She is ALL THAT!

Written by me after hearing a story today from my 10 yr old niece that really disturbed me.

To the “cool girls” in 5^th grade that called their classmate “ugly” because she has difficulty walking and speaking:  “Girls, I have news for you, that girl is ALL THAT, and a bag of chips!”

When you hear her speak differently you stare and laugh, but she knows deep inside that you laugh because you are too ignorant to understand. Although you see her walking with difficulty today, you have no idea that one day she will be standing in front of the White House in Washington D.C. and she will realize that the sky is the limit for her.

Her brain might have been injured once, but is now developing at a tremendous rate to make up for early struggles, while she is becoming better and smarter, you are just “normal”. She struggles every day, you think, to get from place to place, but what she is really doing is coming up with innovative ways to do things, while your body is just “normal”.

While you will be struggling to “fit in” one day and be like everyone else, she will already know that the beauty is in being different. She will go about life with an open mind accepting and embracing diversity, while you try to be "just like" someone else. 

So to the “cool girls” in school, I challenge you today to make a change, to become smarter, to embrace diversity, to see the beauty in being different. Stop just being “normal” because being "just normal" is so NOT cool!

NOTE:
One might argue that kids are "just kids" that they just need to be educated so that they can be more accepting. The problem is that not many care. Not many teachers, not many parents, not many school staff. My sister went to the school today to bring up the issue and offer to talk or work with teachers on a plan to educate kids on embracing differences in everyone, including kids with special needs. Unfortunately, she did not receive the feedback she expected and the school is not willing to cooperate.