By Malaya Herrion, An upcoming senior at Coolidge High School.
Did you know that about 67.1% of kids graduate in a year? That is not an extremely high number when between the years 2009-2019 from ages of 3-21 who get special education assistance has increased from 6.5 million. That’s including a wide range of disabilities.
There are blind kids who can’t read, kids who struggle in a big classroom, etc. But did you also know that because of the lack of educational help, people don’t know where to start to help their children?
Fears. Parents fear for their children with learning disabilities. They fear that their child will get bullied. They fear that their child will not get the help they need. They fear that the teacher will mistreat their kid because they are different. They fear that their child will not be able to tell them what happened to them in school.
Being treated differently in school is nothing new to me. When I learned that I was being treated differently because of the way I learn, I asked all my teachers and staff not to sugar-coat anything for me. I asked this because, even though I learn differently, I still want to be treated like the other kids. I work extra hard to keep my grades up.
Just because someone learns differently doesn’t mean we’re not human. We like to play sports. We don’t feel bad because we have to be in small classes. We like being included in activities and conversations etc. We learn differently but we are still young people who want to be engaged and learn.
