Educational Empowerment

In exploring the world of disabilities I checked out a book called “Adolescents at School” in order to better understand the process of identity development and children with disabilities. This book is filled with sections written by researchers and psychologists about the development of adolescent identity and how it is complicated for children with disabilities. Through into that mix gender, ethnicity and economics and you have yourself quit the ordeal. Needless to say I have learned a lot about how I formed my early identity and why it was wrapped up in a bundle of anger and isolation. 

As much as I would like to say I had a perfect childhood, I did not, and it would be wrong for me to say I had a horrible one. I can say there are many instances I replay in my mind today, in order to understand where the world was coming from, and although I was angry I had reason to be. My socialization was anything but grand; many times I found myself the butt of some awful joke or some leering glare. Of positive situations I can only remember a few as most of my experiences were negative.

This, I am learning, had a very counter-productive result. Instead of teachers trying to accommodate my disabilities, I had ones who constantly pointed out my problems. In 6^th grade I had a teacher who made a comment to me about brushing my teeth, which I did relentlessly, and it made me feel as if I was not doing enough. The problem was that my teeth had no enamel, that protective coating that enables your teeth to remain strong and prevent decay, which is common with people with Ectodermal Dysplasia. Instead of contacting my parents for an explanation, she decided it would be better to use the humility rather than educate herself, and ended up causing me to become obsessed with brushing my teeth. No matter how much I brushed them, I lost them all in 10^th grade and suffered another school embarrassment. 

It was the first time I ever felt different, other than the speech therapy I attended for seven years because I had a cleft palette, and began a long cycle of inner abuse. I never imagined a world where I would be a part of it, instead I faced a world that had placed obstacles in front of me without giving me the ability to overcome them. But how can you hold a society at fault when the knowledge on how to deal with children with disabilities was so new?

At the time you can’t but today you can. It is a much different world today as we view what we do to accommodate children with disabilities and create a curriculum that engages children and helps them develop skills needed to be autonomous. By empowering them with education and participation, we can change their outlook by creating positive learning experiences.