This blog post is dedicated to every parent or ally of a kid with a disability who didn’t think their advocacy was working. Watch the video or read the transcript below.
Watch the video here!
The schools oftentimes told my parents that Catholic school was not for me, that it wasn’t a place that I belonged and that they only served the “typical” kids. And the one story that I really wanted to share with you was when I first got diagnosed, the schools kinda tried to push me out. My mom tried to educate them about what a learning disability was.
And so she called up Cal at the time, and they had a disability office. And they specifically had a program for students who had LD. And she got a letter from the school and presented it to the teachers and said, “Look at this! You think she’s only gonna fry French fries. I think that was your exact term, McDonalds.”
So she said, “She’s only gonna work there,” which by the way, if they increase the minimum wage, that would be awesome. [ laughs ] You wouldn’t have any loans. And showed that letter to the teachers. And the teachers just kind of ignored it, and it didn’t really work.
But she folded it up and put it in the drawer next to my savings bonds from my first Communion and a lot of other really important things like my Social Security card. And it sat there, and for me, even though it didn’t help with the teacher, it helped that I saw her actually do that.
And I eventually went to Cal, and I think it was a big part because I knew that that was a school that they had accommodations.
And so sometimes the interventions and the activism and the advocacy that you do as a parent, it may not work on the person that you’re trying to direct it at. But it may work because of the impact on your kid.
#activism #advocacy #specialed #catholicschool #disability #dyslexia
Nina G Comedian 