Life as Jamie Knows It: An Exceptional Child Grows Up By Michael Bérubé
Everybody's talking about jamie story
Michael B rub is a scholar of disability studies and father of a young man with Down Syndrome his son Jamie who is now out of school and trying to make his way in the adult working world B rub chronicles the passage of Jamie through school sports family life travel and becoming independent In one way Jamie was lucky to be born to two such academic parents who bring many tools and knowledge into the challenges of raising a disabled child On the other hand they have no doubt become resilient and accomplished as a result of these challenges B rub states that he learned to do stuff I didn t know I was capable of doing B rub writes that Jamie is bright gregarious even ebullient in social gatherings. Literature fiction life as jamie knows it summary B rub discusses many aspects of bearing and raising a disabled child including whether life is worth living with a significant disability He states that their journey has been complex and wonderful than they could have dreamed but he doesn t purport that their choices are the choices all parents should make He speaks warmly of Special Olympics and their motto that people with intellectual disabilities are human beings deserving of love opportunity and acceptance just as they are He discusses very bluntly the pressure to terminate pregnancies rather than deal with a disabled child He also discusses the societal pressure to find a cure for Down syndrome He constantly reminds us that disability is not the same as disease While diseases may be treated or eradicated disabilities will continue to exist. Life as jamie knows itr file Now that Jamie has become a young adult B rub has become an advocate for ways to integrate people with disabilities into the community and to find meaningful employment The final chapter of the book titled The Meaning of Life was rather too academic for me but I appreciated the overall tone of this well written book on an important topic Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment Story of Jamie s early school years up to early20 s I enjoy true stories about people and I enjoyed Jamie s triumphs his growth in certain areas and also his interactions with others I m a retired teacher The book started out as a 5 star for me but dropped to a 3 star when it got technical or I guess a manual for those in the business or a required book for a college course All in all it was a good book although I skipped some pages Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment I think that maybe it would be a good idea if we tried instead to treat people with intellectual disabilities mild to severe as if they are people who matter people worthy of attention support and care Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment It was ok I won this book from goodreads Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment I did a full review at 3 Quarks Daily also wrote an analysis of Jamie s art work Jamie s Investigations The Art of a Young Man with Down Syndrome Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment The story of Jamie B rub s journey to adulthood and a meditation on disability in American life Published in 1996 Life as We Know It introduced Jamie B rub to the world as a sweet bright gregarious little boy who loves the Beatles pizza and making lists At four he is like many young people his age but his Down syndrome leads most people to see him only in terms of his disability Twenty years later Jamie is no longer little though he still loves the Beatles pizza and making lists In Life as Jamie Knows It Michael B rub chronicles his son s growth and his growing love of the world writing as both a disability studies scholar and as a father He follows Jamie through the transitions within his family and home life through his school years through the complicated process of entering the workforce with a disability In a book that joins stirring memoir and sharp philosophical inquiry B rub guides us through the labyrinth of ethical issues surrounding how we approach disability and uses Jamie s story to argue for a deeper understanding of disability that challenges us to move toward a just inclusive society Life as Jamie Knows It An Exceptional Child Grows UpFull disclosure Berube was one of my all time favorite professors so I m sure that I m a bit biased in my assessment of his writing but I truly enjoyed this book and can hear the artful storyteller that he is in every line As a mom I could relate to the stories of raising a young person wanting to give space for growth and independence while also wanting to keep your people safe I also love the way that Berube presents Disability Studies and activism in a way that is stimulating motivating and provocative but also completely accessible and human I loved Life as We Know It released when Jamie was very young but I learned so much from Jamie and Michael s perspectives now that Jamie could be a active and complete contributor A great read Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment When B rub s younger son was small B rub wrote a book about his family s experience parenting a child with Down syndrome Now that his son Jamie is in his twenties B rub has returned with another book. Book life as jamie knows it author As a memoir this is structured non chronologically although some things like Jamie s experience with employment and with the Special Olympics only came about as he got older and are discussed near the end of the book there s a fair amount of grouping stories by theme Travel for example is a recurring them from early on On a personal level as opposed to a disability studies level on that in the next paragraph I d say the strongest message B rub is trying to send is what a good kid my son is sometimes a little hit you over the head but generally a pretty feel good message. Life as jamie knows itx book As well as being a memoir this is something of a lecture on disability and the way it is treated B rub with plenty of background in disability studies spends a significant chunk of the book taking apart various arguments and discussions and putting forth his opinions He makes some interesting points I was particularly struck by an anecdote about why he and his wife took teaching jobs at Penn State rather than at the University of Illinois at Chicago which made a better offer although UI Chicago had a very reputable programme in disability studies the school system was such that to find an inclusive school Jamie would have to go an hour north It seemed to me a devil s bargain says B rub I would get to work in a PhD granting in disability studies but my disabled son would be consigned to some special ed arrangement from the 1960s 141 I read this essentially because I like reading about things Vague right I mean simply that I don t have a particular knowledge of disability issues in general or Down syndrome specifically I m not super interested in the academic policy end though not super interested can get me through a lot of reading but I m generally a pretty curious person I especially lovelovelove memoirs and the way they show me situations and perspectives that I haven t experienced myself This works to an extent on that end certainly B rub s is a position I haven t spent a ton of time thinking about At the same time and I feel terribly middle brow saying this I probably would have found a straight up memoir in which every other story did not have to lead to a specific point compelling overall While accessible this might be one best suited to an audience with a stronger connection to disability studies. Social sciences life as jamie knows it book review Bits and bobs and food for thought In the years after the publication of Life as We Know It I was warned repeatedly and emphatically that it s all very well and good to write about a child with an intellectual disability when your child is young and cute Children with intellectual disabilities go over best evidently when they are young and cute long before anybody has to worry about things like their adolescent friendships or lack thereof and their burgeoning sexuality and their thoughts about mortality and their prospects for employment Adults with intellectual disabilities are another thing entirely any number of peoplewho coo solicitously over a toddler with Down syndrome might find themselves recoiling either from awkwardness or from outright revulsion from the adult with Down syndrome who sits down next to them on the bus 2 I have yelled at Jamie in the course of his life a handful of times always when he is being obstinate to the point of extreme orneriness My favorite example comes from his early childhood when Janet exasperated by his dawdling before bedtime issued the ultimatum Get ready for bed or else and he replied in precisely the same tone of urgency Else 46 Janet and I had discussed this possibility of putting Jamie in special ed classes rather than mainstreamed classes when Jamie was younger wondering when it would be useful for him to know how to shop make his bed and use public transportation than to know the formula for the volume of a cone That was our way of marking the difference between life skills classes and regular classrooms and beside who remembers the formula for the volume of a cone anyway I once asked this question aloud in a forum on inclusive education Unfortunately I did so in an auditorium full of high school teachers many of whom shouted out variants of one third pi r squared times height Tough crowd I thought 143 Note I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment I had no idea there was a sequel about Jamie growing up I enjoyed it very much It reminded me a lot of _Adventures in the Mainstream_ by Greg Palmer travel how hard it is for an adult with Down Syndrome to find a job In the 1990s when I read the first book about Jamie I was very interested in the academic bioethics philosophical portion of that book Now that I m old and jaded I was not very interested in that side yeah I get it life is complex and a lot of bioethicists like Peter Singer are knobs I just wanted to read fun stories about Jamie losing his retainer and doing Special Olympics and stuff like that This all sounds very flippant but for anyone who doesn t already see people with disabilities as their own individual selves and worthy of respect this book can show them B rub s book also illustrates how a child with Down Syndrome s infancy earliest years can be pretty fraught or scary maybe with surgeries and feeding tubes and then perhaps become closer to the fare that parents expect with their kids having trouble with school or dating I appreciated the author s care in not revealing things his son didn t want him to and trying not to speak for him Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment The parts about Jamie as well as Michael s self reflection on raising Jamie were stellar Jamie s deflation after listening to the interview questions at the employment assistance agency ugh We go through this every year with my son s medicaid wavier with me wishing every year that he wasn t ever able to understand the questions This book was SO RELATABLE in those parts despite the rather high functioning of Jamie and the extremely privileged life of the family These parts get five stars And then there were the parts where Michael droned on about his political thoughts Many of these were in easily skimmable chunks but the book was peppered throughout with obnoxious political asides These parts get 1 star because at least it had good grammar Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment Such a beautiful bond between father and son I was chuckling so many times Jamie is hilarious and really steals the show He listens to his dad like a good young man but does his own awesome twist on everything e. Book life as jamie knows it read online merci beaucoup is a terrific improvement from Dad s advice to thank the audience I loved all the road trips I made it through the golf bits golf is soooo boring but I love how Jamie got exposed to and excelled at so many sports You could learn a lot about parenting from this book You could learn about humaning from this book Jamie s memory skills astonished me and every time he called his dad Michael my heart just melted into an even puddlier puddle If you are going to make a list of books to read put this book on the list it is the meta choice as you will see I am wondering if Jamie ever read The List in Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel I d want to overhear the Berube family discussing it together to get Jamie s insights on list making and list driven adventures Literature Fiction Social Sciences Entertainment
| Life as Jamie Knows It: An Exceptional Child Grows Up By Michael Bérubé |
| 0807019313 |
| 9780807019313 |
| English |
| 232 |
| Hardcover |
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Michael B rub is the director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Penn State University.g..