The Case About Amy (Health Society And Policy) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Amy in this book is near and dear to my heart. And that is not because she shares the same name as me. Or that i find her story to be inspiring and uplifting. Rather i cherish this book because Amy was my teacher in college.
No, I am not deaf, nor hard of hearing. Rather I am an Occupational Therapist.
Amy was my sign teacher at Mt. Mary College and she brought to us a wealth of knowledge that has known little equal.
People talk about imersion schooling, that is what it was like with Amy. There was no talking just signing learning and growing. First with baby steps and then with leaps and bounds. She was not teaching us about how to communicate with her world... but rather how our world needs to open our eyes and communicate with hers.
This story is a great reflection of Amy's life. What her life was and the things that her parents fought and advocated for helped to form the truly magnicifient person that she is. As a result she has a special inner light that shines for all to see.
I now work in a school system, much thanks to Amy. Without her inspiration i don't know if would have choosen this path. It is not easy to fight for my kids to get them the services they need. Its never as easy as it could be... kids need services but money always drives that bottom line.
Perhaps this is a good book for any parent to read that has a child with special needs. Weather that special need means IEP or 504 it should matter not. We all have to advocate for the little ones... they are our hearts and our souls. If we be not the Gladiators to defeat the Lions... then I know not who will be the voice of those who have none.....

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The Rowley family's struggle began when Amy entered kindergarten and culminated five years later in a pivotal decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. In effect, the Court majority concluded that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act did not mandate equal opportunity for children with disabilities in classes with typical children; a disappointing decision for disability advocates. The Supreme Court decided that schools were required only to provide enough help for children with disabilities to pass from grade to grade. The Court reversed the lower courts' rulings, which had granted Amy an interpreter, setting a precedent that could affect the quality of education for all individuals with disabilities. From the time Amy entered kindergarten in Peekskill, New York, her parents battled with school officials to get a sign language interpreter in the classroom.Nancy and Clifford Rowley, also deaf, struggled with officials for their own right to a communications process in which they could fully participate.Stuck in limbo was a bright, inquisitive child, forced to rely on partial lipreading of rapid classroom instruction and interaction, and sound amplifiers that were often broken and always cumbersome. R.C. Smith chronicles the Rowley family's dealings with school boards, lawyers, teachers, expert consultants, advocates, and supporters, and their staunch determination to get through the exhaustive process of presenting the case time after time to school adjudicative bodies and finally the federal courts.The author also documents his own "coming to awareness" about how the "able" see the "disabled." For 25 years, R. C. Smith was a Senior Associate at MDC, Inc., in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creative approaches for bettering the lives of disadvantaged people. Also a former columnist, editor, and reporter for several southern newspapers and a part-time journalism instructor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he is now a freelance writer based in Jamestown.