Intelligent Lives
Intelligent Lives
Can any attempt to measure intelligence predict a person’s value?
Posted Jun 11, 2016
In the preview to Dan Habib’s forthcoming film, Intelligent Lives,
Academy Award winning actor, and narrator of the film, Chris Cooper,
shares the following about his son Jesse and previous attempts to
quantify his intelligence:
“The IQ test told us nothing about Jesse’s potential. About who he was
as a person. Can any attempt to measure intelligence predict a person’s
value or potential to contribute meaningfully to the world?” The
question about the ability of intelligence testing to predict
contributions, or value, operates as one of Habib’s central themes. Have
narrow conceptions of “intelligence” limited individuals with
intellectual disabilities by leading to placements in segregated
classrooms, schools, and workplaces? Has a focus on intelligence testing
as the gold standard of measurement and diagnosis, as opposed to
assessments based on support needs, resulted in limiting opportunities
for people with intellectual disabilities? What ways can conceptions of
intelligence be expanded?
Intelligent Lives promises to highlight the challenges of
assessment using traditional methods, and in turn, will demonstrate
additional ways of identifying and meeting individual support needs.
Dan Habib, an award winning documentary filmmaker and project director at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, previously directed films Including Samuel, Who Cares About Kelsey?, and Restraint and Seclusion: Hear Our Stories. In Including Samuel, Habib shares his family’s attempts to foster inclusion for his son Samuel in all aspects of their lives. In my interview with Habib about this current project, he shared that because his son uses a wheelchair, he is sometimes not treated as a teenager, but rather infantilized: “The perception of someone’s intelligence; the perception of someone’s capacity, dramatically affects their opportunities in life. Until we address the issue head on of these narrow perceptions of intelligence, people with disabilities are not going to make lasting progress in education, in the workforce, in relationships, in community.” Part of Habib’s efforts in Intelligent Lives is to highlight how these perceptions directly impact opportunities. As shared in the preview, only 17% of students with intellectual disabilities are included in general education settings in the United States. (Inclusion is the United States means a student with an individualized education plan – IEP – spends at least 80% of their school day in general educational settings.) In addition, only 24% of adults with intellectual disabilities are employed in non-sheltered settings. Much progress is needed to ensure these patterns of segregation for people with intellectual disabilities are changed to more inclusive futures.
Intelligent Lives will feature the narratives of three
individuals with intellectual disabilities, as well as historical
segments capturing a legacy of segregation and maltreatment of people
with labels such as “feeble minded.” One of the individuals featured is
my colleague at Syracuse University, Micah Fialka-Feldman.
Currently, Fialka-Feldman co-teaches and guest lectures in courses in
the School of Education. (I have had him come into the graduate courses
I’ve taught to talk about his experiences of self-advocacy and efforts
to be included in all levels of education, including university.)
Fialka-Feldman is an internationally known disability rights activist
and was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Committee
for People with Intellectual Disabilities (Habib also serves on this
committee). Fialka-Feldman’s story is one that continues to challenge
assumptions that a standardized test is an accurate measure of an
individual’s capacity, or contributions. In the preview of the film,
Fialka-Feldman’s mother, Janice Fialka remarks, “What we want to focus
on is not a label, but on what are the supports that a child or person
needs in order to participate in a meaningful way?” The Intelligent
Lives educational materials will highlight measures, like the Supports Intensity Scale,
which moves away from blanket assessments like intelligence tests
toward “person-centered planning processes that help all individuals
identify their unique preferences, skills, and life goals,”
to allow meaningful participation regardless of labels of intellectual
disability. In response to my question about what outcomes he hopes the
film will generate, Habib remarked, “We would actually challenge the
notion that IQ scores really needs to exist” and rather focus on
assessing and meeting the unique support needs of individuals. Habib
continues, “It is very possible to imagine a world where we use the
Support Intensity Scale, a measure of someone’s support needs, as a way
to determine eligibility for the type of financial resources and other
supports they need to fully participate in education, the workforce, and
all aspects of society.” In response to my question about what he hopes
the film will display, Micah Feldman-Fialka replied, “That an IQ
doesn’t speak to anything. IQ is just a number. I can do more things
than what it shows.” His reply illustrates the necessity of refusing to
let standardized intelligence testing become shorthand of a person’s
interests or capacities.
One of the other individuals featured in the film is Naieer Shaheed, a high school student at Henderson Inclusion School
in Boston. Shaheed is an accomplished artist and the preview displays
his artwork. One of Shaheed’s teachers, Samuel Texeria remarks in the
film, “I think that intelligence looks different for everybody. It’s
clear he has an intellectual impairment. But I don’t…that doesn’t
necessarily mean that he can’t be intelligent.” Texeria continues, “The
fact that he is a black man and he is tall, sometimes it is troubling to
wonder what the outside world might perceive him as. If he’s being loud
or jumpy or enthusiastic, somebody might perceive that as threatening.
It is one thing when they’re young and they’re cute, but eventually
they’re gonna get older.” Whereas Fialka-Feldman’s low IQ score could
lead to blanket evaluations about his competence and capacity, Shaheed’s
intellectual impairment interpreted through his gender
and racial status means he has to counter oppressive systems that can
treat him as a threat, or as someone without a future. In addition,
Habib says the film’s educational materials will explore the research
suggesting an overrepresentation of students of color in special
education.
Habib has just begun filming a third person for the film, Naomie Monplaisir of Providence, Rhode Island. Monplaisir attended a segregated high school called the Harold A. Birch Vocational Program, a sheltered workshop housed inside of a Providence high school. Now in her late 20s, Monplaisir is trying to transition to paid, integrated employment. Employment rates for individuals with intellectual disabilities are significantly lower than that of their peers without intellectual disabilities. Those individuals that are employed tend to have part-time jobs, or employment in segregated sheltered workshops, where they are often paid sub-minimum wages.
Monplaisir’s story represents the national push to enable people with
intellectual disabilities to join the workforce. In 2014 Rhode Island
and the US Department of Justice reached the nation’s first statewide settlement
to address the rights of people with disabilities to receive state
funded employment and daytime services in the broader community, rather
than in segregated sheltered workshops and facility-based day programs.
As with his previous films, Habib has partnered with a diverse group of organizations, including the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). NASP also partnered previously with Habib on the “I Care By” campaign that was launched in conjunction with his film Who Cares About Kelsey? The campaign redefined “care by giving people specific positive actions to take that have been proven to be successful, along with ways to share their actions and encourage others to do the same.” In preparing this blog, I also talked to Mary Beth Klotz, Director of Educational Practice at NASP about the film and the partnership between NASP and Habib. Klotz is committed to supporting Habib’s films because they help generate conversation: “He has a unique opportunity as a filmmaker…to create powerful advocacy tools and educational materials for professionals and families. NASP members utilize the films for a variety of purposes and rely on Dan because of the wonderful creative services he provides.” Fialka-Feldman adds, “I have really liked all the films he has made. I think this film will really show the stories of people with disabilities.” Discussing the importance of Habib’s film for NASP members, Klotz remarks, “School psychologists are advocates at heart. They really care about the students and families they serve, making a positive change, and speaking up for social justice issues.” I asked Klotz about IQ testing and various assessment practices: “The cognitive assessment score has the potential to carry too much weight in the decision making and can contribute to stigma.” Yet, Klotz warns that without some version of assessment individuals might not receive appropriate services. Klotz discussed how “snap judgments” regarding students with intellectual disabilities can be made where IQ numbers are used as evidence instead of incorporating additional data such as “the progress a student makes when given the right type of instruction and supports.”
This semester I had the privilege of teaching a graduate seminar on intellectual disability and human rights. The 15 students in the class were students enrolled in various programs including special education, collaborative design, and law. Despite the varied disciplinary backgrounds of the students, we collectively came back to the issue of measuring intelligence and how efforts to quantify intelligence can have damaging effects on those labeled as having an “intellectual disability.” From the history of eugenics, forced and coerced sterilization, institutionalization, and restrictive immigration practices, to more contemporary patterns of segregation in special education classrooms and sheltered workshops, as a class, we wondered if there was a way to challenge the supremacy of intelligence. We kept coming back to the question Habib is engaging with: Does any effort to measure intelligence accurately reflect the potentials of an individual? In what ways, can we expand our understanding of what counts as intelligence to facilitate meaningful participation for all?
I also had the privilege of co-teaching a sex education workshop for students enrolled in the Inclusive U
program on campus, which enrolls students with intellectual and
developmental disabilities in college classes. Every Tuesday I would
help facilitate questions of respect, agency, and rights with specific
application to sexuality. As I wrote in a previous post,
I’m struck with how the very presence of these programs welcome
individuals with intellectual disabilities as learners, scholars,
teachers, and community members, and by extension transform assumptions
about which individuals have a “right” to be in higher education.
Intelligent Lives promises to prompt revolutionary thinking and
highlight how individuals with intellectual disabilities are challenging
generations of segregation and helping to create transformative
communities. I eagerly await the release of the film in Fall 2017.
Source: Academy Award winning
actor Chris Cooper (right) records narration for the new documentary
film Intelligent Lives (working title), directed by Dan Habib of the UNH
Institute on Disability (left). Cameraman Steven Ascher is at center.
Photo copyright Dan Habib/UNH Institute on Disability
Dan Habib, an award winning documentary filmmaker and project director at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, previously directed films Including Samuel, Who Cares About Kelsey?, and Restraint and Seclusion: Hear Our Stories. In Including Samuel, Habib shares his family’s attempts to foster inclusion for his son Samuel in all aspects of their lives. In my interview with Habib about this current project, he shared that because his son uses a wheelchair, he is sometimes not treated as a teenager, but rather infantilized: “The perception of someone’s intelligence; the perception of someone’s capacity, dramatically affects their opportunities in life. Until we address the issue head on of these narrow perceptions of intelligence, people with disabilities are not going to make lasting progress in education, in the workforce, in relationships, in community.” Part of Habib’s efforts in Intelligent Lives is to highlight how these perceptions directly impact opportunities. As shared in the preview, only 17% of students with intellectual disabilities are included in general education settings in the United States. (Inclusion is the United States means a student with an individualized education plan – IEP – spends at least 80% of their school day in general educational settings.) In addition, only 24% of adults with intellectual disabilities are employed in non-sheltered settings. Much progress is needed to ensure these patterns of segregation for people with intellectual disabilities are changed to more inclusive futures.
Source: When Micah Fialka-Feldman (above) was 11 years old, he scored 40 on an IQ test. His parents,
however, insisted he be included in general education classes, and
Micah developed a strong circle of friends and had access to assistive
technology and instruction. Micah graduated from high school and is now a
college student, teaching assistant, and staff member at Syracuse
University. He is featured in the new film by Dan Habib, Intelligent
Lives (working title). Photo copyright Dan Habib/UNH Institute on
Disability
Advertisement
Source: Naieer Shaheed is a
student who attends the completely inclusive Henderson High School in
Dorchester, MA. Naieer is featured in Intelligent Lives (working title),
the new film project by Dan Habib of the UNH Institute on Disability.
photo copyright Dan Habib/UNH Institute on Disability
Habib has just begun filming a third person for the film, Naomie Monplaisir of Providence, Rhode Island. Monplaisir attended a segregated high school called the Harold A. Birch Vocational Program, a sheltered workshop housed inside of a Providence high school. Now in her late 20s, Monplaisir is trying to transition to paid, integrated employment. Employment rates for individuals with intellectual disabilities are significantly lower than that of their peers without intellectual disabilities. Those individuals that are employed tend to have part-time jobs, or employment in segregated sheltered workshops, where they are often paid sub-minimum wages.
Advertisement
Source: Naomie Monplaisir and
her brother Steve Monplaisir of Providence, Rhode Island. Photo courtesy
the Intelligent Lives project
As with his previous films, Habib has partnered with a diverse group of organizations, including the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). NASP also partnered previously with Habib on the “I Care By” campaign that was launched in conjunction with his film Who Cares About Kelsey? The campaign redefined “care by giving people specific positive actions to take that have been proven to be successful, along with ways to share their actions and encourage others to do the same.” In preparing this blog, I also talked to Mary Beth Klotz, Director of Educational Practice at NASP about the film and the partnership between NASP and Habib. Klotz is committed to supporting Habib’s films because they help generate conversation: “He has a unique opportunity as a filmmaker…to create powerful advocacy tools and educational materials for professionals and families. NASP members utilize the films for a variety of purposes and rely on Dan because of the wonderful creative services he provides.” Fialka-Feldman adds, “I have really liked all the films he has made. I think this film will really show the stories of people with disabilities.” Discussing the importance of Habib’s film for NASP members, Klotz remarks, “School psychologists are advocates at heart. They really care about the students and families they serve, making a positive change, and speaking up for social justice issues.” I asked Klotz about IQ testing and various assessment practices: “The cognitive assessment score has the potential to carry too much weight in the decision making and can contribute to stigma.” Yet, Klotz warns that without some version of assessment individuals might not receive appropriate services. Klotz discussed how “snap judgments” regarding students with intellectual disabilities can be made where IQ numbers are used as evidence instead of incorporating additional data such as “the progress a student makes when given the right type of instruction and supports.”
This semester I had the privilege of teaching a graduate seminar on intellectual disability and human rights. The 15 students in the class were students enrolled in various programs including special education, collaborative design, and law. Despite the varied disciplinary backgrounds of the students, we collectively came back to the issue of measuring intelligence and how efforts to quantify intelligence can have damaging effects on those labeled as having an “intellectual disability.” From the history of eugenics, forced and coerced sterilization, institutionalization, and restrictive immigration practices, to more contemporary patterns of segregation in special education classrooms and sheltered workshops, as a class, we wondered if there was a way to challenge the supremacy of intelligence. We kept coming back to the question Habib is engaging with: Does any effort to measure intelligence accurately reflect the potentials of an individual? In what ways, can we expand our understanding of what counts as intelligence to facilitate meaningful participation for all?
Source: Filmmaker Dan Habib and
Micah Fialka-Feldman, one of the subjects of the upcoming film
Intelligent Lives (working title, due Fall 2017) stand together inside a
building at Syracuse University, where Micah has attended college and
co-teaches classes. Photo courtesy Bud Buckout
Comments
Post a Comment