SPED 310 – JOURNAL 2 

            After watching the Serbia video, both in class and outside of class, my heart wants to reach out to those poor people that have been so wronged. Like it was said in the journal, these people that are being held in this mental institution are those who cannot advocate for themselves and need our help. What was the hardest thing for me while watching the video was the fact that in this place the people weren’t even treated as human, if they were animals being held like that we would still call that abusive. It’s sad that some of them have been in a crib or a cage for so long that their growth is stunted so much; it really shows how little care and concern is put into each one.

           The way that I see it is that they’re just trying to crowd control, tying people up because they are making too much noise or thrashing without trying to figure out why, giving them sedatives because it puts them to sleep so it’s less work. It is so important to remember that we are all daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father and we are all important and make a difference. I am so glad that we are where we are today with understanding and helping people with disabilities, but we need to make sure to share that knowledge with those that need it. I went to China almost a year ago and went to a house for children with disabilities and even there conditions aren’t all that great (but better than Serbia) some things that they were telling us was outdated and we could share so much wisdom with them in how to help and we could even work on contributing our time and money to help them.

            Learning what we have has continued to add to my desire to make a difference in children’s lives and help those that need it. It has given me a new perspective that in order to help something change I need to help be the change, not wait for somebody else to do it but make the effort myself. I know that I am just one person but change comes one person at a time, history proves that. Just like the court cases that we were talking about with Brown vs. BOE or Daniel R.R. or even Mills vs. BOE. Change doesn’t happen overnight or even in the snap of your fingers, if you want it to happen you need to step up and help become the change. I also need to make sure that when I am teaching or helping others it is not for my own selfish needs I need to make sure that I am in tune with the spirit and what I am being lead to do because what are my beliefs compared to the beliefs of an all-knowing all-powerful heavenly being? Heavenly Father knows what is best and I need to put forth all my effort and then put my trust into Him and that He knows what He is doing.