Project Unify Assignment

I have always had a passion and enjoyed helping others. In fact, I have devoted my elective credits to be involved in assisting special education students. Since my junior year of high school, I have been a peer coach by working with students with disabilities. During my peer coach semesters, I have assisted the special education students learn communication and vocational skills. In the communication course that I peer coached in, I have had the privilege to work under the direction of a Speech and Language Pathologist and an Occupational Therapist. In the communication course, I helped students progress on their reading, writing, and communication skills. After the communication course, of my senior year, I worked with a special education

Empathy towards people with disabilities is a quality that I consider has been deep-seated in me since an early age. For example, when I was ten years old, while watching the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) telethon, I was moved to do a fundraiser in my community. All the money raised was sent to the MDA. This made me aware that we can all contribute in some way or another to the good of others. Later on, after completing my high school, I decided to pursue a degree in Physical Education and recreation for children with disabilities. Working as an Adeptive Physical Educator gave me the opportunity to change the lives of many students. The years invested in this occupation brought me great personal and professional satisfactions that still follow me to this

Joni had worked for over 25 years in the local school system as an Educational Tech II, otherwise known as a teacher’s aide. In this capacity, she got to know generations of teachers, students and their families. In addition, working with high needs students with challenging intellectual disabilities, she sought to identify opportunities for her students to gain practical knowledge in local organizations and life skills to ensure their dignity as adults. To create these connections she often interacted with numerous small businesses, non-profits, and community-based organizations.

For three years, I have worked with Youth Challenge, an organization that helps children with physical or mental disabilities do activities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do at home or at school. When volunteering, I am assigned a buddy (as they call it), a different one each time, that has some mental or physical disability ranging from Down syndrome to cerebral palsy to visual impairment. As volunteers, we assist our buddy for the day and become friends with them.

Furthermore, school is a place where you make friends and integrate with one another. However, individuals with disabilities are often susceptible to face vast number of stereotypes, labels or discomfort at school. That is because of the lack of consciousness and biases that is created by imposing a distinction between non-disabled versus disabled from an early age. Valerie Piro tells us that some her classmates told her that she has a “perfect personal essay topic” (Piro 3). Her friends imply that she has the “perfect essay topic” because of her disability. Yet, it is rather confusing that they are being ironic, jealous or making fun of her situation. As Piro emphasizes, human beings need to “encourage one another to demand that society accept”

For my Service-Learning activity I had Two Groups from the Krieger Schechter day school. One group was a class of 22 kindergarteners, where we presented to them about a how create a safe and welcoming community for individuals who may be Deaf. I feel we have made an impact on these young students. They were extremely smart, and I think we gave them some information they didn’t know previously, but also got them really thinking about how to communicate, include, and befriend a Deaf individual.

Growing up with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy has allowed me to develop an understanding and appreciation for the importance of diversity. Disability is not always thought of as a form of diversity, but it is the largest minority group in the world. I am interested in attending COSD FULL ACCESS Student Summit because the companies that are attending this summit recognize the importance of recruiting and retaining students with disabilities. I want to work for a company that will value my differences because I know the value of having different voices with different experiences sitting at the leadership table. This summer, I had the opportunity to travel with Vanderbilt University to South Africa and volunteer in a local school. I saw that

Never would I have thought that being a counselor at a summer camp filled with tubing, movie watching, water balloon fights and lots of singing and dancing would make me see the world in such a new and brighter light. This past summer I participated as a counselor in a week-long summer camp called Camp Able. The camp is for children and adults ranging from ages 6-60 with disabilities, particularly Down Syndrome and Autism. Prior to this camp, I didn’t realize how much joy these unique souls could bring to my life. Camp Able was not only an experience that impacted me in a positive way but did so to the 50 campers that attended as well. The camp’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the word impossible from the

Summer before Freshman year of high school, my Uncle Ronnie, my fatherly figure, introduced me to the Special Olympics Surfing. Understanding my passion for the sport, he knew the experience will aid in the growth of my character. the individuals I worked with faced intellectual disabilities: Autism, Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, etc. Before volunteering for the Special Olympics, I was absent minded to the struggles and obstacles of other individuals’ lives and to the advantages I was given at birth. When I taught the individuals how to surf safely, they taught me to value the abilities I was given. Seeing how I can function independently unlike a considerable portion of the individuals forced me to reconsider how I viewed life. I

My high school had a special program just for students with disabilities. A big passion of mine in high school was being the leader of the Service Over Self club which worked primarily with the kids in our school with disabilities. It encouraged all the students to befriend someone with a disability and incorporate them into our daily activities. The teachers in my school were wonderful about making sure that the special needs students felt warm and welcome in any area of the school they went to. Dedicating so much time to working with the special needs students really opened my eyes to all the blessings I have in my life. Even though I had a very rough time with my back problems, it is extremely minute to the struggles these children go through

My grandfather taught me the importance of making a difference in the lives of others. Subsequently, he declared that each day provides another opportunity to make a difference, and I should never sleep until I have generated a difference for someone that day. My high school organizational memberships have bestowed many opportunities to enrich the lives of others. The Caring Cats motto is “helping to make school a better place.” As I am an actively involved member of this organization, I volunteer for the Special Olympics competitions that are held at our school’s campus. Special Olympics provide opportunities for youth to achieve success; unfortunately for some, it is first time success is known. Consequently, I deem it necessary for me to

I am a very active volunteer in my community. I previously worked with the Special Olympics as a team leader to create podiums for the medal winners. My classmates and I created wheelchair accessible ramps for the disabled. A challenging task for the project was being able to get the material we used to withstand the outside elements. With hard work and determination we were able to get the task done well before the deadline. I enjoy working with disable people because they’re just like everyone else they want to have fun and spend time with friends. I like the joy I can bring them by volunteering my time and efforts. I also volunteer with habitat for humanity to provide underprivileged families with a place to live. My vocational background

Throughout the past five years, I have had a lot of experience with individuals with special needs. For two summers, I volunteer at Camp Barnabas, which is a summer camp for individuals with special needs. I got to spend many weeks becoming

As we focus on future, we start to ponder and more about what our career paths are ultimately going to become. Being just a sophomore, I do not know where exactly where I am going to end up after college. However, there is one career path that can help with the barrier of education that children with disabilities face. By being is a special education teacher, which does the job of helping the students of disabilities to receive an education that every children rightfully deserves. By participating in this career you can have an opportunity to change the lives of these children who are not given the same privileges as able bodied students.By doing much research, there are an array of different nonprofit organizations one being Disabled For Attendant

Throughout this class I have learned a lot. Honestly, before the class I didn’t really understand people with disabilities. I thought that they were weird and messy and I didn’t really want to be near them. I know that this is horrible thought but part of me I didn’t feel comfortable being around them. I didn’t know how to act and I didn’t want to treat them like babies. I had misconceptions of people with disabilities and I believed in all of the stereotypes. Looking back I know how that it was wrong of me to think that. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of this class in order to inform me of what people with disabilities are really like.