My goal is to reach every child with a learning disability to let them know that you are going to make it. If Brooke Ellison(she was portayed in a tv movie by actress Lacey Chabert-pronounced shuh-behr) who is a paraplegic could graduate from Harvard University and making history as the first paraplegic to graduate from that school and having her mother as her personal assistant through those 4 years she wouldn't be who she is today. This was tough journey through a lot of heartache and triumphs and having to hit a few bumps along the way and having to deal with people who thought that someone like me wouldn't make it in life and required that institutionalizing me would be better.
I knew when my father rejected me even more when my mother told him I had special needs, it was that moment that set me on the journey to self discovery and self acceptance, and self reliance. It's faithless and ignorant people who believed that people like me, Helen Keller, and Brooke Ellison who have handicaps wouldn't get anywhere in life well it was proven wrong when all 3 of us had graduated from the best institutions in the country since Barat College was well known for it's turn out of graduates in the education field who went on to become teachers and those who worked in the education field.
I wonder what those pessimistic doctors who diagnosed me as learning disabled must be thinking when they're busy telling another parent that their kid should be locked up because there's nothing they can do for him or her. After 20 something years and many changes in legislation, people like me are able to say “I told you so”. I'll always do my dance to say I told you so and I will tell every child who lives with being disabled, you dance to your own tune and show those people who didn't believe in you that you are worthy of your dreams and success.
A million tears, heartbreaks, and setbacks is what pushed and motivated me to keep going when the times got difficult. One person who I give credit to who has gone through some times, but came out on top of her game is my best friend Rachel. She reminds me of my late grandfather who was blind, but couldn't achieve his dream of going to college at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff since he was called to serve in World War II and after that he had to get a job upon his discharge from the Army. 7 years and she's become like a sister to me and we understand each other because people have treated her differently since she lost her eyesight from a side effect from taking allergy medication. She's a single mother of two children and she took an even bigger step of attending college, finally finishing her degree in Philosophy in June 2006.
I thank God everyday for the ability get up and do for myself and Brooke Ellison is fortunate and blessed who has a mother who loves and her sacrificed the needs of many things to get her daughter through Harvard. Many people in Brooke's situation aren't as lucky to have a mother who loved them to sacrifice their own lives to give their child a chance in life despite the objections that stood in the way.
My mother had a vision for me and when you're a parent being told that your kid needs to be in an institution because there's simply no place for them, those medical professionals need their ethics and morals re-examined. I am sure those doctors who diagnosed me have since retired from their field of work, but I am pretty much sure that the many diagnoses they gave I wonder how many of those parents followed it? I am a shinning example of what a person with special needs can do and if I wasn't as successful as I am now, I wouldn't be sitting here penning this article and adding more to my writing credentials since I wrote for 3 college papers and continuing to write online. I would like to take this time to show you some of the famous faces who have learning disabilities so that kids who are out here will know that they are not alone and that having a learning disability makes you special and unique. It's kind of like being a part of a special society and it's surrounding yourself with people who are going to be your guiding light through those hard times and inspire you to achieve greatness.
If some of the adults of today who are just now discovering they are learning disabled when they didn't learn about it as a child don't despair because it's not the end of the world. This is where education comes in to help people further their understanding about the true meaning of a learning disability. We don't know what causes learning disabilities we think it's from the food we eat to the air we breathe or other environmental reasons. Some learning disabilities can come from brain damage when a mother drinks or abuses drugs since babies that are born crack and heroin addicted are likely to be developmentally delayed and diagnosed with some kind of learning disability later on when they begin school.
