Comeing full circle

I am feeling great today. So many things have come together today and i feel really happy. If you were to tell me a year ago that i would have this feeling of joy after high school i would have believe it, So that is a gift and it make the feeling that much more special

My Kidnergaten boyfriend

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  Today is  e 's birthday. e  is the boy  I  told u about here  but  I told you  briefly about  our friendship  here is  the  Inside   Story

 KA with my mom  in scrubs   e  is around here somewhere my image  loader  for blogger is acting up will try to post  pics at a later date 

    

When I was  five  almost six, my birthday is September sixth, it was time  for me to start  Kindergarten. My parents  wanted me to  go  to a private  school which was  not  too bad for us  as   both of them were doctors at the  time.  Th school did not cater to  those with disabilities  but they took me anyway and there  i went.

 phonics without speaking= great   reading game 

 I was  in KA  and so  was e.  We  were somewhat different.  E  knew phonics  and could  pronounce the names of the letters, me  not so much.  E  was  in a high gymnastics  level. Me  I was not.    To  put it bluntly  he was  not  disabled and  I was but  i do not  think e cared that much. e  and  I were  pals.   While other kids would be mean to me, and make me  the monkey in the middle for basketball, e  would  help me do the monkey bars, and   play in the sand  with me  at recess and lunch.   In  our   class  we would have  play time inside the classroom  and  e  was my companion.  We would  play read write and type and   jumping dinosaurs. Which was like chess.    e and I were equals.  he did not  treat me differently and that is one of the beautiful things about our friendship.   He did not see   a disabled six year old who could not  talk right  and sometimes drooled.  He saw a  six  year old with  black hair and loved  to have peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  The last time I saw e   was  my eighth birthday.  I went to public school  after first grade  while  he stayed  in the private school system till high school.  Last  January i was able to befriend him via facebook and although we do not facebook chat that often and  have yet to be reunited  in  real life. I have the memories  and there  my kindergarten boy firend  will always be.

Happy  b day e!!!!



   got images  from



Read write a type image
http://www.schoolhouseexpo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/TalkFingerRWT400.gif

Sunday Grains of Gratiude

 Another  week  has   come and  gone so  now  is the time for grains of   Graditude.

1    That i had a mini vacation from school as my  teacher  was  sick  and in collage there is no  such thing as a subsitute  teacher.

2   that  i had a good  dentist appoment.  I have a new favorite person  who  cleans my teeth  who has  the same birthday as  me. I have to go in for surgery though so that is  not   good. (note  it is not surgery  but I have to go  to sleep  so  to me it is surgery)

3  My cousins  came  down  the  last weekend in febuary.  C and  R    I  have  not seen them for a while    C  is a gymnast   now at  seven and   R  is   five  year old  who will go to kindergaten   in the  summer(serously they  start school in  July   man that is  early).

4    I  enjoyed  reading    a book for  English  class.  It was  A gathering of  old men it  was a perfect book to  read  because it  is  about African American men  and  we read it during February,

5 For  Film  class  I like  the  teacher and  I get to learn more than   Mr T  taught me.  I get to handle the  camera.   Yes they have  let  me rent the  thing from the  collage.    I am  working on shot projects  and  I   am almost done with shooting.

6 Princess and  book  gal   did great in the v ball tournament so they are now in  Bronze insted of colors

R word Myth

It is  OK  to use the word  if   no disabled person, or someone who loves them,  is a  around  

  Negative

 Just as  I was thought in elementary school  integrity  means  that  u act the same  in the dark  as  u do  in the  light

 for  more  info on this    click  here

Why the R word hurts: a friends perspective

 signing the pledge last year 3-3-2010

     Back in high school I  spear headed   a new  club  called  Dons Disability Awareness  Club. One  of the  events  we did was a  Spread the word to end the word .  It was a great  event and many people signed the  pledge  and  I still have  numerous  wristbands  lying around the house.

   People  might ask  me  why I care so much  about the use of the  the  word   retarded.  I  mean I  do not  have   a intellectual disability.  I have  a physical disability   and a speech  disability but  not a intellectual disability so the  word is  just a word to me  right  wrong

     When I was ten  years  old my parents  signed me up  for judo at the local rec center, The  class  met  Tuesdays and  Thursdays  in the  gym  for an hour.  I  signed  up in February and  before long   my  friend ,she  is no longer my friend,joined shortly after   lets call her  B. She  was deaf and had  NVLD, like me, but she  was  in inclusive education  at the local elementary school which  was connected  to the  rec.  As  faith would have it her  new neighbors  would  move  in and they had  kids around   our age.  A fifth  grader,  a  year ahead of us, a third  grader and  a  four year old who was the only girl in the bunch.  The  third  grader  who we will call LM  happened to have Down Syndrome.   I met them  when  LM came to  join a judo class after  my friends mom  told  her new neighbor about the class  and  shortly there after   LM and I became friends.

   A  few years later LM was  at our same school  in middle school and the three of us always hung out together,. At the  time LM was  into  basketball so every lunch hour   LM and I would gobble down our lunches and  race to  the blacktop to play  in pickup games on one such  occasion we were  playing  with  a  other kids  in my grade, so  older then LM ,  and  LM was doing the best he could.  He  did not have  dribbling down,  needed  reminders of what basket to shoot  at, and  got too close  to the defender.   Most of the  other kids were vary nice to him and  gave him  the ball and  not block him and let him shoot but  on one  occasion a kid  who was  dribbling the ball  and  LM was  trying to steal it from  her she  said.

"GET AWAY YOU RETARD ."

LM  sat down  on the side of the  court  and  I fallowed  him.  I was  stunned.  B's mom had told me not to say that word to  LM and  now i knew  why. LM    was a charming fellow. He loved basketball and Disney movies and did  judo.  He was  full of life   but   the person who called him the R word had  taken all that away from him as if  she  had  popped a balloon that was LM's spirit.    

.

To this day the memory of that  day  is  vivid and  runs deep.  He  is the  reason why  I  started   Spread the word to end the word  at my high school last year. He is the reason why  Spread the word to end the word   will be there  this year  even though I  no longer   attend.   LM  was the first person I  really got to know   with a intellectual disability but he was not the last. B encourage  me  to become a special Olympics  athlete and  I now  know many people  in my area wit intellectual disabilities. People with  Intellectual disabilities are  people   who have  different personalities.    These people can be cliquish while others can be vary sweet and accept everyone.   But when   people  use the R word  they lump them all  together  in to a group that is beneath  the speak.  

 Having CP  which results in unclear s speech I  sometimes  get  treated as  though I have  a intellectual disability  due to my speech.  I know  the feeling  and it is not a good one. i  see  the  mindset  of thinking that  they are above me  and it does not feel right. I am  intelligent  but  even if i wasn't  I still would want to be treated with respect:Learning is  not everything   everyone needs to  realize  that a person is a person   who has  feelings  we  all   cry the  same tears. We all  feel sadness.  It is  what makes  us  human  so  think about that the  next time  before  use the  R word,

  Words DO Hurt

 Spread the word to end the word

 please comment before u leave




 got images  from

 judo- http://www2.nijmegen.nl/mmbase/images/964763/judo.jpg
 basketball-http://web.ocknights.org/images/basketball_cartoon.jpg
 spread the word  date for 2011-http://media.specialolympics.org/soi/files/spread-the-word/STW-Dated-Dark.jpg
 tear drop-http://wwwcdn.net/ev/assets/images/vectors/afbig/water-drop-clip-art.jpg
 Be a fan -http://nyso.org/STW2010.jpg

what would you do

 This show comes on  abc  Tuesday and Friday nights

   I gotta hand it to What would  you do    for  useing  TV to  teach  people how to be good citizens  which includes   how to treat people with different ablities.   Last night's show  was no exception, on that episode it   showed two  people with disablties ( a little person and a lady in the wheelchair) and  people 's  reactions to them in the suppermakert.     Both of those clips are worth the watch;however, I want to take a look at  the one of the person in a wheelchair

    

  People with disabilities are  not  hopeless  and do not need help all the time.  As I said  earlier people with Disabilities  do  become  adults  and   the public  has to be reminded  of that.  Recently  one of the basketball players  mom(  I play  on the special olympics team)   handled  my money for me  even though I  am able to  handle  my own money.  In that case I did not mind   because  I knew the lady and  i know she meant  no  harm   i  told  her after the fact.   That is why you need to ask people with disablties for help  before you help because  they might  be able to do it themsleves

  please comment before you leave

If you could walk in my shoes

 From the  TV movie  to kill a mockingbird also a good movie

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch to daughter Scout, Chapter 3

 I loved  reading  To Kill a mockingbird   if u  have not had a chance to  read it  Now to move   mediums from books to   Television









 I am soo happy that this is finally out  I am  thrilled  I got bullied in elementry and middle school, What happened in middle school is below


 
I remember when I was little and my dad told me that "Sticks and Stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you. Well I don't think it is true... Wait let me rephrase that it is . Princess and book gal have a easy cry baby that would me. My dad says that I am too sensitive and tells me to ignore it. That is the bad advice that you can give a victim of bullying disabled or not .Still don't believe me okay here comes a story



In sixth grade my mom and dad through that I should have one class in special education called RSP. it basically is a study hall with a special needs teacher who helps you do the work. Well in Sixth grade I had a guy in my class who always said I was a loner and no one played with me. I told the teacher and she said to ignore it because he was from a bad family and needed attention. Well I never could ignore it and I spent the remainder of my first middle school year yelling at him back and froth.


The school thorough I had behavior problems so in seventh grade I was put into a RSP room with a strict teacher and mean kids. Man did I hate that class. There were three other kids in the class who teased me and like the guy in 6th grade all of them came from middle class families trying to make ends meet. What made it worse was that there was a nice RSP room with good kids who teacher was nice. I also was the only one with my teachers on my RSP teacher case load The nice one had the others.


On Wednesdays were the hardest day of the week. The teacher had meetings that day and we were under supervision of a sub. One peculiar Wednesday a girl said that the entire 7th grade hated me. She was training for a peer helper and the class was talking about me and how much they hated me. My aid talked to me and sat by me during my next class and we talked to the head teacher(Who is a great guy that i had for math the next year) who told me that they had been talking about how to treat someone with a disability and my name came up. Someone did not learn their lesson.

Words do hurt and schools need to be aware of this and help those getting teased and don't tell them to ignore it . Think about it this way if your son/ daughter fell and scarped his/her knee you wipe it up right. Well bullying is like that only the cut is invisible It's a cut to the child self esteem

me and Lauren potter from Glee  she is spearheading the campaign I  am trying to get involved with this campaign