David had moments where he out shone the other kids in the class.

I had just finished the course work to earn a Masters in Special Education with the diplomas signed by Bob Keeshan, Captain Kangaroo, who was a regent at the university and got a position as a Special Education teacher. Among my students those first years was David, assumed to be on some level of what in those days would be called Mental Retardation in spite of some of his abilities that implied his situation was something entirely different.

School administrators who may have been very effective in the days before Special Education showed up, were not quick to adapt and, having done well with the deaf, blind, and “mentally Retarded” followed the traditions and educational methods familiar in the past and not only had a hard time accepting new categories of special Education but saw their lack of knowledge a possible tool to be used against them as they would be seen not to be as informed as the public might assume they should be. As it was, in their minds, the Special Education teachers were messing up the system, unless the disability was familiar and would allow the expression of pity to be assumed sufficient, and what could have been learned from these educational upstarts wasn’t for the longest time.

That was in the middle to late seventies and one would assume in the past 47 plus years, there would be a more progressive mindset than I encountered in the 1970s and saw slowly reduced over time.

If you worked or still do work with the kids like Gus Wallz and saw the conservative, pro-Christian Nationalists respond as they did, you can see this is not a Christian Nation.

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