Well hello, my name is Erin Ray. I am obvioulsy a special education major. I have a minor in sign language and I just transfered here from Owensboro Community College with an Associates degree. I love music and art and my family means the world to me. I'm not the typical 22 year old girl and I'm very proud of that. I'm glad to stand out in a crowd. But none of those things are whats important. The important thing is who I am now and what led me to be here. I would like to share a bit of that story with you so that maybe you can begin to understand why teaching will never be just a job to me.
At 16, as a junior in high school I was diagnosed with a bone disease in my legs. I spent those next two years of high school and part of my start of college in and out of wheelchairs, hospitals and on crutches. Before my diagnoses I wanted to teach high school english. But during those 3 years and those 5 surgeries, my heart changed. I wanted to do something more. I felt so powerless everyday and I hated that. One morning I woke up and I physically could not move myself. And I realized that if I hated this for one day or a week or month, how would someone feel who lived there life with this disability or another. And thats when I knew. Who better to teach a child who has a disability than someone who has experienced a small side of it themself.
So I began my college career with a goal. And I had people who tried to stop me. People who said that I could do better and more important things. But they were wrong then and they still are.
A year ago, I was diagnosed with epilepsy as well. It was a shell shock for a 20 year old girl. But after I accepted it and my new terms of life I realized something. It was just one more thing that could make me stronger. One more thing that could help me to understand my class better.
So here is the thing about communication. It's not always about words or how you say them. Sometimes, it is about how the word, fate, life itself interacts with you and how you react back. Do you go with it or against it?
And this is what I did. I let life lead me to where I am supposed to be. And I have never been happier.
3 comments:
Thanks for being willing to share your story! Having those experiences can give you an empathy that will certainly give you a perspective that others of us can not have. You will have the opportunity to use it to make you a much more sensitive teacher!
Mrs. White
Wow, your story sounds incredible. I guess it is true - what doesn't kill us really does make us stronger. :)
I'm sorry you've gone through so much in such a short amount of time, but I hope your experiences will be able to enlighten our class on things we would have never imagined.
I am a true beliver that everything happens for a reason and like you I have a story but mine doesn't involve anything like yours but, I work at a day camp for kids ages 6-12 in the summer. At this camp we have all kinds of kids some that have special needs and some that don't. One of the kids has down syndrome and uses no language at all except for simple hi's and bye's. I can not point out one thing that this little boy did but he changed my life. He made me believe that special education was what I was ment to do with my life. I thank him for changing my whole way of thiking and living for that matter.
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