My brother Jude, is the sole reason for my advocacy, as well as the person who has changed my life in the best way possible. Jude is diagnosed with Autism, Global Apraxia, and Receptive and Expressive Language deficits. At four years of age, he was placed in a classroom that integrated children with special needs with typically developing children. Unfortunately, Jude was not included in classroom activities as was deemed by his Individualized Education Plan. He experienced more exclusion than inclusion at this school. One of his experiences that still resonates with me to this day occurred to Jude daily during circle time. While the typically developing students gathered excitedly on the rug for circle time, Jude was placed in a tent in the corner of the room, trapped, isolated, and excluded. Due to his exclusion, Jude was moved to another school. Although his new school included him in activities, they poorly communicated with my parents and did not respect his health needs. Multiple times he came home with cuts, scratches or bruises with no explanation sent home by the school. Jude is on a gluten-free casein-free diet and would frequently come home sick from school because he was fed things he could not eat. After these experiences, my parents decided it was best to homeschool him in order to protect his mental, emotional, and physical health.
Outside of the school environment, my brother has also unfortunately experienced exclusion during activities advertised for the special needs population. For example, for 9 years, my brother attended a therapeutic horseback riding facility for children with special needs. Jude loved riding horses and looked forward to going every week. As he got older and began going through puberty, none of the volunteers wanted to walk with him anymore because he had grown larger and no longer appeared childlike. The activity my brother once loved, had now been ruined because of the ignorance of others.
My brother has not only been excluded from the classroom and activities beyond the classroom, but in daily life. My family and I have experienced the cruelty of others in our community and other environments where we should be accepted and welcomed. Our experiences have been cruel, heartbreaking and most of all unnecessary because enough people do not understand the necessity of embracing an inclusive philosophy. I wanted to share my brother’s experiences with mistreatment and exclusion because his story built my desire and fueled my passion to advocate for individuals with disabilities. This website’s purpose is to promote inclusion and acceptance of those with and without disabilities. I hope that everyone learns and remembers to treat others as you would like to be treated.
