Today’s long read: Michael and Jamie Bérubé
by digby
Michael Bérubé is most often fondly recalled by early bloggers as a writer with scathing wit who helped define the genre in the early days. (This is one of my favorites, although it’s a close thing. He wrote wonderful stuff all the time.) He eventually quit blogging. He’s and English professor, after all, and had better things to do.
He has kept writing about his son Jamie, however, and I feel as if I’ve watched him grow up. Jamie has Down’s Syndrome and his journey from childhood to manhood, as seen through his dad’s eyes, has been a fascinating tale. Today Bérubé talks about Jamie’s search for gainful employment and it’s a wonderful read. If you have the time for a really satisfying long read, this is the one:
The first time I talked to Jamie about getting a job, he was only 13. But I thought it was a good idea to prepare him, gradually, for the world that would await him after he left school. My wife, Janet, and I had long been warned about that world: By professionals it was usually called “transitioning from high school.” By parents it was usually called “falling off the cliff.” After 21 years of early intervention programs for children with disabilities; a “free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment,” as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; local after-school programs; the LifeLinkPSU initiative that allows high school graduates with intellectual disabilities to take appropriate Penn State classes — after all that, there would be nothing. Or so we were told.
When Bérubé writes about Jamie it often opens up a window into our culture and illuminates it for us from his unusual perspective. Jamie’s challenge in this world is so profoundly human that anyone can relate.
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