Guest Blog: My Early Education

March is National Developmental Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month!  To celebrate, we’ll be spending NDDAM, as we like to call it, sharing stories from individuals in our programs, our staff, and members of our community who want to tell their stories, pose questions, or spark discussion.  This week we’re focusing on education, and our first story comes from self-advocate Kim Hudson, who writes about being the first student with a physical disability to be mainstreamed into her elementary school.

I began my education at the age of 2 ½ at the University of California Los Angeles’s Early Intervention Program. This program provided a preschool experience that included intensive physical and occupational therapy on a daily basis. It was a unique school setting for its time because although it was primarily geared towards children with developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, it also included able bodied children to act as ”models” in the classroom. Amazingly, I am still friends with many of the people I met at UCLA almost 50 years ago. We have developed a unique bond of shared experience and community support.

I began elementary school at McBride, in Mar Vista California. McBride was a segregated school for children with a variety of disabilities. All the children were placed in classrooms based on their ages rather than their cognitive ability levels. Teachers had to create generalized curriculums to meet the needs of everyone in their classes. As a result, the lessons were not very challenging for me or other students who did not have learning difficulties. I have to admit that as a child I enjoyed being at McBride because I often finished my work early and could spend the rest of the school day reading or doing other individual activities of my choice.

In addition, McBride was fun because I was surrounded by students with disabilities who looked like me and had the same types of physical needs or issues that I did. Looking back, I realize that I was “a big fish in a small pond” and that none of us made fun of each other or felt as if we were different for having a disability.

In 1975 Congress passed the Education for All Disabled Children Act which insured that all children with disabilities were entitled to the support and services necessary to be educated in the most integrated school setting. My parents were anxious to move from McBride to a regular public school because they were certain that I was not being challenged academically and that it would be advantageous for me to be educated alongside my nondisabled peers.

In 1977 I was the first person with a physical disability mainstreamed into my neighborhood elementary school. I entered as a fifth grader even though I was nearly a year older than the other students. My parents and teachers recognized that I was at least a year behind in my reading, writing and math skills. They also wanted to give me a chance to adjust socially and make friends prior to moving to middle school.

Honestly, I hated being mainstreamed; yes, I was being challenged academically, but I was tormented by bullies for being the only kid in my school with any type of disability. Young children can be cruel and for almost a year I dreaded going to school. Towards the end of the fifth grade I met a girl who would become my best friend through high school. She was quirky and funny, she was also taller than everyone else in elementary school, so she became my “bodyguard”. Everyone knew that if they messed with me, they would have to contend with my friend.

I know that bullying is a big issue in schools today, it’s going to happen to anyone who is different. My advice is that it is important for any child to have at least one friend to act as a buffer and supporter. I’m excited by the No One Eats Alone program at many elementary and middle schools that ensures that no student is excluded at lunchtime. Friendship was the key to my positive school experience.

Middle school is hard for everyone because so many physical and psychological changes are taking place. I had all those challenges as well as the realization that boys viewed me differently than other girls. I had plenty of guy friends, but I was left out of early dating experiences. There is no easy answer to this issue, but luckily, I was busy learning and spending time with friends, so middle school sped by despite a bit of heartache.

One of the things that helped me through middle school the most was that there were other kids there with disabilities at school. I also went to summer programs at UCPLA. It was essential for me to interact with people who were like me and dealing with the same struggles. I would walk into UCPLA and feel like I was home. Every teenager needs a place where they feel safe and accepted.

—

About Kim Hudson, MSW

I have Cerebral Palsy and I use an electric wheelchair to get around. I am a Social Worker with over 20 years of experience working with people with disabilities and chronic health issues.

Read more from Kim and her husband Tom at https://www.loveonwheels.net/.