Inspired by a true story by Alice Martel
A
moving, unconventional drama based on true events. “Teach Me I Can
Learn” is about a child named Lorena who has Down syndrome and who gets
discriminated against for her disability. Her mother Marie decides that
enough
is enough when the school that her daughter attended locked the doors.
With no formal education, only common sense and a will to have her child
educated and succeed in life she advocates on behalf of her daughter.
She seeks help from two integration activists. Their weapons of choice
are
press releases and publishing court documents on the World Wide Web.
They
get sued for defamation by this huge Government agency, the School
Board and are threatened with losing their homes if they don’t
apologize.
This book reveals the tactics used by the school board
to trap our children into congregated and institutionalized settings.
Find out why Lorena is the first and only child in her Board to be
integrated and appropriately accommodated in her home high school.
“Teach
Me I Can Learn” is a story about a little girl who has Down syndrome
and her family’s struggles within the education and justice systems.
This book of journey is a gift to the world, a voice for our special
needs children and their
families, past, present and future.
“Canada
is systematically violating the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child with the most glaring failure its treatment of handicapped
children.
… Access to and quality of education is not
guaranteed to vulnerable children with special needs such as those with
severe mental and physical disabilities.”
The above paragraph republished with permission Globe and Mail, Canada’s
largest newspaper.
November 18, 1999.
