(Not) Being the Only LP at School...personal experience

January 26, 2006

Completely realizing that college life and this situation have different

circumstances, I'm still going to offer this because it's just about as

relevant.

I was having problems at the college I was at with accommodations (weird b/c

this didn't happen freshman year, only sophomore...) so I transferred at

semester break, and we (my parents and I) were all determined to be more

proactive so that the situation WOULDN'T resurface at the new school. Well,

when we met with the housing people to make sure everything would be fine

there, they were convinced that " because we have a little person on campus "

(who we became friends with through LPA when we were freshmen in HS and live

about 90 minutes from us), they were plenty knowledgeable and equipped to

handle my situation. Well, for those of you with scorecards, there are

three main differences: I'm a year older than he is, I have a scooter, and

the social dynamics are a little different (none of which were their fault,

but you don't assume all LPs are the same). Thinking all LPs have the same

needs exactly would be like saying all 6th grade girls have the same needs

(random group) or whatever group you want to pick would have the same needs.

We tried to convince them through most of that hour long meeting that I was

different from the one they were comparing me to (if for no other main

reason than the scooter---a challenge in and of itself)...it didn't really

help, and they didn't really seem to " get it " (they were in their own little

world). As a matter of fact, and I apologize if anyone is offended by this,

but he used it, so I'm going to share it- the director said that he and I

should be able to relate because we're both minorities (he's Asian-American,

I'm an LP)---if there's any connection to be made there besides just that

we're recognized minorities, please feel free to point it out to me- but

height/scooter/obvious disability issues are different than strictly ethnic

ones are (I'm not at all being ethnocentric, I'm merely stating a fact).

The point I'm trying to make is don't assume that just because another LP

has been there that they know what's going on. Sometimes the fresher blood

knows more than the " old hand " .

Hope this helps...

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