Last week at the Bionic Project Fundraiser, Will Border, the president and co-Founder, included the cartoon above in his presentation. It had such a powerful impact on me that I wanted to learn more about its creator.

Michael Giangreco, a University of Vermont education professor in the special education program, has written more than 300 comics lampooning the bureaucracy, absurdity, and challenges he saw in the implementation of special education. The strips were collected in three volumes, all subtitled Absurdities and Realities of Special Education.  In the early 1990s, when he was making presentations of his research, he often used humor to make his point by including cartoons such as those of Gary Larson’s Far Side. It was difficult, however, to find cartoons that were specifically on point, so he eventually started writing his own. Because he was not very good at drawing, he enlisted the help of his friend and Burlington, VT fine artist Kevin Ruelle. The two have been collaborators ever since.

It is these gentlemen we have to thank for this poignant and thought-provoking image.

When my perspective on an issue is changed in an instant, I call that a 2×4 moment, as in being whacked in the head by a heavy bit of lumber.