Educational Disparity

 Today's post will be on the importance of education, what it is, and the different forms that education can take.  Particularly, when you have multiple disabilities, like I do, it can make traditional forms of education extremely difficult to acquire.  I have experienced first hand the challenges that come with this due to my severe dyslexia, dysgraphia, fine motor skill deficiency, ADHD, Hight Functioning Autism (HFA), and cerebral palsy.  I do not say these things to complain, rather, I mention them in order to highlight the reasons why traditional education is perhaps not the best rout for myself and handicapped individuals.  

There are many things that I am capable of doing, and I have many talents.  I have an excellent memory and recall for specific topics like history, politics, music, and other social sciences.  I also have an acute awareness of the moods of people around me.  My background has helped me to have an appreciation for the acquisition of knowledge, and I am grateful for the efforts that have been given in an attempt to improve the education of the disabled.  However, I still think that the United States educational system is falling short in this regard.  Although handicap persons are now afforded the right to public education, this was not always the case, and that education is often lackluster and lacking in quality.  I don't say this to disparage the special education professionals, as there are many good teachers out there.  However, these professionals are underfunded, under supported, and often not given priority for their unique logistical problems.  

The United States education system is overall, underfunded.  This doesn't change the fact that this issue is most acute in the special education system.  I don't claim to know what the answers are, just that none of them will be easy.  Having been a student, I do believe that we as a society still need to build up the quality of our public education, giving handicapped individuals the ability to contribute to society in a meaningful way.  This may sound harsh, but it is my opinion that not all people with disabilities are capable of contributing to society in a financial sense.  I am by no means saying that we should get rid of those people, but I am saying that we ought to acknowledge that there are certain disabilities that mean that people who have them wont be able to contribute to the workforce.  

I would argue, that because of the attitude against handicapped individuals, we ought to reassess what it means to be a contributing member of society.  The fact of the matter is that some people will not be able to ever financially support themselves.  These people should still be taken care of and still can have skills, opinions, and connection that can contribute to the society as a whole. For handicapped people like me, who actually can contribute financially, and want to do so, getting an education is still nearly impossible.  Having taken college courses, and been on the Idaho government disability advisory panel, I understand these challenges and difficulties in terms of state time and resources.  

All of that being said, people with handicaps such as myself are being thrust into a system that was never successfully designed to accommodate them in the first place. Therefore, I would recommend that methods of education for those with disabilities be reassessed to create a model that is similar to that of European nations.  To allow handicapped people to be put to work, and given educational opportunities based off of what they can do, rather than focusing on accommodating our "deficiencies".  The requirement of a high school diploma for certain jobs is simply not necessary and a at times, a bit much.  

Dominion Board Game Review

 One of the most enjoyable games that I've played has been Dominion.  Dominion is a deck building game where you try to build your deck so that you can purchase more points than your opponents.  There are a lot of different cards that you can purchase that can help you in this pursuit.  

Every game has the possibility to be different as there are lots of different cards that you can have for a single game.  This makes it so that you have to strategize according to which cards are available in your particular game.  I really like this game because there are multiple ending scenarios that you can attempt.  The best thing to do is to purposefully end the game when you are ahead, but it can be quite risky to do so because somebody could trigger a certain scenario before you can, or get points faster than you were expecting. 

This game is also good for me personally because even though I cant read the card descriptions, there are distinct pictures on every card. If you have a good memory like me, you can just memorize what each individual card does.  Even if you cant remember, you could always ask another player what a specific card does, without necessarily revealing your strategy.  All of the cards in the game are always face up, so there is no need for secrecy.  

The game ends when three of the piles of cards available have been depleted, or whenever someone takes all of the point cards.  The game times vary, depending on who you are playing with and what specific cards are in play.  The speed at which the players take their turns also come into account.  You earn points by buying the point cards. All card that you purchase remain in your deck, so you have to time your point purchases carefully otherwise you they might fill your deck and block you from doing things later on.  

Overall, I found that this game is very doable for someone who cant read such as myself.  I found this game to be accessible to those with motor skill handicaps as well.  The game is recommended with about 4 players.  I would highly recommend this game to anybody that likes strategy games, and plays competitively.  This game almost never gets boring.