I'm too tired to be clever with the title

I am doing research about tutoring people with disabilities. Why am I doing this? My life experiences have helped me develop a deep interest in educating people with differences. You know that three of my sons have autism. I also have a brother with Spina Bifida who doesn’t come to WSU because his wheelchair doesn’t get around well in the snow. One of my sisters would like to come here, but she suffers from anxiety issues and is scared to death of heights. (She would have a lot of difficulty with all the stairs.) I spent almost three years working as a classroom aide for a boy with severe physical and cognitive disabilities. I just seem to be surrounded by people with differing challenges, and I don’t mind at all. In fact, I think I’d be happy spending the rest of my life educating and advocating for people who have disabilities.

Just last month I worked with a student who had challenges similar to those of my sons. I didn’t ask him if he was autistic - that wouldn’t be ethical. Still, as the session progressed I found myself noticing more and more of his interesting behaviors and personal quirks. I worked around them, and we ended up having a marvelous time.

But what if I hadn’t had so many experiences with people of differing abilities? Would I think his odd behavior was understandable, or would I have lost my patience or rolled my eyes at him? Would I have been afraid of him?

About twenty years ago I met some boys with “invisible disabilities,” and I am ashamed to say my first response to them was less than helpful. I thought, and even said out loud, that these were some weird kids. One boy heard it, and I could see that it hurt him. I felt awful. We became friends later, but I never really got over that time when my ignorance caused pain for someone else.

In the generation before mine people feared the disabled. They sent them off to “asylums” so no one would have to see them. What were they thinking? I don’t understand why so many people were just thrown away like that. I cannot imagine the world without “mongoloid eyes” and people who talk with their hands. I would have been so much more oblivious if I had never ridden a bicycle-built-for-two with my cousin who is blind. Besides, she is a great conversationalist.

I want to know how we can make it easier for people with differences. I plan to do my research on ways that writing centers have served people who have disabilities. I want to see where we were in the past, how far we have come, and where we need to go in the future. I want to help educate the public so we won’t be guilty of putting anyone in any kind of asylum, be it physical or social. Our society needs the diversity that can be found in its marvelous people with differing abilities.