Teaching Children About Disabilities

Growing up, my siblings and I were lucky to exposed to our cousin, Vance, who has cerebral palsy. We learned many lessons from him through the years. Now that I'm a parent myself, I can look back and realize that many of my friends did not have the opportunity to learn those same lessons.

I can remember many times when Vance would come to visit our home and my friends would be terrified of him. Vance is a big guy, well over six feet tall, and Vance has always been very social and he loves the company of others. He tends to be a rough though. He could easily drag a small adult through the car window if you weren't paying attention and he had a tendency to pinch you to get your attention. This often terrified my friends and caused me to be extremely uncomfortable because I wasn't sure of how to help make them comfortable.

Vance is in his 50's now and I take my children to visit often. The lessons they are learning are so valuable and they've helped me to avoid the embarrassing situation of having your child to scream at the sight of someone with disabilities or to say something insensitive in front of them. I'm trying to give my children exposure to people from all walks of life and people who are "different" from them.

I worked with adults with Mental Retardation and through that work I formed many meaningful relationships. I plan to have my children do volunteer activities with adults with MR so that they too can experience the wonderful ways in which people with disabilities learn to cope with difficulties. These people are often abandoned, ignored and living in poverty. I hope that I can raise children who will reach out and help them rather than turn the other cheek and pretend they aren't there. Schools are doing a much better job of including children with disabilities but we have a long way to go before they are truly accepted and valued for what they have to offer rather than being singled out because of what they can't offer.