Apparently I'm Special And You're Not
"I remember when I used to have a crush on Special Ed
Shoutout Desiigner, 'cause he made it out of special ed"
Every kid who stared out the car window as rain trickled down the curved glass while "Creep" Radio pulsed from earbuds knows the infamous line, "I wish I was special".
Fortunately for me, I never had to wish to be such, as I was plunked into my school district's
Special Education program at the spry age of three. Although, in my senior days of public school I often mull over whether I should feel so lucky to be categorized as a special student.
I didn't show any particular aptitude for quantum physics or applied calculus that would deem me to singled out from the rest of my peers. Rather, I was still struggling at perfecting my hand turkey game.
Nevertheless, I quickly learned I was special because I am disabled and honestly, there ain't nothing special about being disabled. As of a 2000 census, one in five Americans live with a physical or psychological disability. So much for that old saying, "you're one in a million".
For the sake of objectivity, the internet geniuses down at Wikipedia define special education as, "the practice of educating students in a way that addresses their individual differences and needs."
Now hold up a minute. Shouldn't schools educate ALL students in a manner to be suit each child?
Nope, but you'd think it would be like so.
By declaring students as special because of their disability only draws more attention to that child's differences and encourages our children to begin labelling and separating each other at an earlier age.
We wouldn't declare students from lower income families using programs such as reduced/free lunches as "The Economically Special" kids, so why do so with differently abled students?
Some might be thinking, "Jeez chill out, SJW, it's just a name in order to run the program." However, the name of the program will not make or break the quality of care provided, but it negatively impacts the child's social life.
The implied inequality between the regular Ed. kids and the SPED kids is palpable. The message to be friends with kids "no matter how special" is all to familiar. If the disparity created by calling students special didn't exist, there wouldn't be a PSA floating about the halls to make sure to be nice to the handicap kids.
I am not special because I have a disability, but I am special because I use my voice to help others. Everyone has something about them that makes them special in their own way and it is certainly not decided off of a biological trait out of their control.
