Services, (b) Teaching Formats, (c) Class Size, (d) Staff : Pupil Ratios, (e) Teacher Ownership, (f) Staff Training, (g) Special Ed Caseloads, (h) Paraeducator Roles, (i) Special Educator Roles, (j) and (k) Student Impact. The tag line reads, "Paraeducator Issues: Just the Tip of the iceberg."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Collaboration Myths
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two people in a room, one person is standing and the other is sitting at a table writing. The person standing is shocked by what he sees (the other person completing the IEP before the meeting with team has started) says, "What are you doing?! Don't you know doing that by yourself can make you go blind?!" The person seated at the table is turning red in he face (showing his embarrassment) and responds, "Really?! I was just trying to get some things taken care of before the team arrived." The tag line reads, "Disability myths spawn collaboration myths."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Vegas Casinos
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a woman sitting in front of a slot machine with a drink sitting on top of the machine and a bunch of coins in her lap. The slot machine has two arms to pull one on each side of the machine. The tag line reads, "Vegas casinos buckle under political pressure to stop stereotyping disability characteristics as criminal by inventing the Two-Armed Bandit."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Teaching Spectrum Disorder
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two parents sitting holding hands across a table from two educators, a man and a woman. The father is saying, "What have you learned from your evaluation? Why is Sam having such difficulty learning?" To which the woman educator says, "The good news is that Sam doesn't have learning disabilities! The bad news is his teacher has "Pervasive Developmental Teaching Delays." The tag line reads, "Sam's teacher is diagnosed with a 'Teaching Spectrum Disorder'."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
When I Grow Up…
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon is four panels arranged in two-by-two square. Each panel has a person on a television screen. In the top left panel is a boy saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a Special Educator so I can complete mountains of paperwork for my huge caseload of students." In the panel on the top right is a girl saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a School Principal so that people from different stakeholder groups can take turns getting mad at me." In the panel on the lower left side is a girl saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a Paraprofessional. So that I get paid minimum wages to do teacher work." In the lower right panel is a boy saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a School Psychologist so I can give lots of tests to kids." The tag line reads, "Who will want to do these jobs when they grow up?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Teaching Old Logs
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows Mr. Moody standing outside with an old dog sitting to his left with a ball in it's mouth and a stack of logs in front of him. He has his hand up in the air and is exclaiming "Stay!" directed to the logs. The dog is looking at him with a question mark in a thought bubble above his head. The tag line reads, "Knowing how hard it is to effect meaningful change in people, Mr. Moody decides to work his way up to it by teaching old logs new tricks."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Piece of Cake
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows two teachers standing to the right side of the panel with their backs to a gigantic piece of layer cake, the size of a three-story building. On the top icing of the cake is written, "Other Duties." The top layer of cake it labeled, "IEP," the icing between the layers is labeled "Meetings," the middle layer is labeled "504," another layer of icing labeled "Meetings," and the bottom layer labeled "At Risk." One of the teachers is saying to the other, "Don't worry about your caseload this year. It's a piece of cake!" To which the other teacher responds "Thanks!" The tag line reads, "How much cake can one person eat?"
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Don't Be Seduced
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a Mermaid relaxing on rocks in the ocean with wrecked ships all around the rocks. There is a man in a row boat paddling toward the rocks and the Mermaid is saying, "Come this way! It's as easy as 1, 2, 3…" The man replies, "Oh that sounds so good!" The tag line reads, "Don't be seduced! Just because it looks good at first glance doesn't mean it's the right solution."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Counter Intelligence
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a diner counter with a waitress behind the counter serving a man some coffee. The man sitting at the counter says, "Is the rumor true that the new guy who works here has a low IQ?" The waitress replies, "I don't know and it doesn't really matter. IQ doesn't tell you anything about who a person is. I know him. He's a good worker and a great guy." The tag line reads, "Counter Intelligence."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks
Legislative Practical Jokes
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- Creator: Giangreco, Michael F., 1956-.
- Date Created: 2000
- Description: The cartoon shows a legislative gallery-style room. There is a woman standing at the podium in the middle of the room saying, "Gentleladies and Gentlemen, the session will come to order." A man and woman in the front row are whispering to each other. The woman says "I'm sooooo bored! What can we do to have some fun?" The man sitting next to her whispers, "Hmmmm. I know! Let's propose another unfunded mandate!" The tag line reads, "Legislative Practical Jokes."
- Parent Collections: Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, Teaching Old Logs New Tricks