Down Syndrome Awareness Week 2024: The Importance of Treating Everyone with Respect
CONTENT WARNING: The religious/spiritual opinions on this blog post are mine based on my own experiences and do not reflect the opinions and experiences of everyone. Commentaries published on my First Former Buddy Club President influencer page represent diverse viewpoints. If you would like to submit a commentary, please contact me for more information. All perspectives and experiences are welcome here.
Hey everyone! 👋🏻 It feels like forever since I've written a blog post!!! Student teaching has been so time-consuming that I barely have any time to post any elaborate content since January. I still love being a disability advocate/teacher social media influencer though and you can expect an increase in elaborate content from me again in mid-April! 😊 Since student teaching has been so time-consuming, I did not get to post anything special and elaborate for National Spread the Word to End the Word Day last week; however, advocating for this cause matters all year round and this week is Down Syndrome Awareness Week and World Down Syndrome Day (Thursday, 3.21!). So, I am posting about my story of advocating against the R-word as this week's blog post and expect an additional special World Down Syndrome Day blog post on Thursday! ❤️
In the story of Moses in the Bible, the Ten Commandments are created. God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone; this was followed by God giving the tablets to Moses on Mount Sinai. One of the most well-known Ten Commandments is "You shall not take the Lord's name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). A consequence for disobeying this commandment is provided and it states the following: "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). The importance of this commandment reminds me about the importance of not name-calling people as well. When people take the Lord's name in vain, they are insulting him just like when bullies name-call people. This reminds me of another quote from the Bible, which states: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Everyone should treat everyone the way that they would want to be treated.
As everyone who follows me knows, during this past fall trimester of school, I did my Field Experience (FE) in Special Education internship towards my Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Special Education in Lower Moreland High School's Life Skills Support classroom. The grades that my students were in were ninth grade through post high school. Post high school is an educational program that many high schools have for students with Special Educational needs; to elaborate more, in the state of Pennsylvania, students with Special Educational needs can attend high school after their twelfth grade graduation until the end of the school year during which they turn twenty-two years old (This state law actually just got updated in September by the way).
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I am an alumnus from Lower Moreland High School and the classroom that I did my FE placement in is actually where my passion for Special Education began. I have always wanted to be an Early Childhood Education teacher since I was a young child. Coincidentally, however, I never gave the idea of teaching Special Education a thought until Buddy Club. When I was in ninth grade, I was telling one of my teachers about all of the volunteer work that I do. Since she saw my love for helping others, she recommended that I join our school's Buddy Club. Buddy Club is a club for helping and being a friend to the Life Skills students in the school district. After only two months of being a buddy, the club changed my life forever and confirmed my career path of wanting to become a Life Skills teacher. I was also elected as the first Buddy Club President in eleventh and twelfth grade (That's where my influencer page name comes from😊). Being Buddy Club President made my love for being a disability advocate grow even stronger. I have continued to participate in Buddy Club as an alumnus and I enjoy working with all age groups in Life Skills Support classrooms.
As a result of switching my role from volunteer to pre-student teacher in this classroom in the fall, I was able to reflect upon my past experiences as a buddy. My buddy experiences have built many of my philosophies as a disability advocate. One of the experiences that I continuously reflect upon the most is how I constantly fought for inclusion and anti-bullying for the Life Skills students. This especially became common when I was in my role as Buddy Club President. I observed that many of the Life Skills students in my grade were being excluded from grade and school events and activities. Everyone else in the rest of the grade except for the Life Skills students would be notified about the events and activities. My brother and I also observed that many students called them "retarded" also known as the R-word. As a disability advocate, I am well-aware of the fact that this word has become outdated and derogatory. Many years ago, saying "mentally retarded" was okay when talking about it as a disability diagnosis. Over time, however, not all but many people gave the word a negative meaning by using it as an insult or for slang. In about 2010, this resulted in the official terminology being switched to "intellectual disability" instead.
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Students in the disability community tend to be at risk for becoming victims of bullying. Since this population of people with disabilities struggle with social-emotional skills, they often do not know how to self-advocate when they are being bullied. This is true even when they want to participate in social activities and take offense to certain things. This can occur for many reasons, such as being shy, not knowing what to say to interact with others, and even as a trauma response from bullying. As a person who has experienced exclusion and other types of bullying, witnessing my friends experience this made me furious. I thought, Oh my God. This is really frustrating. The exclusion is worsening my friends' social isolation and name-calling can be very hurtful. My friends do not deserve to be bullied. They deserve to be treated with respect, equality, and equity. I should do something about this. I changed my thought of Oh my God to Oh my goodness though to prevent stooping to my peers' levels. To reiterate, this is because name-calling is very similar to taking the Lord's name in vain and I always strive to tap into my higher self. I do this by being the bigger person.
Since then, I started and have continued to stand up for my peers and any of my students in the disability community when this happens. When the Life Skills students were being excluded when I was in high school, I fought for their rights to be included in grade and school activities and events. As soon as I found out about these socials, I would inform the Life Skills students and their teacher who was also the Buddy Club advisor. I would also speak freely to the class representatives about the importance of inclusion. I would say, "These grade and school events and activities are great for everyone to participate in. The Life Skills students are just like everyone else in so many ways and they deserve to be included in all of these notifications too." In regards to whenever I heard any of our peers using the R-word, I would speak freely about how offensive that was. If our peers continued to be adversarial and oppositional about this issue, I would report it to an administrator or a teacher with my family's support. Usually, all of these efforts worked except for one time when it came to exclusion.
Related Links:
- Discrimination Against Students in the Disability Community
- Bullying is One of the Leading Causes of Suicide
- Trauma's Impact on Mental and Physical Health Can Be Really Scary
- When Trauma Gets Trapped in the Body, Mind, and Spiritual Self
- 100 Reasons to Stay Alive
- The Importance of Showing Respect for Other People While Advocating for Your Own Respect
As soon as I found out that I was going back into this same classroom where my dream of becoming a Life Skills teacher started for my FE in Special Education internship, I was so excited. I have so many happy memories from participating in Buddy Club and I loved getting to meet and work with all of the true buddies who joined this school year. I will continue to advocate for my students' rights to be included and treated with respect during my time as a Special Educator in any school.
Many of my experiences as a child have contributed to my development as an aspiring Special Education teacher. This also contributed to the strength of my passion as a disability advocate. It is clear that I tend to be very passionate about advocating about social issues. This is especially true when it comes to my students and other people who I care about. It is important for everyone to pay close attention to the fact that while advocating for other people's rights can be rewarding, it can also be stressful. While stress should not be used as an excuse to get out of doing things, that stress can cause people to say and/or do things without connecting actions with consequences, such as but not limited to taking the Lord's name in vain, other explicit statements, and/or negative actions. During rough times, it is important to show care for all involved impacted parties while also being mindful of our own needs. This is known as self-care, and I would like to clear up the common misconception that self-care is not selfish. Everyone has needs, whether they are big, small, or basic, and people should use self-care to relieve stress. When people take care of themselves, they can also make time and capability to show care for other people. It is just like the oxygen mask scenario: on airplanes, adults are instructed to put on their oxygen masks first before helping children and/or other loved ones put on their oxygen masks. Advocating for other people's rights is hard and stressful because it matters; however, advocates can tap into their higher selves to rise above madness and chaos.
To pledge against the R-word, go to: https://www.spreadtheword.global/about
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Citations
1. Associated Press. (2023 Aug. 31). Students With Disabilities in Pennsylvania Will Get More School Time in School Under Settlement. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/pennsylvania/articles/2023-08-31/students-with-disabilities-in-pennsylvania-will-get-more-time-in-school-under-settlement
2. Spread the Word. (2024). https://www.spreadtheword.global/about
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