Day 21: How Are We Different?

I am always a little sad when I come to the end of the unit on special needs that I teach my five-year-old class.  I pour my heart and soul into the unit.  I have added more experiences every year and yet I feel I have done such an inadequate job of giving everything I can to the kids.  There is so much I want to communicate to them.  All of the lessons I have learned so far took me 15 years to experience.  I don't know why I think I can teach them in four or five weeks.

Working with children and young adults with special needs has changed my perspective on all people and definitely helped me to understand myself in a different way.  You see we are all different but we are also all the same.  Everyone has a need to be loved, accepted, and valued.  It doesn't matter what our challenge or disability is.  We also have a need to be part of something bigger than ourselves.  When you know that someone needs to be valued and have purpose, you look at them differently.  You respond to them differently.

For so many years I struggled with self-image and through all of the friends I have made in this ministry I have realized that it doesn't matter.  If I struggle with self-image then I am focusing on myself, just as much as a person that struggles with arrogance does.  If I am going to communicate love and acceptance to others, then I have to believe it first for myself.  If I truly believe that we are ALL created in God's image, then that includes me as well.

Every year I hope and pray that my students leave my classroom believing and knowing they are loved, accepted, and valued.  I hope they can understand that God can show His power through any weakness they may have.  My hope is they will never spend their energy feeling self-conscious but will walk confidently knowing that they were made in God's image and God has a plan for them.

I know the things we have experienced over the last five weeks will fade from their memory but I hope the children are still changed.  I hope some of their questions have been answered and the walls so many of us have built will never be built in their lives.

This year marks 50 years of the signing of the Civil Rights Act and next year will mark 25 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  So much has changed in 50 years.  It is easy to focus on what has not happened that needs to, but our country and its attitudes are radically different than they were 50 years ago.  I hope my students will never know the injustices of the past and will be able to embrace people, their abilities and disabilities, in a way that is both empowering and honoring to the people God has created.