Mainstream

Children with physical disabilities need to be mainstreamed as much as possible.

I'll use myself as an example. I started off in a school for children with physical and developmental disabilities. My Dad, David "The Bear" LaVack, realized I was not learning anything. He talked my Mom and Grandmother into letting me try the regular public schools. This was a different time way back in the mid 1970's. I still remember my first day of first grade with all the other kids looking at me. I thought it was because I was the new kid. We were all new kids. Things quickly changed. Soon, I was just another student making my way through the school year. To my knowledge this was long before IEP's and "certificates of completion." I did the same homework, school work and cut up as much as anyone. For the most part, I had little to no trouble with bully types. One time going to the bus another kid started to make fun of me. I had barely caught on to the fact he was making fun of me before another older kid I dd not know left the bus he was already on and proceeded to beat his ass. I never has another incident at that school.

I did go through one phase of being bullied. I did everything wrong (and no I'm not blaming myself for the bad behavior of others). Hear me out. It was the only time I was isolated and friendless and I looked different. My family relocated and I went from a rural school to an inner-city school. It was a different culture. I did not try to tell anyone what was going on. I was picked on pretty bad on a daily basis (never physically).  But hell, I survived. Here is where you learn from my mistakes. Make friends. Later on I helped other kids with homework and got them out of class early to help me carry books. I was (and still) attracted to the misfits and yoyos. There are always some. So I was never alone. A funny thing happened in high school. I soon realized I could get along with kids from any group, pot heads, preps jocks, goths and punks. In time I had friends in each group. A smile and the occasional "S'up man" in the hall goes a long way. I'd make eye contact and nod (acknowledge) everyone I could. I had no bully drama in high school.

After ruling out an NFL or NBA career, I realized I better start using my brain. K-11 I was always your basic C student. My last year I decided to see how well I could do. I got up to A's and B's (Except math and I still suck at math). Sadly, my math teachers passed me anyway. I went on to community college and the local university. I'm now a recovering English Major with a Master's Degree in Conflict Resolution. Both are useful and timeless degrees. English Majors will still be reading Shakespeare and learning to think critically 100 years from now.                      

I'll do a part II to this soon.