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Human Exceptionality: School,

Community, and Family 12th Edition,


(Ebook PDF)
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Contents
Guide to Selected Text Features    xiv CHAPTER 2
About the Authors   xvii Education for All 24
Preface   xix Snapshot Tara and Her 8 Tips for New Special Education
Teachers 25
PART 1 A Changing Era in the Lives of Students with
Disabilities 26
Through the Lifespan 2
2-1 E
 ducational Services for Students with
Disabilities in the 20th Century 26
CHAPTER 1
2-1a Early Special Education Programs 27
Understanding Exceptionalities
2-1b Education as a Privilege but Not a Right 27
in the 21st Century 2
2-1c John F. Kennedy and the Expanding Role of
Snapshot "Disabled or Differently Abled"  3 National Government 28
A Changing Era in the Lives of People 2-2 The Right to Education 28
with Disabilities 4
2-3 T
 he Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
1-1 Why Label People? 4 (IDEA) 29
1-2 T
 hree Approaches to Understanding 2-3a What Are Special Education and Related
Human Differences 5 Services? 30
1-2a A Developmental Approach 5 2-3b Who Is Eligible for Special Education
1-2b A Cultural Approach 6 and Related Services? 30
1-2c Self-Labeling 6 2-3c Major Provisions of IDEA 31
Reflect on This A Few Famous People Who Are Differently Learning Through Social Media 10 Helpful and
Abled (Yet Labeled As Having a Disability) 7 Compassionate Comments Heard at an IEP
Meeting 33
1-2d The Effects of Being Labeled 8
Learning Through Social Media “Spread the Word to End 2-4 T
 he Special Education Referral, Assessment,
the Word!” 8 Planning, and Placement Process 36
2-4a Phase 1: Initiating the Referral 36
1-3 C
 hanging Societal Views on People with
2-4b Phase 2: Assessing Student Eligibility
Disabilities: From Discrimination to Inclusion 9
and Educational Need 38
1-3a Advocating for Change 10
2-4c Phase 3: Developing the Individualized
1-4 The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 12 Education Program (IEP) 38
Reflect on This One City’s Response to ADA 13 2-4d Phase 4: Determining the Student’s Educational
Reflect on This The ADA: 20 Years Later 14
Placement in the Least Restrictive Environment
(LRE) 39
1-4a The ADA Definition of Disability 14
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Yasmeen 42
1-4b Major Provisions of ADA 15
1-5 T
 he Role of Health Care, Psychology, and Social 2-5 E
 ducating Students with Disabilities
Services Professionals in the Lives of People in the 21st Century: From Access to
with Disabilities 15 Accountability 42
1-5a The Role of Health Care Professionals 15 2-6 Section 504/ADA and Reasonable
1-5b The Role of Psychologists 17 Accommodations 44
1-5c The Role of Social Services Professionals 18 Looking Toward a Bright Future 45
Looking Toward a Bright Future 19 Chapter Review 46
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Keani 21 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
to Accompany Chapter 2 47
Chapter Review 22
Mastery Activities and Assignments 47
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
to Accompany Chapter 1 23
Mastery Activities and Assignments 23

vi

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4
Inclusion and Multidisciplinary Secondary Education
Collaboration in the Early Childhood and Transition Planning 78
and Elementary School Years 48 A Changing Era in the Lives of People
A Changing Era in the Lives of Students with Disabilities 79
with Disabilities 49 Snapshot Living with NO Boundaries: Meet Hector 79
3-1 Inclusive Education 49 4-1 Research on the Lives of Adults
Snapshot Matt 49 with Disabilities 80
3-2 C
 haracteristics of Evidence-Based 4-1a High School Completion and Access to Valued
Inclusive Schools 51 Postschool Outcomes 80
3-2a Diversity, Acceptance, and Belonging 51 4-1b Employment 81
3-2b Formal and Natural Supports 51 4-1c Closing the Gap: Transition
Planning and Services 81
3-2c Age-Appropriate Classrooms
in a Neighborhood School 51 Reflect on This Meet Ellie and Kari and Their “Education
for All” Approach to Teaching Math in a High School
3-3 Multidisciplinary Collaboration 52
Classroom 81
3-3a Parents as Valued Partners 52
4-2 Idea Transition Planning Requirements 82
3-3b Sharing the Responsibility 53
4-2a Other Federal Laws Linked to IDEA
3-3c Multidisciplinary School-Wide Assistance
and Transition Planning 82
Teams 53
3-3d Working Together as a Professional 4-3 Person-Centered Transition Planning 83
and Parent Team 53 4-3a Facilitating Student and Parent
Involvement 83
Reflect on This What’s My Role on the Multidisciplinary
School-Wide Assistance Team? 54 Case Study on Embracing Diversity LoQuisha 83
3-3e Peer Support and Cooperative Learning 55 4-3b Working with Adult Services 85
Learning Through Social Media Is There a Role for Social Learning Through Social Media Reflections on Inclusive
Media in Special Education? 56 Education and Parent Involvement at the Secondary
Level 86
3-4 The Early Childhood Years 56
4-4 Preparing Students for Adult Life: Instructional
Snapshot Yvonne: The Early Childhood Years 57
Focus for College and Career Readiness 87
3-4a Importance of Early Intervention
4-4a Teaching Self-Determination 87
for Young Children and Families 57
4-4b Teaching Academic Skills and Access
3-4b Evidence-Based Instructional
to the General Curriculum 88
Approaches for Preschool-Age Children 58
4-4c Teaching Adaptive and Functional Life
3-5 The Elementary School Years 65 Skills 89
3-5a Meeting Student Needs in an Inclusive 4-4d College Preparation 89
Classroom through a General Education/
Reflect on This Tips and Strategies for Co-Teaching
Special Education Partnership 65
at the Secondary Level 90
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Ricardo 66
4-4e Employment Preparation 90
3-5b Evidence-Based Practices in Inclusive
Elementary School Programs 68 Looking Toward a Bright Future 91

Assistive Technology The Strategy Tutor 74 Chapter Review 92


Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
Looking Toward a Bright Future 74
to Accompany Chapter 4 93
Chapter Review 75
Mastery Activities and Assignments 93
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
to Accompany Chapter 3 77
Mastery Activities and Assignments 77

CONTENTS vii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PART 2 Mastery Activities and Assignments 121

Perspectives on Diversity CHAPTER 6


and the Family 94 Exceptionalities and Families 122
6-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People with
CHAPTER 5
Disabilities 123
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity 94
Snapshot Teela 123
5-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of Students with
Disabilities from Culturally and/or Linguistically 6-2 Family Systems Approach 124
Diverse Backgrounds 95 6-2a Positive Impacts of Children with Disabilities
on Their Families 125
Snapshot José 95
6-2b Family Challenges Related to Raising Children
5-2 T
 he Purposes and Approaches of Bilingual/ESL
with Disabilities 126
Education and Culturally and Linguistically
Responsive Education 96 6-3 Parental Reactions 126
5-2a Dual-Language Immersion/ESL Education 6-3a Determining a Diagnosis 127
and Its Role 96 Learning Through Social Media Shasta Kearns Moore 127
5-2b Culturally and Linguistically Responsive 6-3b Experiencing Shock 128
Education and Its Role 97 6-3c Coming to a Realization 129
5-3 Population Trends Among Culturally and Linguistically 6-3d Moving Away from Retreat 129
Diverse Learners in the United States 98
Snapshot Autism in the Family 130
5-3a Cultural and Ethnic Diversity 99
6-3e Coming to Acknowledgment 130
5-3b Language Diversity 99
6-4 Family Relationships 131
5-3c Poverty 100
6-4a Spousal or Partner Relationships 131
5-3d Migrancy 101
5-4 Effect of Population Trends on Schools 102 Reflect on This Friday’s Kids Respite 132

5-4a Language Learning and Schools 102 6-4b Mother–Child Relationships 133
5-4b Poverty and Schools 104 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Halgan 133
5-4c Migrancy and Schools 105 6-4c Father–Child Relationships 134
5-5 Decreasing Disproportionality of Culturally and 6-4d Sibling Relationships 135
Linguistically Diverse Children in Special 6-4e Extended Family Relationships 137
Education 105 6-5 Providing Nurturing and Competent Family
Learning Through Social Media Edutopia on Culturally Support 138
Responsive Teaching 106 6-5a Family-Centered Support, Services, and
5-5a Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Programs 139
Teaching 107 6-5b Early Childhood Years 139
5-5b Increasing Parent Involvement 110 6-5c   Elementary School Years 140
5-5c Nondiscriminatory and Multidisciplinary 6-5d Secondary School Years 140
Collaboration 111
6-5e   Transition to the Adult Years 141
5-5d Culturally and Linguistically Responsive
6-5f   Parents, Families, and Partnerships 141
Assessment 112
6-5g Strengthening Family Supports 141
5-5e Language Acquisition 114
6-5h Positive Behavior Support 141
5-5f Proper Training of Professionals 114
6-5i Elements of Successful Partnerships 142
5-6 Culturally Responsive Special Education 115
6-5j    Training for Families 143
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Ana 117
6-5k   Training for Siblings, Grandparents, and
Looking Toward a Bright Future 118 Extended Family Members 144
Chapter Review 119 6-5l Training for Professionals 144
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards 6-5m  Cultures and Disability Perspectives
to Accompany Chapter 5 121 for Professionals 144

viii CONTENTS

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Looking Toward a Bright Future 145 Assistive Technology Software for Writing 167
Chapter Review 146 7-6b Adolescent Education and Transition
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards to Adulthood 168
to Accompany Chapter 6 147 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Alice Revisited 170
Mastery Activities and Assignments 147 7-6c Multidisciplinary Collaboration: Education
and Other Services 171
PART 3 Looking Toward a Bright Future 173
People Who Are Exceptional 148 Chapter Review 174
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
CHAPTER 7 to Accompany Chapter 7 175
Learning Disabilities 148
Mastery Activities and Assignments 175
7-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People
with Learning Disabilities 149 CHAPTER 8
Snapshot Mathew 149 Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 176
7-2 D
 efinitions and Classifications of Learning Snapshot Jennifer 177
Disabilities 150 8-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People with
7-2a Definitions 150 Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 178
7-2b Classification 152 8-2 D
 efinitions and Classifications of Emotional/
Reflect on This Redefining Learning Disabilities Using a Behavioral Disorders 178
Response to Intervention Model 153 8-2a Classification Systems 179
7-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of Learning 8-2b A Statistically Derived Classification
Disabilities 154 System 180
7-3a Academic Achievement 154 8-2c Clinically Derived Classification Systems 180
Reflect on This Dyslexia: Searching for Causes 156 Learning Through Social Media Bring Change 2 Mind 182
7-3b Intelligence 158 8-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of Emotional/
7-3c Learning Characteristics 159 Behavioral Disorders 183
7-3d Social and Emotional Characteristics 160 8-3a Intelligence 183
7-3e Hyperactivity 160 8-3b Social–Adaptive Behavior 183
7-4 Causes of Learning Disabilities 160 8-3c Academic Achievement 186
7-4a Neurological Factors 161 8-4 Causes of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 187
7-4b Maturational Delay 161 8-5 Identification and Assessment
7-4c Genetic Factors 161 of Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 188
7-4d Environmental Factors 161 8-5a Screening, Pre-Referral Interventions,
and Referral for Assessment 188
7-5 Identification and Assessment of Learning
Disabilities 161 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Leon 192
7-5a Formal and Informal Assessment 161 8-6 Interventions and Treatments
7-5b Screening 162 for Emotional/Behavioral Disorders 193
7-5c Intelligence 163 8-6a Multidisciplinary Collaboration: Systems
7-5d Adaptive Skills 163 of Care 193
7-5e Academic Achievement 163 8-6b Early Childhood Education 194
8-6c  Elementary Education 195
7-6 Interventions and Treatments for People
with Learning Disabilities 163 Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with
Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD) 196
Snapshot Alice 164
7-6a Elementary Education Programs 164 Reflect on This Henry: Wraparound 200
Learning Through Social Media Teen Use of Social Media 8-6d Adolescent Education and Transition
on the Rise 166 to Adulthood 201

CONTENTS ix

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Assistive Technology SymTrend ADL Activities Case Study on Embracing Diversity Lucy 226
for Daily Living 201 Looking Toward a Bright Future 227
Looking Toward a Bright Future 202 Chapter Review 227
Chapter Review 202 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards to
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards to Accompany Chapter 9 229
Accompany Chapter 8 203 Mastery Activities and Assignments 229
Mastery Activities and Assignments 203
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 9 Communication Disorders 230
Intellectual and Developmental 10-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People
Disabilities 204 with Communication Disorders 231
9-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People with 10-2 Communication Development 231
Intellectual Disabilities 205 Snapshot Trinity 231
Snapshot Actress Lauren Potter 205 10-2a Expressive and Receptive Language 232
9-2 D
 efinitions and Classification of Intellectual 10-2b Speech and Language 233
Disabilities 206 10-2c Speech and Language Development 234
9-2a Definition 206 10-3 Language Disorders 236
9-2b Classification 208 10-3a Definitions and Classifications of Language
9-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of Intellectual Disorders 237
Disabilities 209 10-3b Characteristics and Prevalence of Language
9-3a Characteristics Common to Children and Youth Disorders 237
with Intellectual Disabilities 209 10-3c Causes and Risk Factors of Language
Learning Through Social Media E-Buddies 210 Disorders 238
10-3d Identification and Assessment of Language
Reflect on This Eunice Kennedy Shriver: A Celebration
Disorders 239
of an Extraordinary Life Dedicated to People with
Intellectual Disabilities 212 10-3e Interventions and Treatments for Language
Disorders 240
9-3b Prevalence of Intellectual
Disabilities 213 Learning Through Social Media Treating Language
Delays 241
9-4 Causes of Intellectual Disabilities 214
Assistive Technology World-Renowned Astrophysicist
9-4a Genetic Conditions 214
Stephen Hawking’s Use of Assistive Technology 242
9-4b Problems during Pregnancy 215
10-4 Speech Sound Disorders 242
9-4c Problems during Birth 216
10-4a Definitions and Classifications of Speech
9-4d Problems after Birth 216
Sound Disorders 242
9-4e Poverty-Related Deprivation 216
10-4b Characteristics and Prevalence of Speech
9-5 Identification and Assessment of Intellectual Sound Disorders 242
Disabilties 217 10-4c Causes and Risk Factors of Speech
9-6 Interventions and Treatments for Intellectual Sound Disorders 243
Disability 217 10-4d Identification and Assessment of Speech
9-6a Early Childhood Education 218 Sound Disorders 245
9-6b Elementary Education 218 10-4e Interventions and Treatments for Speech
Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with Sound Disorders 245
Intellectual Disabilities 221 Reflect on This Timothy: “I Think I Talk Okay, Don’ You?” 247
9-6c Adolescent Education and Transition Case Study on Embracing Diversity Emilio 247
to Adulthood 223
10-5 Child Onset Fluency Disorder 248
Assistive Technology Assistive Technology for People with 10-5a Definitions and Classifications of Child Onset
Intellectual Disabilities 224 Fluency Disorder 248

x CONTENTS

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
10-5b Characteristics and Prevalence of Child 11-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of Autism
Onset Fluency Disorder 248 Spectrum Disorders 268
10-5c Causes and Risk Factors of Child Onset 11-3a Characteristics of Autism Spectrum
Fluency Disorder 249 Disorders 268
10-5d Identification and Assessment of Child Snapshot Krista: A Girl with Asperger’s Syndrome 269
Onset Fluency Disorder 249 11-3b Other Conditions Associated with Autism
Snapshot Windows to the World: A True Story 250 Spectrum Disorders 271
10-5e Interventions and Treatments for Child Onset 11-3c Unique Strengths 272
Fluency Disorder 251 11-3d Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders 272
10-6 Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 251 Reflect on This Donald T.: First Child Diagnosed with
10-6a Definitions and Classifications of Social Autism 273
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 252 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Identifying Culturally
10-6b Characteristics and Prevalence of Social and Linguistically Diverse Children with ASD 274
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 252
11-4 C
 auses and Risk Factors of Autism Spectrum
10-6c Causes and Risk Factors of Social
Disorders 275
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 253
10-6d Identification and Assessment of Social 11-5 Identification and Assessment of Autism
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 253 Spectrum Disorders 275
10-6e Interventions and Treatments for Social 11-6 Interventions and Treatments for Autism
(Pragmatic) Communication Disorder 254 Spectrum Disorders 276
10-7 Voice and Resonance Disorders 255 11-6a Early Childhood Education 276
10-7a Definitions and Classifications of Voice 11-6b Elementary Education 277
and Resonance Disorders 255 11-6c  Adolescent Education and Transition
10-7b Characteristics and Prevalence of Voice to Adulthood 277
and Resonance Disorders 255 11-6d Evidence-Based Practices 278
10-7c Causes and Risk Factors of Voice Assistive Technology Apps for Autism 280
and Resonance Disorders 256 Learning Through Social Media Assessing and Treating
10-7d Identification and Assessment of Voice ASD 284
and Resonance Disorders 257
Snapshot My Thoughts about the Education of High-
10-7e Interventions and Treatments for Voice
Functioning Individuals with Autism 285
and Resonance Disorders 257
11-6e Psychological and Medical Interventions 286
Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with
Communication Disorders 258 Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) 287
Looking Toward a Bright Future 259
Looking Toward a Bright Future 289
Chapter Review 259
Chapter Review 290
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards to Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards to
Accompany Chapter 10 261 Accompany Chapter 11 291
Mastery Activities and Assignments 261 Mastery Activities and Assignments 291

CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12
Autism Spectrum Disorders 262 Severe and Multiple Disabilities 292
11-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People 12-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People
with Autism Spectrum Disorders 263 with Multiple Disabilities 293
Snapshot Diagnosing “C” 263 Snapshot Sarina 293
11-2 D
 efinitions and Classification of Autism 12-2 D
 efinitions of People with Severe
Spectrum Disorders 265 and Multiple Disabilities 294
11-2a Definitions of Autism Spectrum Disorders 265 12-2a The IDEA Definitions of Multiple Disabilities 295
11-2b Educational Classification of Autism 12-2b  Deaf–Blindness 295
Spectrum Disorders 267 Reflect on This Mat’s Story: Joining the Community 296

CONTENTS xi

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
12-3 Characteristics and Prevalence 296 13-5 Identification and Assessment of Sensory
12-3a Characteristics of Individuals with Severe Disabilities in Children and Youth 331
and Multiple Disabilities 297 13-5a Assessment of Hearing Loss 331
12-3b Prevalence of Multiple Disability 298 13-5b Assessment of Vision Loss 332
12-4 C
 auses and Risk Factors Associated 13-6 Interventions and Treatments for
with Multiple Disabilities 298 Sensory Disabilities from Early Childhood
Through Adulthood 334
12-5 Assessment Procedures Used to Identify Severe
and Multiple Disabilities 299 13-6a Intervention Strategies for Youth Who Are
Deaf or Hard of Hearing 334
12-6 Interventions for Children and Youth
with Multiple Disabilities 299 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Xeeb 336
12-6a The Early Childhood Years 300 Learning Through Social Media Experiences of People
12-6b The Elementary School Years 302 with Sensory Impairments 339
Learning Through Social Media Design Challenge: DIY Reflect on This Motor Skill Development for Young
Assistive Game Controllers 303 Children with Vision Loss 340
12-6c The Adolescent Years 304 13-6b Intervention Strategies for Youth Who
12-6d Inclusive Education 305 Are Blind or Have Low Vision 340
Assistive Technology Meet Ashley 305 Looking Toward a Bright Future 347
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Ernesto 306 Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with
Hearing and/or Vision Loss 348
Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with
Severe and Multiple Disabilities 307 Chapter Review 350

Looking Toward a Bright Future 309 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
to Accompany Chapter 13 353
Chapter Review 309
Mastery Activities and Assignments 353
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
to Accompany Chapter 12 311
CHAPTER 14
Mastery Activities and Assignments 311 Physical Disabilities and Other Health
Disorders 354
CHAPTER 13
Sensory Disabilities: Hearing and Vision 14-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People with Physical
Disabilities and Other Health Disorders 355
Loss 312
Snapshot I Have Cerebral Palsy … It Doesn’t Have Me! 355
Snapshot Tamika Catchings of the WNBA 313
14-2 Cerebral Palsy 356
13-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People
with Sensory Disabilities 314 14-2a Prevalence and Causation 357
14-2b Interventions 357
13-2 D
 efinitions and Classifications of Sensory
Disabilities 315 Learning Through Social Media My Life with Cerebral
13-2a Hearing Loss 315 Palsy: Removing the Fence Around Social Barriers One
13-2b Vision Loss 318 Post at a Time 358

Snapshot Darran 320 Assistive Technology VGo: The Ultimate School-Based


Robot 359
13-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of Sensory
Disabilities 323 14-3 Spina Bifida 360
13-3a Characteristics of Hearing Loss 323 14-3a Prevalence and Causation 361
13-3b Prevalence of Hearing Loss 325 14-3b Interventions 361
13-3c Characteristics of Vision Loss 325 14-4 Spinal Cord Injury 363
13-3d Prevalence of Vision Loss 327 14-4a Prevalence and Causation 363
13-4 C
 auses Associated with Sensory Disabilities 328 14-4b Interventions 363
13-4a Hearing Loss: Causes and Risk Factors 328 Reflect on This What Do You Know About Stem Cells? 364
13-4b Vision Loss: Causes and Risk Factors 330 14-5 Muscular Dystrophy 365

xii CONTENTS

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Assistive Technology From Science Fiction to Reality: Snapshot Natalie: Reflections of a Very Talented
Ekso Exoskeletons 365 Communicator and Community Builder 397
14-5a Prevalence and Causation 366 15-1 A Changing Era in the Lives of People Who
14-5b Interventions 366 Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 398
14-6 H
 uman Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired 15-1a Historical Developments 398
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) 367 Reflect on This An IQ of 228: Is that Possible? 399
14-6a Prevalence and Causation 367
15-2 D
 efinitions and Classifications of People Who
14-6b Interventions 368 Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 401
14-7 Asthma 369 15-3 C
 haracteristics and Prevalence of People Who
14-7a Prevalence and Causation 369 Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 403
14-7b Interventions 370 15-4 C
 auses Associated with People Who
14-8 Seizure Disorders (Epilepsy) 371 Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 406
14-8a Prevalence and Causation 372 Reflect on This Steve Jobs: “I Will Never Forget that
14-8b Interventions 372 Moment.” 408
14-9 Diabetes 373 15-5 Identification and Assessment of People Who
14-9a Prevalence and Causation 374 Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 408
14-9b Interventions 375 15-5a Teacher Nomination 409
Case Study on Embracing Diversity Sarah and the “Pump” 375 15-5b Intelligence and Achievement Tests 409
14-10 Cystic Fibrosis 376 15-5c Creativity Tests 410
14-10a Prevalence and Causation 376 15-6 Interventions and Treatment for People
14-10b Intervention 376 Who Are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 411
14-11 Sickle-Cell Disease 377 15-6a Early Childhood Education 411
14-11a Prevalence and Causation 377 15-6b Elementary Education 411
14-11b Interventions 377 Case Study on Embracing Diversity Don-Wook Shin 412
14-12 Traumatic Brain Injuries 379 Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People Who
14-12a Prevalence and Causation 379 are Gifted, Creative, and Talented 414
14-12b Interventions 380 Learning Through Social Media How Grade Skipping
Reflect on This Reflections from Soldiers 383 Changed Everything 417

Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion People with Assistive Technology Renzulli Learning: Differentiation
Physical Disabilities and Other Health Disorders 387 Engine 418
15-6c Adolescent Education and Transition to
14-13 Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder 389
Adulthood 419
14-13a Prevalence and Causation 391
15-6d Problems and Challenges of Giftedness 420
14-13b Interventions 391
15-6e Historically Neglected Groups 421
14-13c Adolescence and Adulthood 392
Reflect on This What a Colossal Loss! 421
Looking Toward a Bright Future 393
Chapter Review 393 Looking Toward a Bright Future 424

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards Chapter Review 425


to Accompany Chapter 14 395 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards
Mastery Activities and Assignments 395 to Accompany Chapter 15 426
Mastery Activities and Assignments 426
PART 4
References 427
Exceptional Gifts and Talents 396 Author Index  484

CHAPTER 15 Subject Index  494


Gifted, Creative, and Talented 396
CONTENTS xiii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Guide to Selected Text Features

assistive technology reflect on this

The Strategy Tutor   74 A Few Famous People Who Are Differently Abled
Software for Writing   167 (Yet Labeled As Having a Disability)   7
SymTrend ADL Activities for Daily Living   201 One City’s Response to ADA   13
Assistive Technology for People with Intellectual The ADA: 20 Years Later   14
Disabilities  224 What’s My Role on the Multidisciplinary School-
World-Renowned Astrophysicist Stephen Wide Assistance Team?   54
Hawking’s Use of Assistive Technology   242 Meet Ellie and Kari and Their “Education for All”
Apps for Autism   280 Approach to Teaching Math in a High School
Meet Ashley  305 Classroom  81
VGo: The Ultimate School-Based Robot   359 Tips and Strategies for Co-Teaching
From Science Fiction to Reality: Ekso at the Secondary Level   90
Exoskeletons  365 Friday’s Kids Respite   132
Renzulli Learning: Differentiation Engine   418 Redefining Learning Disabilities Using a Response
to Intervention Model   153
Dyslexia: Searching for Causes   156
Henry: Wraparound  200
Case Study on Embracing Diversity
Eunice Kennedy Shriver: A Celebration of an
Extraordinary Life Dedicated to People with
Keani  21 Intellectual Disabilities  212
Yasmeen  42 Timothy: “I Think I Talk Okay, Don’ You?”   247
Ricardo  66 Donald T.: First Child Diagnosed with
Loquisha  83 Autism  273
Ana  117 Mat’s Story: Joining the Community   296
Halgan  133 Motor Skill Development for Young Children with
Alice Revisited  170 Vision Loss  340
Leon  192 What Do You Know About Stem Cells?   364
Lucy  226 Reflections from Soldiers   383
Emilio  247 An IQ of 228: Is that Possible?   399
Identifying Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Steve Jobs: “I Will Never Forget that
Children with ASD   274 Moment.”  408
Ernesto  306 What a Colossal Loss!   421
Xeeb  336
Sarah and the “Pump”   375
Don-Wook Shin  412

xiv

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
learning through
social media SNAPSHOT

“Spread the Word to End the Word!”   8 "Disabled or Differently Abled"  3


10 Helpful and Compassionate Comments Heard Tara and Her 8 Tips for New Special Education
at an IEP Meeting  33 Teachers  25
Is There a Role for Social Media in Special Matt  49
Education?  56 Yvonne: The Early Childhood Years   57
Reflections on Inclusive Education and Parent Living with NO Boundaries: Meet Hector   79
Involvement at the Secondary Level   86 José  95
Edutopia on Culturally Responsive Teela  123
Teaching  106 Autism in the Family   130
Shasta Kearns Moore   127 Mathew  149
Teen Use of Social Media on the Rise   166 Alice  164
Bring Change 2 Mind   182 Jennifer and Linea   177
E-Buddies  210 Actress Lauren Potter   205
Treating Language Delays   241 Trinity  231
Assessing and Treating ASD   284 Windows to the World: A True Story   250
Design Challenge: DIY Assistive Game Diagnosing “C”  263
Controllers  303 Krista: A Girl with Asperger’s Syndrome   269
Experiences of People with Sensory My Thoughts about the Education of High-
Impairments  339 Functioning Individuals with Autism   285
My Life with Cerebral Palsy: Removing the Sarina  293
Fence Around Social Barriers One Post at a Tamika Catchings of the WNBA   313
Time  358
Darran  320
How Grade Skipping Changed Everything   417
I Have Cerebral Palsy … It Doesn’t Have Me!   355
Natalie: Reflections of a Very Talented
Communicator and Community Builder   397
Community Support
for Lifelong Inclusion

People with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders


(EBD)  196
People with Intellectual Disabilities   221
People with Communication Disorders   258
People with Autism Spectrum Disorders
(ASD)  287
People with Severe and Multiple Disabilities   307
People with Hearing and/or Visual Loss   348
People with Physical Disabilities and Other Health
Disorders  387
People Who are Gifted, Creative, and
Talented  414

GUIDE TO SELEC TED TE X T FE ATURES xv

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
About the Authors
MICHAEL L. HARDMAN is Distin- M. WINSTON EGAN is professor
guished Professor of Special Edu- emeritus and served as the chair of
cation and Chief Global Officer at the Teacher Education Department
the University of Utah. He served at the David O. McKay School of Ed-
as the University’s Interim Senior ucation, Brigham Young University.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Egan has taught children of all
(Chief Academic Officer) in 2012–2013 and was previously ages, preschool through high school. He began his special
Dean of the College of Education (2007–2012). Dr. Hardman education career at Utah Boys Ranch. His writings appear in
has numerous experiences within education and public pol- Behavior Disorders, Journal of Teacher Education, Teacher
icy, including appointment as Trustee of the Ensign College Education and Special Education, American Journal of Dis-
of Public Health, Ghana, West Africa; Matthew J. Guglielmo tance Education, Journal of Special Education, Rural Spe-
Endowed Chair at California State University, Los Angeles; cial Education Quarterly, and Teaching and Teacher Educa-
Visiting Senior Scholar at Cambridge University; Senior Ed- tion. He has been honored with several university teaching
ucation Advisor and Kennedy Fellow, the Joseph P. Kennedy, awards including Professor of the Year, Blue Key National
Jr. Foundation; Legislative Staff to the United States Senate; Honor Society, Brigham Young University; and Excellence in
the Governor’s Representative to the California Advisory Teaching Award, College of Education, University of Utah.
Commission on Special Education; University Coordinator He has also been honored as an associate for the National
for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Com- Network for Education Renewal (NNER). His interests in-
munity of Caring; President of the Higher Education Con- clude youth development, teacher socialization, education
sortium for Special Education; and a member of the board for democracy, and emotional/behavioral disorders.
of directors for several international organizations. He has
directed or consulted on several international projects on
school improvement for USAID (Bosnia-Herzegovina), the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development CLIFFORD J. DREW is professor
(France and Italy), UNICEF (Zanzibar and Tanzania), and emeritus of special education and
the government of Scotland. educational psychology at the Uni-
Dr. Hardman has published widely in national and inter- versity of Utah since 1971, and was
national journals in the field of education and has authored a faculty member at the University
ten college textbooks of which two, Human Exceptionality of Texas at Austin and Kent State
and Intellectual Disabilities Through the Lifespan, are in University prior to coming to Utah. He has also served as
their 12th and 9th editions, respectively. As a researcher, associate dean for research and outreach in the College of
he has directed numerous national and international dem- Education, and as director of academic outreach and con-
onstration projects in the areas of educational policy and tinuing education at the University of Utah. He received his
reform, teacher quality and professional development, master’s degree from the University of Illinois and his PhD
inclusive education, and preparing tomorrow’s leaders in from the University of Oregon. He has published numerous
education. articles in education and related areas including intellectual
disabilities, research design, statistics, diagnostic assess-
ment, cognition, evaluation related to the law, and informa-
tion technology. His most recent book is Adolescent Online
Social Communication and Behavior (IGI Global, 2010). His
professional interests include research methods in educa-
tion and psychology, human development and disabilities,
applications of information technology, and outreach in
higher education.

xvii

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
JAYNE MCGUIRE is an associate professor of Recreation GORDON S. GIBB is associate professor of special education
Administration at Humboldt State University. She teaches at Brigham Young University and serves as coordinator of
courses in the Recreation Administration, Special Educa- undergraduate special education. Dr. Gibb taught students
tion, and College Faculty Preparation programs. Dr. McGuire with mild/moderate disabilities for 16 years while earning
is passionate about inclusion in the classroom and in the his master’s of education at Brigham Young University and
community. During her career, she has as served as a high doctoral degree at the University of Utah. As a teacher educa-
school special education teacher, a therapeutic recreation tor, Dr. Gibb focuses on effective reading and math instruc-
specialist, an executive director of an accessible adventure tion for students with learning disabilities and students for
organization, a Special Olympics coach and researcher, and whom English is a second language. His research includes
an assistant professor of special education. Dr. McGuire has Tier 2 elementary reading instruction, first-generation im-
published articles, book chapters, and presented nationally migrant parent and student knowledge and understanding
and internationally on inclusion of people who experience learning disabilities, and the IEP process. He has authored
disability, universal design for learning, and self-determi- and co-authored peer-reviewed publications, books, and
nation. She is actively involved with faculty development at book chapters that address effective classroom practice, par-
Humboldt State University and regularly collaborates with ent understanding of special education, and the IEP process.
the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the College of eLearn-
ing and Extended Education, and the Student Disability Re-
source Center. Dr. McGuire was honored as the 2009 recipient
for Outstanding Faculty Award through the Humboldt State CAROL HAWKINS SOLOMON is the manager of TESOL K–12
University Student Disability Resource Center. teaching minor in the David O. McKay School of Education at
Brigham Young University. She also coordinates a national
professional development grant focused on the preparation
of in-service and preservice teachers to support the academic
TINA TAYLOR DYCHES is a professor of special education language and content development of emergent bilingual
at Brigham Young University and serves as an associate learners in public schools. She earned her master’s and under-
dean in the David O. McKay School of Education. Dr. Dyches graduate degrees at Western Oregon State College and Brigham
earned her doctoral, master’s, and undergraduate degrees at Young University. She also earned a K–12 administrator/
Illinois State University, Utah State University, and Brigham superintendent certification from Portland State University.
Young University, respectively. She has worked with indi- Her professional experience includes 23 years in these roles:
viduals with disabilities and their families for 30 years as a special education teacher and district coordinator, Title 1A
special educator, consultant, professor, and administrator, teacher and district coordinator, ESL district coordinator, and
and has received numerous awards including the Council elementary principal. For four years, she also served as an
for Exceptional Children’s Burton Blatt Humanitarian Award adjunct professor and grant coordinator in the Counseling
and the Autism Society of America’s Autism Professional of Psychology and Special Education Department at Brigham
the Year Award. Her academic interests include adaptation of Young University. Her professional life has been shaped pro-
families raising children with disabilities, children’s litera- foundly by experiences with family members with disabilities
ture that includes characters with disabilities, multicultural and diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
issues affecting children with autism and their families, and
provision of appropriate services to students with disabili-
ties. She has published over 70 book chapters and refereed
articles and has made over 190 professional presentations on
topics related to individuals with disabilities. Dr. Dyches has
co-authored several books, the most recent of which is IEPs:
Writing Quality Individualized Education Programs (2015).

xviii ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Preface
The realization that we are all basically the same human beings, who seek happiness
and try to avoid suffering, is very helpful in developing a sense of brotherhood and
sisterhood; a warm feeling of love and compassion for others.

— Dalai Lama

Welcome to Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and About This Edition


Family! In this, our new 12th edition, we are very pleased to
Organization
continue as a member of the Cengage Learning family. As
We have thoughtfully listened to the needs of our current
authors in a partnership with Cengage Learning, we fully
adopters, the university instructors, and most importantly,
agree with our publisher’s mantra that “engagement is the
you—the students who use our book. In doing so, we have
foundation of learning … engagement is at our core and our
organized our book into 15 chapters to easily coordinate
focus is on engaging with learners, both in the classroom
with a 15-week semester, a common time frame for many
and beyond, to ensure the most effective product design,
university and college courses. Additionally, this book is
learning solutions, and personalized services—all to help
organized into four parts that can be taught easily within a
people learn.”
10-week period, with each part addressed over a two-week
In doing so, our goal in writing this new edition is to
period, which better accommodates universities or colleges
provide you, our readers, with a textbook that is current,
that follow a quarter system.
informative, relevant, user-friendly, and meaningful in both
The four parts reflect the major themes of the book. In
your professional and personal life—a book that rises to the
Part 1, we begin with a focus on understanding exception-
Cengage vision of fostering academic excellence and profes-
ality through the lifespan. Also, we examine exceptionality
sional development, as well as providing measurable and
from the perspectives of many different disciplines. Part 2
meaning ful learning outcomes to you, the readers.
looks into the meaning of diversity and the role of family and
For some of you, this book is the beginning of your jour-
is followed by Part 3, a study of individuals who are identi-
ney into the lives of people who are exceptional, their fami-
fied as exceptional. Our new edition concludes with Part 4,
lies, and the schools and communities in which they live.
an in-depth discussion on people with exceptional gifts and
This text is first and foremost about people—people with
talents. In responding to the needs and desires of our audi-
many different needs, desires, characteristics, challenges,
ence of students and adopters who are currently using this
and lifestyles—people who for one reason or another are de-
text, as well as those who are considering adopting it for
scribed as exceptional. What does the word exceptional mean
future use, we have completely rewritten and updated three
to you? For that matter, what do the words disabled, chal-
chapters in Parts 2 and 3: “Cultural and Linguistic Diversity”
lenged, or different mean to you? Who or what influenced
(Chapter 5), “Learning Disabilities” (Chapter 7), and “Autism
your knowledge and attitudes toward people with differing
Spectrum Disorders” (Chapter 11).
abilities and the labels we often use to describe them? You
are most influenced by your life experiences. You may have New and Updated Features
a family member, friend, or casual acquaintance who is ex-
●● In this edition, you will find that each chapter begins
ceptional. It may be that you are a person who is exceptional
with the heading “A Changing Era in the Lives of People
in some way. Then again, you may be approaching a study of
Who Are Exceptional” and concludes with “Looking
human exceptionality with little or no background. In read-
Toward a Bright Future.” The narratives within these
ing and interacting with this book, we believe you will find
headings begin and end each chapter on a positive note
that the study of human exceptionality is the study of being
on the past, present, and future, while acknowledging
human. Perhaps you will come to understand yourself better
the challenges that people with differences face and
in the process. As suggested by the novelist Louis Bromfield,
will continue to encounter in the years to come.
There is a rhythm in life, a certain beauty which operates ●● The feature, Learning through Social Media, intro-
by a variation of lights and shadows, happiness alternat- duced in the 11th edition, is updated this edition to
ing with sorrow, content with discontent, distilling in this reflect the ever-increasing and changing use of social
process of contrast a sense of satisfaction, of richness media in the 21st century. Social media on the Inter-
that can be captured and pinned down only by those who net, which began more as a personal convenience, is
possess the gift of awareness. moving rapidly into the realm of a necessity in every

xix

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
student’s learning experience. In this new edition, 12th edition of Human Exceptionality provides the
many of the chapters highlight new and updated on- most current sources available on the lives of people
line blogs and social media sites by and for people who who are exceptional.
are exceptional, the purpose of which is to use this
ever-changing technology to promote greater inclu- Pedagogical Features and Student
sion in schools, families, and communities. Learning System
In addition to providing you with current and informative
●● The features that have been so popular with our read-
content, we are committed to making your experience with
ers in past editions, including Reflect on This, Case
this textbook, interesting, enjoyable, and productive. To
Study on Embracing Diversity, and Assistive Technol-
this end, each chapter in this 12th edition contains new
ogy, continue to appear in the 12th edition. Many of
and continuing features that will significantly enhance your
these have been updated and expanded to provide the
desire to learn more about human exceptionality.
most accurate and current information available in
both the professional literature and the popular press. Learning Objectives and Chapter Review
●● We continue to update and expand our unique topical At the beginning of each chapter, we have provided tools
coverage of multidisciplinary and collaborative ap- to assist you in locating and more effectively learning and
proaches to education, health care, and social services retaining key content. A set of learning objectives opens
with the Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion each chapter and serves as an advanced organizer for your
feature (formerly Inclusion and Collaboration through reading. Learning objectives are directly linked to first-
the Lifespan) that you’ll find in Chapters 7 through order headings within the chapter narrative. For example,
15. The change in this feature’s title is reflective of Learning Objective 4-3 at the beginning of Chapter 4 reads:
the increasing emphasis on the important role the en- ●● Identify the purpose of person-centered transition
tire community plays in supporting social and aca- planning and the basic steps in its formulation.
demic inclusion throughout the life of a person who
The first-order heading that corresponds with Learning
is exceptional.
Objective 4-3 can easily be found in chapter narrative
●● The content of this new 12th edition corresponds with since it has the same numbering (4-3) as its corresponding
the 2012 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Stan- learning objective.
dards as highlighted in the margin icons within every Each chapter concludes with a Chapter Review that re-
chapter. The Standards Correlation Chart at the end iterates the chapter’s learning objectives, summarizing key
of the book details where specific standards are ad- concepts and content.
dressed in the book.
●● MindTap for Education is a first-
of-its-kind digital solution with
an integrated e-portfolio that pre-
pares teachers by providing them
with the knowledge, skills, and
competencies they must demon-
strate to earn an education degree
and state licensure, and to begin
a successful career. Through ac-
tivities based on real-life teach-
ing situations, MindTap elevates
students’ thinking by giving them
experiences in applying concepts,
practicing skills, and evaluating
decisions, guiding them to become
reflective educators.
●● We are also very proud of the
fact that the 12th edition con-
tains nearly 1,200 citations from
sources that have been published
within the last decade and many
of which have been published
within the last two years. As authors, we are very
comfortable in saying to you, our readers, that the

xx PREFACE

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Snapshot
Snapshot features are personal insights into the lives of
real people. These insights may come from teachers, fam-
ily members, friends, peers, and professionals, as well as
from people who are exceptional. Each chapter in the
12th edition opens with a narrative Snapshot of people
who are exceptional, their family members, or teachers. We
believe you will find Snapshots to be one of the most enrich-
ing aspects of your introduction to human exceptionality.
For example, you’ll learn about:
●● Tara Hillegas’s eight tips for new Special Education
Teachers (Chapter 2)
●● Jennifer and Linea and their unique mental health
challenges (Chapter 8)
●● Actress Lauren Potter from TV’s Glee (Chapter 9)
●● Trinity, a 7th grader with a fluency disorder (Chapter 10)
●● Diagnosing “C”, a mother’s reflection on her son being
diagnosed with autism (Chapter 11)
●● Sarina’s experiences in her neighborhood junior high
school (Chapter 12)

Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion


Another updated feature in this edition with a new title is
Community Support for Lifelong Inclusion. This feature pro-
vides helpful information on ways to interact with, include,
communicate with, or teach people who are exceptional
across a variety of settings (home, school, and community)
and age spans (early childhood through the adult years). We
hope these ideas will provide motivation for further think-
ing about ways to fully include these individuals as family
members, school peers, friends, or neighbors, as well as col-
laborate with other professionals concerned with improving
the lives of people who are exceptional.

Reflect on This
Every chapter includes one or more Reflect on This boxes.
Each box highlights additional interesting and relevant in-
formation beyond the chapter narrative that will add to your
learning and enjoyment of the topic, such as:
●● “What’s My Role on the Multidisciplinary School-Wide
Assistance Team?” (Chapter 3)
●● “Redefining Learning Disabilities Using a Response
to Intervention Model” (Chapter 7)

PREFACE xxi

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Assistive Technology
The 12th edition offers new information on the expanding
use of technology for people who are exceptional. Assis-
tive Technology features highlight important innovations
in computers, biomedical engineering, and instructional
systems. The following are examples of Assistive Technol-
ogy features:
●● “Assistive Technology for People with Intellectual
Disabilities” (Chapter 9)
●● “Apps for Autism” (Chapter 11)
●● “VGo: The Ultimate School-Based Robot” (Chapter 14)
●● “From Science Fiction to Reality: Ekso Exoskeletons”
(Chapter 14)
●● “Renzulli Learning: Differentiation Engine” (Chapter 15)

Case Study on Embracing Diversity


Each chapter includes a Case Study on Embracing Diversity
feature, which is an in-depth look at a personal story of ex-
ceptionality. Each Case Study on Embracing Diversity also
includes Application Questions to extend your knowledge
and apply what you learned from each vignette. You’ll find
a variety of stories, such as:
●● Ana, a first-grader from an impoverished and abusive
home environment where English language usage is
limited (Chapter 5)
●● Ten-year-old Leon’s challenging day as a boy with
emotional/behavioral disorders (Chapter 8)
●● Culturally and linguistically diverse children with
ASD (Chapter 11)
●● Xeeb, an 8-year-old Hmong boy with a hearing loss
(Chapter 13)

Learning through Social Media


The Learning through Social Media boxes provide interest-
ing and informative online blogs and social media sites by
and for people who are exceptional, and the use of this tech-
nology to promote inclusion in school, family, and society.
Examples of Learning through Social Media boxes include:
●● “10 Helpful and Compassionate Comments Heard at
an IEP Meeting” (Chapter 2)
●● “Edutopia on Culturally Responsive Teaching” (Chapter 5)
●● “Bring Change 2 Mind” (Chapter 8)
●● “Design Challenge: DIY Assistive Game Controllers”
(Chapter 12)
●● “Experiences of People with Sensory Impairments”
(Chapter 13)
●● “My Life With Cerebral Palsy: Removing the Fence
around Social Barriers One Post at a Time” (Chapter 14)

End-of-Chapter Features
In addition to the Chapter Review mentioned earlier, other
end-of-chapter features include a list of Council for Excep-
tional Children standards (updated in 2012) addressed in
the chapter and Mastery Activities and Assignments.

xxii PREFACE

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Supplement Package ●● Applying concepts through mini-case scenarios—
students analyze typical teaching and learning situ-
MindTap™: The Personal Learning ations, and then create a reasoned response to the
Experience issue(s) presented in the scenario; and
MindTap for Hardman/Egan/Drew, Human Exceptionality: ●● Reflecting about and justifying the choices they made
School, Community, and Family, 12th edition, represents a within the teaching scenario problem.
new approach to teaching and learning. A highly person-
MindTap helps instructors facilitate better outcomes by
alized, fully customizable learning platform with an inte-
evaluating how future teachers plan and teach lessons in
grated e-portfolio, MindTap helps students elevate thinking
ways that make content clear and help diverse students
by guiding them to:
learn, assessing the effectiveness of their teaching prac-
●● Know, remember, and understand concepts critical to tice, and adjusting teaching as needed. MindTap enables
becoming great teachers; instructors to facilitate better outcomes by:
●● Apply concepts, create curriculum and tools, and dem- ●● Making grades visible in real time through the Student
onstrate performance and competency in key areas Progress App so students and instructors always have
in the course, including national and state education access to current standings in the class.
standards;
●● Using the Outcome Library to embed national edu-
●● Prepare artifacts for the portfolio and eventual state cation standards and align them to student learning
licensure, to launch a successful teaching career; and activities, and also allowing instructors to add their
●● Develop the habits to become reflective practitioners. state’s standards or any other desired outcome.
As students move through each chapter’s Learning Path, ●● Allowing instructors to generate reports on students’
they engage in a scaffolded learning experience, designed performance with the click of a mouse against any
to move them up Bloom’s taxonomy, from lower- to higher- standards or outcomes that are in their MindTap
order thinking skills. The Learning Path enables preservice course.
students to develop these skills and gain confidence by: ●● Giving instructors the ability to assess students on
●● Engaging them with chapter topics and activating state standards or other local outcomes by editing
their prior knowledge by watching and answering existing or creating their own MindTap activities,
questions about authentic videos of teachers teach- and then by aligning those activities to any state or
ing and children learning in real classrooms; other outcomes that the instructor has added to the
●● Checking their comprehension and understand- MindTap Outcome Library.
ing through Did You Get It? assessments, with var- MindTap for Hardman/Egan/Drew, Human Exceptional-
ied question types that are autograded for instant ity: School, Community, and Family, 12th edition, helps
feedback; instructors easily set their course because it integrates
into the existing Learning Management System and saves
instructors time by allowing them to fully customize any
aspect of the learning path. Instructors can
MindTap Moves change the order of the student learning ac-
Students Up Create tivities, hide activities they don’t want for
Bloom’s Revised the course, and—most importantly—create
Taxonomy custom assessments and add any standards,
Evaluate outcomes, or content they do want (e.g., You-
Tube videos, Google docs). Learn more at www
.cengage.com/mindtap.
Analyze
Online Instructor’s Manual with
Test Bank
Apply An online Instructor’s Manual accompanies
this book. It contains information to assist
instructors in designing the course, including
Understand sample syllabi, discussion questions, teach-
ing and learning activities, field experiences,
learning objectives, and additional online re-
Remember & Know sources. For assessment support, the updated
test bank includes true/false, multiple-choice,
Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and matching, short-answer, and essay questions
assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman. for each chapter.

PREFACE xxiii

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
PowerPoint Lecture Slides Dyches, Gordon S. Gibb, and Carol Hawkins Solomon from
These vibrant Microsoft PowerPoint lecture slides for each Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, for their major
chapter assist you with your lecture by providing concept contributions to this new edition.
coverage using images, figures, and tables directly from As authors, we are certainly grateful for the commitment
the textbook. and expertise of the Cengage editorial and production team
in bringing to fruition the highest-quality text possible.
Cognero This team has sought to consistently improve the readabil-
Cengage Learning Testing Powered by Cognero is a flexible ity, utility, and appearance of this book. We want to thank
online system that allows you to author, edit, and manage Senior Product Manager Mark D. Kerr. This is our second
test bank content from multiple Cengage Learning solutions; opportunity to work with Mark and we appreciate his vision,
create multiple test versions in an instant; and deliver tests insights, and patience with us while consistently supporting
from your LMS, your classroom, or wherever you want. this text and its enhanced narrative and features.
A very special thank you to Julia White, associate con-
Acknowledgments tent developer, who provided invaluable and substantive
We begin with a very big thank you to our colleagues from insight into both the content and writing style of the new
across the country and around the world who provided such edition. Julia kept us focused and on track, attending not
in-depth and constructive feedback on the 11th edition of only to the quality of the content but also ensuring that
Human Exceptionality, including the following: the book maintains its strong, user-friendly approach to
instruction. Julia’s attention to detail and in-depth editing
Glenda Baca, Montgomery College of the manuscript has been critical in presenting a new edi-
Deborah Anne Banker, Angelo State University tion of which we are all very proud. Thanks also to Joshua
Richard Carney, Community College of Allegheny County Taylor, associate content vendor services manager, for co-
Katherine Ellis-Donner, Erie Community College ordinating the supplements. Our thanks to Jill Traut, project
Daniella Errett, Pennsylvania Highlands Community manager for MPS, for her patience and expertise in leading
College the process for reviewing the copyedited pages, as well as
Cheryl Every-Wurtz, Suffolk County Community College the final page proofs for this text. The photo researcher for
Peter Griswold, William Paterson University this book, Manojkiran Chander, did an outstanding job of
Laura Lane-Worley, Lee College locating photos that brought to life the text’s printed word.
Alfred Longo, Ocean County College Under Manojkiran’s direction, we have included the most
Victoria Page-Voth, University of Maryland recent photographs from general education classes, includ-
Stacey Pistorova, Terra State Community College ing school systems throughout the country that work with
Edward Schultz, Midwestern State University the inclusion model, and current photos of families with
Joan Silver, St. Joseph’s College children and adults with disabilities.
Brenda-Jean Tyler, Radford University To those professors who have chosen this book for adop-
Barbara Wilson, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania tion, and to those students who will be using this book as
Special thanks to the people with disabilities and their fami- their first information source on people with differences,
lies who participated in the Snapshot, Case Study on Em- we hope our 12th edition of Human Exceptionality meets
bracing Diversity, and Assistive Technology features for this your expectations.
book. These are the people who make up the heart of what A loving thank you to our families who have always
this book is all about. Throughout the writing and produc- been there during the past three decades of writing and
tion of this book, they made us keenly aware that this book rewriting this text. We have strived “oh so hard” to produce
is first and foremost about people. a book of which you can be proud.
We are very proud that four outstanding author contribu-
tors are joining us for this new 12th edition. Our deep grati- Michael L. Hardman
tude to chapter contributors Jayne McGuire from Humboldt M. Winston Egan
State University in northern California, and Tina Taylor Clifford J. Drew

xxiv PREFACE

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Human twelfth edition

Exceptionality
School, Community, AND Family

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Part 1 ● Through the Lifespan
CHAPTER 1

Understanding Exceptionalities
in the 21st Century

Jim West/Alamy
Learning Objectives
After you complete this chapter, you will be able to:
1-1 Describe why we continue to label of inclusion and support in the
people even when we know it may 21st century.
have a negative effect on an
1-4 Identify the catalyst, effects, and
individual.
provisions of the Americans with
1-2 Identify three approaches to describe Disabilities Act.
human differences.
1-5 Describe the role of health care,
1-3 Explain how societal views on people psychology, and social services
with disabilities changed from professionals in meeting the needs
widespread discrimination to an era of people with disabilities.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
snapshot "Disabled or Differently Abled"

A Blog by Joe Dolson capability to perform tasks. Some


Many of those who could be consid- people are impaired when it comes to
ered disabled would not choose to self- math; others, art. Some people don’t
identify as disabled. Disability is a la- run very fast; others can’t walk. These
bel, and like any label, the members of disabilities will always affect one’s
the labeled group are diverse and may life. The degree to which disability
exhibit the label in unexpected ways. affects one’s life is highly variable.
How many people with color blind- People who are classically considered

Courtesy of Joseph Dolson


ness self-identify as disabled? How disabled tend to have limitations that
many people with children in stroll- are severe enough to affect their life
ers are unable to climb stairs with every day.
their child—would they self-identify What is commonly called “nor-
as disabled? How many left-handed mal” is truly just an abstract con-
people struggle with right-handed clarifying indicators. Some people cept that we apply to our personal
scissors? Is this disability? An issue may be able to carry their children experience: Whether by attributing it
may appear trivial, but that makes and stroller up the stairs; others may to ourselves or to others, it is rela-
the problem no less frustrating when not. An elevator, moving walkway, tive to our own perceptions and our
encountered. or escalator platform can resolve the environments.
problem. Some left-handed people can The Web has a great power to
What Is Disability? successfully switch to the right hand, reduce that effect. It’s commonly re-
Disability, at some level, affects ev- or at least can manipulate right- marked that people behave differ-
ery part of our day-to-day existence. handed scissors in such a manner as ently on the Web. This is because
Disability is nothing more than an to successfully cut paper—but can the Web divorces them from their
inability to make use of a particular many switch hands to write a letter? mundane routine—and this is true
resource as it is presented to you. This Physical strength or handedness for everybody. On the Web, with a
is how disability is particularly dif- is not classically considered a disabil- well-designed and accessible web-
ferentiated from usability: With dis- ity, but there can be no question that site, people with disabilities such
ability, you cannot use the resource they affect one’s ability to accomplish as cerebral palsy, sight impairment,
on your own. If a resource has poor certain tasks. or hearing impairment can have an
usability, you are able to use it, albeit experience fundamentally equal
with difficulty. But Some People Really to the experience of the so-called
This is why disability is not an Are “Normal” “normal” user.
absolute. Disability only prevents Oh, yes, of course. I mean, I’m normal. In any context, people with a dis-
you from using tools if alternatives But you? Well, I have some doubts. ability are disabled not because of an
are not made available to you in a I mean, there are tons of things inherent inability to compensate, but
manner that you are able to use. The that I can do that you can’t. Doesn’t because they are in an environment
blind can “see” if an object or action that mean you’re disabled? No? It just that requires tasks they are unable
is described well enough. means that you have a different set of to perform. If we change the environ-
The previous examples are situa- abilities than I do. Or, alternatively, a ment, we can remove the disability.
tions that may only disable the person different set of disabilities. Neither of
SOURCE: From Dolson, Joe. 2011. “Leveling the Playing
in certain circumstances. People with us is necessarily disabled; but we
Field: We’re All Differently Abled.” Retrieved August 2,
color blindness are disabled when a are “differently abled.” 2011, from http://accessites.org/site/2009/03/leveling
circumstance requires them to distin- That’s right…I forgot. Everybody -the-playing-field-were-all-differently-abled/. Text and
guish red from green with no other has a different and independent photo Copyright © Joe Dolson. Reprinted by permission.

Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
A Changing Era in the Lives of People
with Disabilities
In our opening Snapshot, Joe Dolson, an Internet accessibility consultant, emphasizes the
point that “disability is not an absolute.” Yet, for good or bad, labeling is the fundamental
way society chooses to describe human difference. The purpose of a label is to communicate
specific differences in people who vary significantly from what is considered “typical or
normal.” Sociologists use labels to describe people who do not follow society’s expectations
(e.g., sociopath); educators and psychologists use labels to identify and provide services
for students with learning, physical, and behavioral differences (e.g., autistic); and physi-
cians use labels to distinguish the sick from the healthy (e.g., diabetic). Governments label
people to identify who is eligible for, or entitled to, publicly funded services and supports
Disorder (e.g., disabled).
A disturbance in normal function-
ing (mental, physical, or
psychological).
Impairment 1-1 Why Label People?
A state of being diminished, weak-
ened, or damaged, especially We use many labels, including disorder, impairment, disability, and handicap, to describe
mentally or physically. people who are different. These terms are not synonymous. Disorder, the broadest of the
Disability three terms, refers to a general abnormality in mental, physical, or psychological function-
A condition resulting from a loss of ing. Impairment goes one step further to indicate that the disorder creates a barrier to
physical functioning; or, difficulties typical functioning. A disability is more specific than an impairment and is associated
in learning and social adjustment
with a loss of physical functioning (e.g., loss of sight, hearing, or mobility), or a challenge
that significantly interfere with
normal growth and development. in learning and social adjustment that significantly interferes with typical growth and
development. A handicap is a limitation imposed on an individual by demands in the en-
Handicap
A limitation imposed on a person vironment and is related to the individual’s ability to adapt or adjust to those demands. For
by the environment and the example, Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, used a wheelchair
person’s capacity to cope with that because of a physical disability—the inability to walk—that resulted from having polio as
limitation. a child. He used a wheelchair to move from place to place. When the environment didn’t
Exceptional accommodate his wheelchair (such as a building without ramps that was accessible only
An individual whose physical, by stairs), his disability created a handicap. Historically, handicap has taken on a very
mental, or behavioral performance negative connotation and is seldom used in today’s society. The word handicapped literally
deviates so substantially from the
means “cap in hand”; it originates from a time when people with disabilities were forced to
average (higher or lower) that addi-
tional support is required to meet beg in the streets merely to survive. For President Roosevelt, his advisers took great pains
the individual’s needs. to disavow his “handicap” because many people in the 1930s and 1940s viewed it as a sign
Gifts and talents of weakness. However, there is hope that such negative attitudes are changing in the United
Extraordinary abilities in one or States today. The national monument in Washington, D.C. that honors President Roosevelt
more areas. includes a life-size bronze statue of him sitting in a wheelchair.
Learning disabilities Exceptional is a comprehensive label. It describes an individual whose physical, intel-
A condition in which one or more lectual, or behavioral performance differs substantially from what is typical (or normal),
of an individual’s basic psychologi- either higher or lower. People described as exceptional include those with extraordinary
cal processes in understanding or abilities (such as gifts and talents) and/or disabilities (such as learning disabilities or
using language are deficient.
intellectual disabilities). People who are exceptional, whether gifted, disabled, or both,
Intellectual disabilities benefit from individualized assistance, support, or accommodations in school and com-
Substantial limitations in function- munity settings.
ing, characterized by significantly
subaverage intellectual functioning Labels are only rough approximations of characteristics. Some labels, such as deaf,
concurrent with related limitations might describe a permanent characteristic—loss of hearing; others, such as overweight,
in two or more adaptive skills. Intel- describe what is often a temporary condition. Some labels are positive, and others are
lectual disability is manifested prior negative. Labels communicate whether a person meets the expectations of the culture.
to age 18. A given culture establishes criteria that are easily exceeded by some but are unreach-
Deaf able for others. For example, one society may value creativity, innovation, and imagi-
Individuals who have hearing nation, and will reward those who have such attributes with positive labels, such as
losses greater than 75 to 80 dB,
bright, intelligent, or gifted. Another society, however, may brand anyone whose ideas
have vision as their primary input,
and cannot understand speech significantly exceed the limits of conformity with negative labels, such as radical,
through the ear. extremist, or rebel.

4 CHAP TER 1  U n d e r s ta n d i n g E xce p t i o n a l i t i e s i n t h e 21s t C e n t u ry

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Moreover, the same label may have different meanings within a culture. Let’s take the
example of Ellen who is labeled by her high school teachers as a high achiever because
she always follows the rules and produces quality work. From the teachers’ point of view,
this is a positive characteristic, but to Ellen’s peer group, it could be negative. She may be
described by her high school classmates as an overachiever or teacher’s pet.
As emphasized in our opening Snapshot, labels are not absolutes and are often based
on perception and not fact. As such, what are the possible consequences of using labels to
describe people? Although labels have always been the basis for developing and provid-
Standard 6
ing services to people, they have also promoted stereotyping, discrimination, and exclu-
Professional Learning and
sion. Some researchers suggest that the practice of labeling people has perpetuated and Ethical Practice
reinforced both the label and the stereotypical behaviors associated with it (Hardman &
McDonnell, 2008; Mooney, 2007; Shifrer, 2013).
If labels may have negative consequences, why is labeling used so extensively? One
reason is that many social services and educational programs for people who are excep-
tional require the use of labels to distinguish who is eligible for services and who is not.
Discussing the need to label students who have special educational needs, Woolfolk (2013)
suggested that labeling may actually help protect a child with learning differences from
a class bully who, knowing the child has an “intellectual disability,” may be more willing
to accept the learning differences. Others (Hardman & McDonnell, 2008; Rose, Swearer,
& Espelage, 2012) argue that labeling a child often has just the opposite effect—the child
becomes more vulnerable to discrimination and abuse.
As Woolfolk suggests, however, the fact remains that being “labeled” in today’s society
still opens doors to special programs, useful information, special technology and equip-
ment, or financial assistance. To illustrate, Antonio, a child with a hearing loss, must be
assessed and labeled as having a “hearing impairment” before specialized educational or
social services can be made available to him in his school. Another reason for the continued
use of labels is the “useful information” they provide to professionals in communicating
effectively with one another; they also provide a common ground for evaluating research
findings. Labeling helps people to identify the specific needs of a particular group of in-
dividuals. Labeling can also help people to determine degrees of needs or to set priorities
for services when societal resources are limited.

1-2 Three Approaches to Understanding Human


Differences
Differences are found in every society. Most people conform to what is expected of them.
Conformity—acting as we are “supposed” to act, or looking the way we are “supposed”
to look—is the rule for most of us, most of the time (Baron, Branscombe, & Byrne, 2008).
Usually, we look the way we are expected to look, behave the way we are expected to be-
have, and learn the way we are expected to learn. When a person differs substantially from
these expectations, three approaches may be used to describe the nature and extent of these
differences (see Figure 1.1).

1-2a A Developmental Approach


To understand human differences, we must first establish the definition of typical devel-
opment or what is often described as “normal.” According to the developmental approach,
typical development can be described by using statistics (and milestones)—that is, ob-
serving in large numbers of individuals those characteristics that occur most frequently
at a specific age. For example, when stating that the average 3-month-old infant is able
to follow a moving object visually, average is a statistical term based on observations of
the behavior of 3-month-old infants. When comparing an individual child’s growth to
that group average, differences in development (either advanced or delayed) are labeled
accordingly.

1-2 THREE APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING HUMAN DIFFERENCES 5

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Figure 1.1 Three Approaches
to Describing Human
Developmental
Differences Approach

© Cengage Learning; Image in U.S. Map Credit: KidStock/Blend Images/Getty Images


Cultural View Self-Labeling

1-2b A Cultural Approach


From a cultural view, “typical” is defined by what any given society values. Whereas
a developmental approach considers only the frequency of behaviors to define differ-
ences, a cultural view suggests that differences can be explained to a large extent by
examining the values inherent within a society. What constitutes a significant difference
changes over time, from culture to culture, and among the various social groups within
a culture. People are considered different when they do something that is not expected
of or valued by other members within the dominant culture. For example, in some cul-
tures, intelligence is described in terms of how well someone scores on a test measuring
a broad range of cognitive abilities; in other cultures, intelligence relates much more to
how skillful someone is at hunting or fishing. The idea that people are the products of
their cultures has received its greatest thrust from anthropology, which emphasizes the
diversity and arbitrary nature of cultural rules regarding dress, eating habits, sexual
behaviors, politics, and religion.

1-2c Self-Labeling
Everyone engages in a process of self-labeling that may not be recognized by others with
whom they interact. Thus, self-imposed labels reflect how we perceive ourselves, not how
others see us. Conversely, a person may be labeled by society as different, but the individual
does not recognize or accept the label. Such was the case with Thomas Edison. In school,
young Thomas Edison was described as “addled,” unable to focus, terrible at mathematics,
a behavior problem, dyslexic, and unable to express himself in a coherent manner (difficulty
with speech). Although the schools imposed many negative labels on young Thomas Edison,
he eventually recognized that he was an individualist, ignored the labels, and pursued his
own interests as an inventor. (See the nearby Reflect on This feature, and take a quiz on
other famous people with disabilities.)

6 CHAP TER 1  U n d e r s ta n d i n g E xce p t i o n a l i t i e s i n t h e 21s t C e n t u ry

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reflect on this

A Few Famous People Who Are Differently Abled


(Yet Labeled As Having a Disability)
Match the Names to the than the use of oral language. His theory of
Descriptions: relativity, which revolutionized modern
___ 1. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic physics, was developed in his spare time.
lateral sclerosis (ALS–Lou Gehrig’s disease) Time magazine named him the most impor-
at the age of 21. He must use a wheelchair tant person of the 20th century.
and have round-the-clock nursing care. His ___ 7. He didn’t learn to read while in school
a. Albert Einstein
speech has been severely affected, and due to severe dyslexia and was unable to
he communicates through a computer finish high school. Today he is regarded
by selecting words from a screen that are as one of most accomplished actors of his
b. Frida Kahlo
expressed through a speech synthesizer. time. Although unable to read early in his
Acknowledged as one of the greatest phys- career, he could memorize his lines from a
icists in history, he developed a theory on cassette tape or someone reading to him.
black holes that provided new insights into He later learned to read as an adult.
the origin of the universe. Currently, he is
c. Stephen Hawking ___8. He is an American stand-up comedian
professor of mathematics at Cambridge Uni-
and television host. From 1992 to 2009 and
versity, a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton.
from 2010 to 2012, he was the host of NBC’s
___ 2. She experienced severe pain and The Tonight Show. He grew up in Andover,
other health conditions as a result of a bus Massachusetts, and has confirmed that he is
crash when she was a teenager. Her artwork dyslexic. Although his high school guidance
d. Whoopi Goldberg is celebrated for its surreal style that was in-
counselor recommended that he drop out
fluenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico. of high school because of his grades, he not
___3. A well-known, tireless humanitarian only graduated but also went on to receive
advocate for children, the homeless, and a bachelor’s degree in speech therapy from
human rights, and also involved in the bat- Emerson College in 1973. He also attended
tles against substance abuse and AIDS, this Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts.
e. R. J. Mitte
Oscar-winning actress and Grammy winner ___9. She is an Academy Award–winning
is a high school dropout with an acknowl- American film actress and former fashion
edged reading disability. model. She became the highest paid actress
___ 4. He is the voice of Darth Vader and the in the world, topping the annual power list
most in-demand narrator in Hollywood. Virtu- of top-earning female stars for four consecu-
f. Tom Cruise
ally mute as a child, he stuttered throughout tive years (2002 to 2005). She acknowledged
most of his youth. With the help of his high that she stuttered when she was child, but
school English teacher, he overcame stutter- with therapy, she now speaks fluidly.
ing by reading Shakespeare aloud to himself
Question for Reflection
and then to audiences. He went on to debat-
ing and finally to stage and screen acting. Select two of these famous people, or an-
g. James Earl Jones other famous person with a disability that
___ 5. He is an actor that strives to enlighten
you know about, and write a short essay on
his audience about disability by selecting
how their disability has had a positive influ-
roles that have depth and reduce stereotypes.
ence on their lives. Can you describe some-
He lives with mild cerebral palsy caused from
one with a disability that you know and how
oxygen deprivation during his birth.
he or she has met the challenges of being a
___ 6. He did not speak until the age of 3. person who is “differently abled”?
h. Jay Leno Even as an adult he found that searching
SOURCE: The original source of the information contained in this
for words was laborious. Schoolwork, es- quiz is unknown.
pecially math, was difficult for him, and he
Photo Credits: Einstein: Topham/The Image Works; Kahlo: Bettmann/Corbis;
was unable to express himself in written Hawking: AP Images/Banks; Goldberg: AP Images/Lisa Bul; Mitte: AP Images
/Richard Shotwell; Cruise: Stephane Cardinale/Sygma/Corbis; Jones: AP
language. He was thought to be “simple- Images/Bob Galbraith; Leno: © Featureflash/Shutterstock.com; Roberts:
© Featureflash/Shutterstock.com
minded” (retarded) until he discovered that Answers: 1(c), 2(b), 3(d), 4(g), 5(e), 6(a), 7(f), 8(h), 9(i)
i. Julia Roberts he could achieve through visualizing rather

1-2 THREE APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING HUMAN DIFFERENCES 7

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
1-2d The Effects of Being Labeled
Reactions to a label differ greatly from one person to another but can often be negative
(Hardman & McDonnell, 2008; Rose, Swearer, & Espelage, 2012; Woolfolk, 2013). In a
study of the reactions of family members, professionals, and the general public to the com-
monly used label mental retardation, researchers found the label generated a more negative
reaction than the more current terminology of “intellectual disabilities” (see Chapter 9)
(Schroeder et al., 2002).

Separating the Person and the Label Once a label has been affixed to an
individual, the two may become inseparable. For example, Becky has been labeled as having
autism. The tendency is to refer to Becky and her condition as one in the same—Becky is
autistic. She is described by a disability label, causing people to lose sight of the fact that she
is first and foremost a person, and that her exceptional characteristics (intellectual and social
differences) are only a small part of who she is as an individual. To treat Becky as a label
rather than someone who is differently abled is discrimination, and an injustice, not only to
Becky, but to everyone else as well.
The use of person-first language, putting the person before the disability, can offset
the potentially hurtful effects of labels. As an example of person-first language, a teacher
could say “this student has a learning disability,” rather than “this is a learning disabled
student.” Snow (2005) emphasizes that inappropriate use of labels perpetuate negative
stereotypes and potentially reinforce attitudinal barriers.

LEARNING THROUGH
SOCIAL MEDIA

“Spread the Word to End the Word!”


A national campaign is under way ending the derogatory use of the “R” By Sydney Neal
to encourage everyone to pledge word. Kudos to you guys for trying to I have a friend named Sierra. She has
to stop using the words retard and make a difference. Down syndrome. Ever since I met Sierra,
retarded. Over 500,000 people have I started realizing how many people
taken the pledge. Here are just a few By Selena Barrows
throw around the R-word like it doesn’t
of the comments made on the site: My little brother has autism. He is very mean anything and like it won’t hurt
low functioning and does not talk and anyone. This seriously needs to stop.
—From R-word.org (Retrieved October 1, 2014,
cannot do basic things you and I can You have a million different words you
from http://www.r-word.org/Stories/Stories
/R-word_Stories.aspx) do. One day a boy called me retarded. could say and you choose the one that
It hurt me because I started thinking of hurts tons of people who are amaz-
what he would call my brother if he were ing and don’t deserve that. I know by
By Fatou Jawara to meet him with no knowledge of his being close to Sierra that those words
I don’t understand why people use the disability. The boy continued to call me hurt. She is not a label; she is a person.
“R” word as a synonym for stupid or any- a retard. After I told the counselor, she It doesn’t matter whether you are just
thing else flawed. It doesn’t make them called him in. It stopped. When I men- joking with a friend or actually calling
sound “cool.” It just makes them igno- tion my brother in conversation, and someone with a mental disability the
rant. These people are completely apa- forget to mention his autism, people R-word. If everyone made this pledge,
thetic. They don’t think about the per- sometimes hesitantly ask if he is dumb. imagine what our world could be.
son who has an intellectual disability or I reply with a simple, “Nope. He has au-
knows someone that has an intellectual tism.” While we can’t make people stop Question for Reflection
disability. And what grinds my gears is using this word, we can at least make What can you do to get involved in
when people say that it’s not “offensive” a difference. I also have Asperger’s and “Spread the Word to End the Word”?
or “not that serious.” It is! I’m so thank- fear I will be a victim of that cruel word Taking the pledge may be an important
ful that we have organizations like if I tell people. I shouldn’t have to live first step, but what else do you think is
Spread the Word to End the Word that in fear of telling others about my differ- essential if the language of discrimina-
look at ending the “R” word. It makes ences. I shouldn’t feel insecure. I hope tion is to end? To take the pledge, go to
me feel warm inside that other people for a change, something this site can www.r-word.org/.
have the same feelings that I have on hopefully bring.

8 CHAP TER 1  U n d e r s ta n d i n g E xce p t i o n a l i t i e s i n t h e 21s t C e n t u ry

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Contextual Bias The context in which we view someone can clearly influence our
perceptions of that person. In a classic study from 1973, psychologist David Rosenhan in-
vestigated this premise by having himself and seven other “sane” individuals admitted to a
number of state-run hospitals that treat mental illness across the United States. Once ad-
mitted to the hospitals, these subjects behaved as they normally would. The question was
whether the staff would perceive them as people who were mentally healthy instead of as
patients who experienced mental illness. Rosenhan reported that the eight pseudopatients
were never detected by the hospital staff but were recognized as imposters by several of the
legitimate patients. Throughout their hospital stays, the pseudopatients were incorrectly
labeled and treated as though they had schizophrenia. Rosenhan’s investigation demon-
strated that the context in which the observations are made could bias the perception of
what is normal.
Another example of contextual bias can be seen in the peer-to-peer treatment of stu-
dents with disabilities who are taught in self-contained special education classrooms
compared to those who are taught in inclusive classrooms. Rose, Swearer, and Espelage
(2012) found that children taught in segregated settings report being targets of bullying
more frequently than peers in inclusive settings, suggesting that the context has an effect
on the perceptions of classmates.

1-3 Changing Societal Views on People


with Disabilities: From Discrimination
to Inclusion
In the fourth century b.c., the Greek philosopher Aristotle openly declared, “As to the
exposure and rearing of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live…”
(Aristotle, 1941).
Aristotle’s stark statement is inconceivable in a civilized 21st-century world,
but from the beginning of recorded time, children with disabilities were vulnerable
to practices such as infanticide, slavery, physical abuse, and abandonment. Many
civilizations accepted infanticide as a necessary means of controlling population
growth and ensuring that only the strongest would survive in societies highly de-
pendent on “living off the land.” Early Greek and Roman patriarchies practiced se-
lected eugenics—the belief in the possibility of improving the human species by
discouraging the reproduction of people having genetic defects or inheritable “un-
desirable” traits. Although there are notable exceptions to the barbarism that
marked early history, such as the ancient Egyptians who viewed infanticide as a
crime, many early civilizations viewed “deformed children” as a sign of weakness,
shame, and an unnecessary burden on society. Such views continued well into the
20th century. In Nazi Germany, genocide had come full circle from early Greek and
Roman history to reach its pinnacle in 1939, with the planned extermination of “the
mentally and physically disabled” under Operation T4. In the Hitler era, people with
disabilities were openly targeted for the “final solution.” The German government ac-
tively terminated the lives of people with disabilities as a means to purify the human
race and put these individuals whose “life wasn’t worthy of life” out of their misery
(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2014).
The 20th century was an era of marked contradictions in societal and government
support for people with disabilities and their families. On one hand, treatment and
education that had been denied for centuries were becoming more accessible. Schools
were offering special classes for slow learners, children with physical disabilities, and
those who were deaf and blind. In contrast, the societal view became increasingly more
negative and accusatory. Parents were blamed for both the genetic inferiority of their
children and were held responsible for not being able to take care of their needs without
additional government support. The fear grew that many disabilities were passed on
from generation to generation, and that eventually these “defectives” would defile the

1-3 CHANGING SOCIETAL VIEWS ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: FROM DISCRIMINATION TO INCLUSION 9

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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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