Synopses & Reviews
How Did You Get Here? chronicles the educational experiences of sixteen students with disabilities and their paths to personal and academic success at Harvard University. The book explores common themes and the crucial roles played by parents, teachers, and others. Above all, it provides a clear and candid account of the challenges and biases facing young disabled students, as well as the opportunities they found and created on the way to academic and personal success.
“Hehir, Schifter, and Harbour weave together sixteen inspiring stories into a single narrative with a powerful message: with the right expectations, accommodations, and support, the potential of students with disabilities is boundless. This book is a stirring reminder of our responsibility to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, succeed, and find fulfillment in their lives.” — James E. Ryan, Charles William Eliot Professor of Education and dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Tom Hehir has delved inside the disability experience to break down the stereotypes that all too often trap people with disabilities and deny them the opportunity to pursue their inherent potential. This book is a must-read for educators, parents, and students with disabilities throughout America.” — Marca Bristo, President and CEO, Access Living
“I cannot exaggerate how much this book resonated with me and with my experience working with students with disabilities. It is a book of stories embodying challenges and ultimate successes in a field that too often stops with stories about challenges. It should inspire and it should teach. All educators should read it.” — Andres A. Alonso, professor of practice, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and former CEO, Baltimore Public Schools
“All too often the world limits the academic opportunities afforded individuals with disabilities, and thus imposes a ceiling on what students with disabilities are able to accomplish. This timely volume celebrates the world of the possible by illustrating the impact that abolishing the ceilings makes achievable.” — Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Thomas Hehir is the Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor of Practice in Learning Differences at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Laura A. Schifter is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Wendy S. Harbour is the Lawrence B. Taishoff Assistant Professor of Inclusive Education and the executive director of the Taishoff Center on Inclusive Higher Education at Syracuse University.
David H. Rose is a cofounder and the chief education officer of CAST, and a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Review
“Hehir, Schifter, and Harbour weave together sixteen inspiring stories into a single narrative with a powerful message: with the right expectations, accommodations, and support, the potential of students with disabilities is boundless. This book is a stirring reminder of our responsibility to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, succeed, and find fulfillment in their lives.” — James E. Ryan, Charles William Eliot Professor of Education and dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Review
“Tom Hehir has delved inside the disability experience to break down the stereotypes that all too often trap people with disabilities and deny them the opportunity to pursue their inherent potential. This book is a must-read for educators, parents, and students with disabilities throughout America.” — Marca Bristo, President and CEO, Access Living
Review
“I cannot exaggerate how much this book resonated with me and with my experience working with students with disabilities. It is a book of stories embodying challenges and ultimate successes in a field that too often stops with stories about challenges. It should inspire and it should teach. All educators should read it.” — Andres A. Alonso, professor of practice, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and former CEO, Baltimore Public Schools
Review
“All too often the world limits the academic opportunities afforded individuals with disabilities, and thus imposes a ceiling on what students with disabilities are able to accomplish. This timely volume celebrates the world of the possible by illustrating the impact that abolishing the ceilings makes achievable.” — Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Synopsis
How Did You Get Here? chronicles the educational experiencesfrom early childhood through collegeof sixteen students with disabilities and their paths to personal and academic success at Harvard University.
Synopsis
When their children were young, several parents interviewed in this book were told “you can’t expect much from your child.” As they got older, the kids themselves often heard the same thing: that as children with disabilities, academic success would be elusive, if not impossible, for them. How Did You Get Here? clearly refutes these common, destructive assumptions. It chronicles the educational experiences—from early childhood through college—of sixteen students with disabilities and their paths to personal and academic success at Harvard University. The book explores common themes in their lives—including educational strategies, technologies, and undaunted intellectual ambitions—as well as the crucial roles played by parents, teachers, and other professionals. Above all, it provides a clear and candid account—in the voices of the students themselves—of what it takes to grapple effectively with the many challenges facing young people with disabilities. A compelling and practical book, How Did You Get Here?offers clear accounts not only of the challenges and biases facing young disabled students, but also of the opportunities they found, and created, on the way to academic and personal success.
About the Author
Thomas Hehir is the Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor of Practice in Learning Differences at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.Laura A. Schifter is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.Wendy S. Harbour is the Lawrence B. Taishoff Assistant Professor of Inclusive Education and executive director of the Taishoff Center on Inclusive Higher Education at Syracuse University.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1“My Mother” 15
CHAPTER 2“I Had Teachers Who Believed in Me” 49
CHAPTER 3“I Was Always Asking My Teachers for More” 71
CHAPTER 4“I Found Things to Do Outside the Classroom” 91
CHAPTER 5“I Was Always Forced to Find a Way” 103
CHAPTER 6“I Could Not Have Gotten Here Without Audio Text” 133
CHAPTER 7“My Disability Shapes Who I Am” 155
CHAPTER 8“I Thought I Knew Something About Disability” 179
CONCLUSION “How Can More of You Get Here?” 203
Wendy S. Harbour
Notes 227
Acknowledgments 235
About the Authors 237
Index 239