Good article about Xmas and disabilities

[Guest guest]

Hi. I found this article that some of you might enjoy. There is a really

good poem at the end titled, " Just Give Me One Chance " . So if you dont feel

like reading the article, then at least scroll down to the poem.

Peace,

Oh Precious Disability

The Gifts You Hold for us all... Join the Discussion

" Students Hurt In School "

Studentsts with disabilities are shunned and mistreated in school.

About SpecialEd

 

 Related Resources

" The Little Girl Who Dared to Wish "

There is something in human nature that is flawed. When faced with

individuals who have a strange way of learning or apparent physical

disability it seems making fun of that person and even bullying is the first

action taken by many. This certainly is the case in our schools, sad but

true. Another more subtle but damaging approach is isolation.

• SpecialEd Resources

• SpecialEd Newsletter

• Helen Keller Worldwide

• Judith Heumann -- OSERS

• 's Law

 

Once again the Holiday Season has run its commercial course with it’s human

mix of joyous expectations and carefree toss plastic now, " I’ll pay it off

later " attitude to prove to loved ones that we really do love them. " I’ve

power-shopped, I’ve shopped til I dropped, I have the perfect gift for

you…see?, I love you. "

I may be writing about this now but I’m just as guilty, I did it all again

this year too…

Very quietly and certainly quite unnoticed is a most perfect different kind

of gift. It is there for us to discover the other 364 days of the year. This

perfect gift? A lesson learned of daily struggle turned into triumph. Little

wonderful " How-To " instruction courses from our fellow friends in life who

have had to do it a " different way " .

This gift costs nothing. It is free and illustrates people at their finest.

Being the Guide for Special Education has allowed me to meet and hear from

many students and individuals who have beaten great odds. They persevered,

they overcame obstacles, they are there for us to learn the true meaning of

" Can Do " , " Be all that you can be " , " Never say die. There’s a whole group of

people who know how to walk through fire and come out smiling. They

understand more than anyone about the gift of the preciousness of life

itself. They are the disABLED who have put the accent on ABLE.

For many, the discovery of invisible learning or mental health disabilities

brings peace and first-time understanding. These diagnosed areas of

difference would now qualify for help through IDEA from teachers and

professionals at schools. Lucky is the student who also is told of his or her

talents along with the " overpowering " disabilities!

For others there never was any doubt of disability. Being born with a

physical deformity or disabling neuro-trauma at birth brings immediate and

tragic reality to light. A child born to this world deformed, is the only

event more feared by every woman than the pain of labor itself.

To have both occur on a day that should be bright and wonderful cannot be

imagined by anyone. Special love and understanding were also given to these

mothers and dads. I have met many of them and this is what they told me.

Equally tragic is a third group who enters disability through trauma from

disease or accident. Life for these once " abled " stops almost completely and

there is the suffocating darkness of shock and disbelief that ensues, perhaps

never to be overcome.

Sixth Stage to follow loss

So how is it possible that an adjective such as precious could ever be used

to describe disability? How could there be gifts that come to us from

disability’s tragedies?

We all have heard of Dr. Kubla Ross who described the five stages

of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance.

I suggest that a sixth stage be considered: the stage where the individual

rises above the disability to succeed and amaze. There are people who do this

everyday. There would be more if resource providers and stakeholders with

powers of authority would give that first initial chance to the disabled.

Priorities must be set to ensure that these individuals be allowed to succeed

and not be kept within the prison called " to be pitied " .

Why do the majority of disabled adults remain at the poverty level or lower?

Why are transition plans in schools written for the mentally or emotionally

challenged that emphasize low level " clean-up " occupations? Why are the

learning disabled discouraged from seeking college transition especially when

there are more and more colleges who now open their doors for these very

students?

Normal can’t touch this

There are many examples in education where the " disabled " have succeeded and

amazed…here are just three:

Helen Keller, the deaf and blind student who went on to teach and become

famous…So how did this child, blind and deaf from fever at 19 months grow up

to become a world-famous author and public speaker? Helen proved to be a

remarkable scholar, graduating with honors from Radcliffe College in 1904.

She had phenomenal powers of concentration and memory, as well as a dogged

determination to succeed.

It is important to remember that without the help of others Helen Keller

would never have succeeded as she did. Without her faithful teacher Helen

would probably have remained trapped within an isolated and confused world.

Perhaps her biggest success was in persuading others that disability is not

the end of the world. After her death in 1968 a professor from Japan said of

her,

" For many generations, more than we can count, we bowed our heads and

submitted to blindness and beggary. This blind and deaf woman lifts her head

high and teaches us to win our way by work and laughter. She brings light and

hope to the heart " .

Judith Heumann was the student in a wheelchair who was removed from her 4th

grade class because she was declared a fire drill hazard in her school. She

became Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Special Education

and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and headed a 350-person staff,

administered a combined budget of $7 billion and coordinated programs that

impacted America's 49 million disabled citizens and directly served almost 7

million disabled children.

, Esq., a famous present-day special education attorney had

multiple learning disabilities, could hardly read and in the 11th grade had

all Ds and hated school. Pete now wins major cases for students with

disabilities, one being a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court

with a unanimous decision in only 34 days.

All of these individuals in the beginning were considered problems…perhaps

nothing more than lumps of coal, students just taking up space in the

classroom. Their talents and gifts lie hidden. Each of these " disABLED "

future wonders could tell you of that one special person from school or life

who allowed them to change their lives forever. There was a teacher, a friend

or parent who looked beyond the disability and saw the gifts. To these great

mentors there was no special secret…

After all, they understood that diamonds

are just coal under pressure.

Just Give Me One Chance

What if I cannot run or play,

Does that mean I do not feel or pray?

What if I can't behold nature or your face,

Does that mean a life of darkness

is my only place?

What if my language is sign

and I cannot hear,

Does that mean isolation

from a life I hold dear?

What if movement takes me too long,

Does that somehow make

my life seem wrong?

It hurts to be different,

set apart from the rest,

I truly am trying, I'm doing my best.

I laugh, I cry, I embrace life too,

I dream of a friend, could that be you?

I wait and hope each passing day,

Just give me one chance, don't turn away.

Just give me one chance,

please open the door,

To discernment, acceptance

and a life that holds more.

To Noah -- With All My love,

Your grateful Mom

Jody L. Swarbrick -- October 2001©