Absurdities and Realities of Special Education
Collection Overview
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...
Show moreAbsurdities 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.
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Pages
- Title
- Theory of Relativity
- Date Created
- 2010-2013
- Description
-
This cartoon has four panels arranged in a square pattern. Each square is labeled for a different School (A, B, C & D) and shows a different person speaking for each school. In the middle of the cartoon (where the interior corners of the squares meet) is a small rectangle overlapping a bit on to...
Show moreThis cartoon has four panels arranged in a square pattern. Each square is labeled for a different School (A, B, C & D) and shows a different person speaking for each school. In the middle of the cartoon (where the interior corners of the squares meet) is a small rectangle overlapping a bit on to all four squares that says, "Ratio of parapros to students with disabilities." In School A the ratio of parapros is 1:2, in School B it is 1:4, in School C it is 1:6, and School D it is 1:10. Despite the different ratios, the different people associated with each school all say the exact same thing (that is repeated in each of the four squares), "We are just getting by with the parapro resources we have. We couldn't possibly function with any less." The tag line under the cartoon. reads, "The Other Theory of Relativity."
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- Title
- Too Low a Criterion
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon shows a state trooper standing in front of his car talking to a teacher on the roadside while a student with disability is on the ground in the middle of the street injured with his wheelchair mangled. The trooper asks, "What happened here?" The teacher says, "I guess we used too low...
Show moreThis cartoon shows a state trooper standing in front of his car talking to a teacher on the roadside while a student with disability is on the ground in the middle of the street injured with his wheelchair mangled. The trooper asks, "What happened here?" The teacher says, "I guess we used too low a criterion". The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Mrs. Walker learns the hard way that sometimes 80% correct just isn't good enough."
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- Title
- Unaccustomed to Good News
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon has two panels stacked vertically. The top panel shows two people talking on the phone to each other, a principal at school and a mother at home. The principal says, "Mrs. Blue, Byron broke and old record at school today." The mother replies, "I'm very sorry. We'll pay for it. I know...
Show moreThis cartoon has two panels stacked vertically. The top panel shows two people talking on the phone to each other, a principal at school and a mother at home. The principal says, "Mrs. Blue, Byron broke and old record at school today." The mother replies, "I'm very sorry. We'll pay for it. I know the school doesn't have enough money for CDs." In the second frame, the principal says, "You don't understand. He broke a school record for the greatest flexibility in our P.E. program." The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Mrs. Blue is woefully unaccustomed to good news."
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- Title
- Unintended Distractions
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoons shows a full class being taught in a large group by the teacher, except for one student with a disability who is working in a one-to-one format with a paraprofessional in the back of the large group, facing away from the teacher. Some students in the teacher's large group who are...
Show moreThis cartoons shows a full class being taught in a large group by the teacher, except for one student with a disability who is working in a one-to-one format with a paraprofessional in the back of the large group, facing away from the teacher. Some students in the teacher's large group who are closest to the paraprofessional and student with a disability turn toward them. The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Unintended Distractions."
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- Title
- Up on the Right Side of Bed
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon has four panels. In the first panel a school administrator (Mr. Moody) is sound asleep in his bed a home. In the second panel two colleagues sneak into his room and turn his bed, while he sleeps, around so it is facing the opposite direction. In the third panel Mr. Moody awakens,...
Show moreThis cartoon has four panels. In the first panel a school administrator (Mr. Moody) is sound asleep in his bed a home. In the second panel two colleagues sneak into his room and turn his bed, while he sleeps, around so it is facing the opposite direction. In the third panel Mr. Moody awakens, gets out of bed and stands while stretching both arms high above his head and says, "Aah!" In the fourth panel Mr. Moody arrives at his office at school and says to his assistant (seated at a desk using a computer), "Let's start including and supporting all our students!" The assistant looks confused. The tag line under the cartoon reads, "As a last resort, school staff found a way to help Mr. Moody get up on the right side of the bed."
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- Title
- Used Car Sales Seminar
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon shows a school administrator (Mr. Moody) seated behind a desk with a parent in a chair across from him. He says to her, "Mrs. Smith, I realize that on the surface it doesn't seem to make any sense to place your son -- who has behavior challenges -- in a class with 6 other aggressive,...
Show moreThis cartoon shows a school administrator (Mr. Moody) seated behind a desk with a parent in a chair across from him. He says to her, "Mrs. Smith, I realize that on the surface it doesn't seem to make any sense to place your son -- who has behavior challenges -- in a class with 6 other aggressive, anti-social boys. But trust me. I'm a professional. This is my business." The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Mr. Moody tries out a new technique after getting lost at a national education conference and spending a week at a used car sales seminar."
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- Title
- Voting Regularities
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon has two panels stacked vertically, both showing the same image of team members sitting around a table at a meeting. In the top panel the facilitator says, "All in favor, raise your hand." as the majority raised their hands in agreement. In the lower panel a person who wasn't part of...
Show moreThis cartoon has two panels stacked vertically, both showing the same image of team members sitting around a table at a meeting. In the top panel the facilitator says, "All in favor, raise your hand." as the majority raised their hands in agreement. In the lower panel a person who wasn't part of the majority has the only raised hand while he says, "But what about my concerns?" The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Sometimes even VOTING REGULARITIES can be Problematic."
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- Title
- Wheel of Misfortune
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon shows a game show host about to spin a wheel which is labeled, "Wheel of Misfortune: Severe Disabilities School Version), while his smiling assistant directs the audiences attention to the wheel. The pie-shaped sections on the wheel include 6 categories 3 of which take up a total of...
Show moreThis cartoon shows a game show host about to spin a wheel which is labeled, "Wheel of Misfortune: Severe Disabilities School Version), while his smiling assistant directs the audiences attention to the wheel. The pie-shaped sections on the wheel include 6 categories 3 of which take up a total of 75% of the wheel, 25% each (Special Education Class in District, Special Education Class Out of District, Special Education School). Two categories each take up 10% of the wheel (Home-Based Instruction & Special Education Class in Neighborhood School). The final category, Regular Class with Support, takes up only 5% of the wheel.
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- Title
- Workable Team Size
- Date Created
- 1999
- Description
-
The cartoon shows lots of people stuffed into a phone booth and a line of people waiting. Mr. Moody is holding up his hand and saying "OK that's enough." The tag line reads "In an effort to maintain a workable team size, Mr. Moody suggests limiting membership to the number of people that can fit...
Show moreThe cartoon shows lots of people stuffed into a phone booth and a line of people waiting. Mr. Moody is holding up his hand and saying "OK that's enough." The tag line reads "In an effort to maintain a workable team size, Mr. Moody suggests limiting membership to the number of people that can fit into a phone booth."
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- Title
- You Actually Have to Teach
- Date Created
- 1998
- Description
-
This cartoon shows a special educator and general education teacher talking with each other. The special educator hands the teacher a paper and says, "… and that's what needs to be done." As the teacher accepts the paper his eyes are wide and he looks surprised as he says, "Ohhhh! I get it now....
Show moreThis cartoon shows a special educator and general education teacher talking with each other. The special educator hands the teacher a paper and says, "… and that's what needs to be done." As the teacher accepts the paper his eyes are wide and he looks surprised as he says, "Ohhhh! I get it now. You mean I actually have to teach this student." The tag line under the cartoon reads, "Murray has spent too many years with students who learn regardless of what the teacher does."
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