FALL 2009By Chloe Patrick
Nervousness is a common emotion among people. Even the most confident have felt it. When I think about being nervous, many experiences come to mind. One of them stands out from the others. I was in sixth grade, and our class was about to go on our first trip to the Regional Day School (RDS). This is a school for children ages five to fourteen with mental and physical disabilities. We were going to do things like help them with their school work, play games, and just talk to them. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and I wasn’t too worried at first.
When we got there, were assigned different groups to work with, and I started to feel a little nervous. When I walked into the classroom, the little nervousness I had felt at first grew stronger. As I looked around the classroom, questions flew through my mind: Who will I work with? What will I have to do? What’s wrong with him? All of these questions were normal for someone in my position; someone who had never worked with or approached a mentally or physically challenged person. In the past I had seen disabled people and I knew they had some problems that others didn’t, but I had never personally met one.
The teacher in the classroom told me I could work with an older girl on the computers. I sat down next to her and told her my name. She seemed a little nervous, too, and we didn’t talk much at first. The game she was playing asked about different multiplication problems. When she got one wrong I helped her out. After a while she told me to try a problem. I answered the question correctly and she said, “Wow, you’re so smart!” I remember feeling strange that a girl older than me was admiring me. I also felt really happy that she was warming up to me, as I was to her. By the end of the visit I felt comfortable around her. In subsequent visits to the RDS I felt even more comfortable around the people I worked with.
It was very inspiring to me that people with these problems were so happy. They weren’t mean or scary; they were kind. After going to the RDS, I realized that the only reason I had felt nervous at the beginning of the visit was because I was out of my comfort zone and I was only worrying about what I would experience. I now realize that there was no reason for me to be nervous other than fear of doing something I had never done before.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
When I went back to RDS later that year, I was no longer only seeing my own concerns, but other people’s concerns also. When I met someone to work with, I didn’t think about what I would have to do or say. I thought about how their life must be and how it probably wasn’t easy.
After going to the RDS and interacting with people who have disabilities, I became more aware of the discrimination against these people. For example, before I went to the RDS I would hear people say things like, “That’s so retarded,” and didn’t really think much of it. Now when I hear it I really think about it and how inconsiderate it is that people use the word “retarded” to describe something that they dislike or think is stupid. When someone thinks something is stupid, they shouldn’t use a word that describes a group of people because it is demeaning to them. This is similar to when people use “gay” to describe something “stupid”.
This discrimination against disabled people is just as wrong as discrimination against race, although it may not be as obvious. The discrimination against disabled people seems to be more subtle. After going to the RDS, I realize that many people would surely stare and demean the man with one leg, or the autistic child, or the blind women, more that they would healthy people. The people at RDS, and all others with disabilities, are just like healthy people, they are just not as fortunate. Still, many people discriminate against those who have mental and physical disabilities, and it is very wrong. People with disabilities have no control over who they are or the problem they have, and they shouldn’t be discriminated against because of those reasons.
Many times I have heard healthy people say, “I’m never lucky.” When I hear this I just want to tell them that they are, in fact, very lucky to not have any disabilities or illnesses. I certainly feel lucky to be who I am after going to the RDS and seeing the people who were not as lucky as I am. I have worked with mentally challenged people several times after my first visit to the RDS. Each time, I am more and more comfortable around the people I work with.
Not only am I more aware of the discrimination of people who are disabled, I’m trying to help this problem, too. Whenever I see a disabled person, I don’t stare or avoid them, I smile. Also when someone says, “That’s so retarded,” I tell them that they shouldn’t say that. Discrimination is wrong, and I know that being friendly and treating every type of person the same are the first steps to solving the worldwide issue of discrimination against people with disabilities.
This essay won an honorable mention in the Helen Glass Essay for Peace contest, which is held annually at Friends School Mullica Hill, sponsored by Mickleton and Mullica Hill Monthly Meetings. It is copyright © 2009 by Mickleton and Mullica Hill MMs.
Other essays: by Daniel Leone & by Maddy ScuderiRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 03:42 PM
