Inclusion's Complexity: A Review of 'Including Samuel'

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Including Samuel is a film about how inclusion can be difficult, but it is important for these children and their success. This is an issue that people with developmental disabilities deal with on a daily basis, but not everyone knows this until you have seen it first-hand or lived with it. In the film, photojournalist and father, Dan Habib follows his son Samuel around and others with disabilities to show their stories and to help inform the viewers about this little known topic. The film was effective in its efforts to display how inclusion has many complexities, but we need to work at it in order for these children to have a contributing and successful life. One way that Habib shows inclusion is by filming Alana Malfy, Nathaniel Orelliana …show more content…

When he talks about when he was in school, he states that people did not have high expectations for people with developmental disabilities and that the bar was so low there was no bar (Habib). He wants to know how someone that has developmental disabilities is going to be a contributing member of society when they’re being told, in Keith’s words, “aren’t shit”. His passion shows through these words and proves to the viewers that they want to be included and challenged, not limited. Another important person in the film was Emily Huff, a young woman with mental health issues which is also a disability. By showing her story, it shows the audience how widely different every disability is. It is also something that people do not normally include in the disability category and a topic that most people do not know about or …show more content…

We had a classroom of kids with developmental disabilities, but they would not spend their whole day in that room. They would travel to different classes with their aides and do the same school work as we did for most of the time. One in particular that I remember is a boy named Josh who was friends with everyone in the school. He has a developmental disability but he is the friendliest person I have ever met. He would give hugs, high fives, share jokes, and kid around in the hallways with everyone and he was also the Sadie Hawkins king. He did great with his schoolwork as well and ended up being a part of our graduating class. Although it was not full inclusion and it was not always easy, he still got to be in our classrooms sometimes and still got to make all of the friends he did. So in the film when they show Pembrook Academy and the kids in it, it reminds me of my own experiences that I had in high school with Josh and the other

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