Two weeks ago, on Friday march 13th, 2009, our two grade 4 classes had four people from the Dixville Home come to our school. When they cam they told us all about their lives and living with a disability. Here is a resume about each of them. (BD, HS)
Robert is a man who came to our school to talk to us about learning disabilities. He has to live with a learning disability every day of his life. His disability was caused when his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during birth and it cut off oxygen to his brain. While growing up he got bullied a lot. One thing that people did to him is push him into the lockers at school. He wanted to take the numbers off of the class doors of room 101 and 102 because when you went into those classes at school it meant to other people that you’re not the same as everyone else. Robert is smart and loves to make up trivia questions. He is very tall and he loves Montreal Canadians. He also told us about saving nine kids lives but didn’t tell us how. We hope to be able to ask him next time he visits us.By: Andy, AaronLouis
Louis is a man who is intellectually handicapped and lives in his own home like most people. When we met him we didn’t know what disability he had. He looked like any guy but his voice gave away his disability. It’s sometimes really quiet, low and hard to hear at times. Louis is a really cool guy and I think other people should treat him the same way they treat anyone!! Louis is also a weight lifter, he is very strong! His favourite lift is the dead lift. He explained to us how to do the dead lift. He said you have to put a small padding on your back then you put the barbell on top of it then you go up and down! Louis has been in several competitions around Canada for weight lifting. He’s won medals! Louis works at Bishops University and he works out there as well. He’s an awesome guy!Thanks for reading our blog entry!Hope you liked it! By: Tyler & Emily Virginia
By: Tim and IsaacVirginia is a lady that came to our school to tell us about her learning disability.She grew up in the Dixville home and when she was young she attended a school for the disabled. When she was older and going to Galt she was teased. Once she even got pushed into a locker and she was scared because it was dark in there. She now works at the Grace Christian home and she loves to clog. She even showed us how. Virginia is a very nice lady. She is my mom’s friend!!! Intellectual Differences - LouiseLast week, we met people from the Dixville home who came to our school and one of the people’s names was Louise. Louise has an intellectual disability and is now in foster care. When she was young she lived at the Dixville home. At first she went to a school for the intellectually disabled. There were a lot of special needs people went there too. When Louise went to this school, she never got bullied because all of the people who went were all the same like her. Louise is now a painter, she paints nature like animals, flowers, trees and a few landscapes. We enjoyed looking at Louise’s paintings at Upland’s Museum. A few days ago we went to Uplands museum because that week was intellectual differences week at our school and it was at Uplands too. She had some of her paintings there to sell and to see. So, we went to see the paintings there. Her work reminded us that just because Louise has a disability it doesn’t mean that she can’t draw painting beautifully and do the other things we do. At Uplands museum there were other paintings by people who have a disability. When we went there to see the artwork we also heard about the history of the house which is now a museum. It is called, “ Uplands Museum.” It was fun to hear about Louise’s life when she lived in Dixville home and what it was like to have an intellectual disability.By: Brynne & Haley
