Fourth grade student Adriana Lyons gets by with a little help from her friends. Lots of friends, in fact, as evidenced by the support she received on March 21, National Cerebral Palsy (CP) Awareness Day. Classmates and staff purchased HOPE shirts and wore green to honor Lyons, with proceeds going to Reaching for the Stars, a Foundation of HOPE. The organization is dedicated to preventing, treating, and ultimately curing the disease. Each year, one out of every 323 babies is born with CP. It is the most common motor disability in children.
It is fantastic that disabled children are no longer segregated from main stream school. Children are these amazing sponges that just absorb the world around them. Whatever they take in, they carry for their lives.
ReplyDeleteWe now have a generation of children that are carrying with them tolerance for ALL people. More than tolerance, they are carrying with them self respect, kindness, and caring for their fellow human beings. The beautiful thing about this is that what they are carrying, they will give to their own children.
When I was in school, there were no disabled children that attended school with me. In fact, with the exception of one of my own relatives, I don't remember any of my school mates having a disabled family member. I don't remember any disabled individuals in my community.
Without anyone actually making the statement that being disabled or having a disabled family member was a source of shame, that is exactly the idea that my generation had. In fact, when I first began working in the field, I worked in a group home. I was astonished to learn that people I had gone to school with, been good friends with had close family members that resided at the group home. There was never a mention that these family members even existed!
Thankfully, we have learned better and are now doing better by all members of our society. In doing better, we have taught our children to be better than we were.
These children at Fouse Elementary school in Westerville are what our new normal is; everyone belongs, everyone matters. That is simply fabulous!