Most people don’t know me as a person; they just know me as an athlete. So, if I told you my favorite room in this school isn’t the gymnasium, would anyone believe me? The answer would likely be no, but it’s true. I actually spend most of my time in the special ed room, which might surprise most people. I love being there for many reasons, but mainly because I love the kids there. I say “kids,” but most students in the room are around 14 or 15, some even as old as 20.
Students in that room need extra help; that’s why they are there. The students in this room either have severe learning disabilities, Down Syndrome, or some form of autism.
The biggest misconception about these students is that they do not understand anything. This is far from the truth; the students in that room are way more knowledgeable than you will ever know. Many of the students have beaten me in UNO more times than I can count.
Another reason I love being there is that the students love being around me just as much as I do them. Grayson, Sam, Eli, Brandon and Tyler talk to me every day. The days I am not there they ask the teachers where I am at, or if I see them outside of school at my games they will always come up to me and I will go out of my way to talk to them every time. I enjoyed interacting with them so much that I even took Gracyn to Prom, which was one of the funniest nights of my life.
I had a great uncle with Down Syndrome, so I was exposed to people with disabilities at a very young age, which is probably the reason I am so good with them now.
My uncle’s name was Charlie, but my whole family called him Fud. Fud was one of a kind; he didn’t care who you were, he just wanted to talk to you. He loved everybody no matter shape size or skin color. Fud sadly passed away when I was around 7 or 8 but I still have heard all the stories about him. But the one specific memory I had was when my grandma used to live by the airport I would always go over there, and there was this game where I had to throw some baseball and get it to connect on the Velcro. I was young, and I remember that I kept messing up, and every time I messed up Fud would laugh at me every time. But now looking back on it, it is so funny to me because he didn’t care how old I was. He thought it was funny so he was gonna laugh at me. And that’s how Sam and Eli are now.
Sam and Eli are two brothers who both have Down Syndrome just like my uncle. Sam loves to make messes and people will say “he doesn’t know any better,” but as soon as you tell him to pick it up, he will start laughing and just make more of a mess, and every time he does that it reminds me of the times Fud would laugh at me for messing up.
Being around the students has given me a different outlook on life because every day I walk in there, all of them always have smiles on their faces, even though they each face their own challenges. It doesn’t matter to them because they are always happy. Many people wake up every day and are in a bad mood because of the weather, they can’t find their clothes or any other ridiculous reason. However, to the students in the special education room, it doesn’t matter what is happening in their lives; they always show a smile. That has taught me to appreciate what I have, appreciate the good things in life, and stop focusing on the bad because if they can stay positive, I can do it too.
Being around these people has also taught me not to judge, as Gracyn, Brandon, Amber, Sam, and Tyler are the masters at that. They have no clue whether or not I played well in my game the other night, and honestly, they don’t care. They only care about how I treat them and if they get to see me today, which is honestly one of the best feelings in the world. They don’t judge anyone; they just know what they see and how they are treated, and that’s why, no matter how I play a sport or what people say about me, they will always be waiting to see me every single day with a huge smile on their faces.