Inclusion

February 17, 2011

Inclusion

When I dropped Waverly off at school on Friday, I met her teacher and aide in the hallway. I was filling them in on Waverly's PT & OT session, when the 1st graders came out of their classroom for lunch. This particular class is the one Wavey joins for PE and music. One of the little boys was super excited to see Waverly. He loves to give her hugs. I also heard him say that he likes to give her hugs and make her laugh. A few of the other kids also greeted Waverly, before getting into a line to head downstairs.

It was such a beautiful moment and a reminder why inclusion is SO important not only for the children with special needs, but also for the mainstream kids. I wish I knew that little boy's mom. I would give her a HUGE hug and tell her that she is doing an amazing job raising her little boy.

Comments

Courtney said…

That is precious.

February 21, 2011 at 9:39 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.