Affliction Day

This article below appeared in the Mansfield News Mirror, a Texas newspaper. Before reading it, consider the definition of 'affliction':

af·flic·tion   /əˈflɪkʃən/
–noun
1.a state of pain, distress, or grief; misery

I swear, if my school district ever wants to have an 'affliction' day, my child will not be the one that is afflicted. (Notice the non-blindfolded student laughing at the student pretending to be blind in the picture to the right.)

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Students Spend Challenging Day

The students at Mansfield High School have experienced learning on a whole new level. The past few days the students in Robyn Russell's Teen Leadership class have been preparing to have an affliction day. The students were blind, deaf or mute. They had to live one day the way a child or adult with disabilities would in an educational atmosphere.

The students were given tasks they had to complete with a partner who did not have a disability. One of the tasks was for each student to go down the hall and get a drink of water. Many of the blind students had their hands out to feel for walls and depended on their partner for guidance.

"I was very disoriented while walking through the halls," said senior Ryan Collins. "I have been walking these halls the last four years but as soon as the blindfold went on I had no idea where I was in the school."

Another activity was to color a picture of a tiger. First, the teacher asked the students to write their names on the paper. Most of them ended up being sideways or upside down. Next, they were given two markers and told to color a picture.

"I felt lost," said Shayla Blackwell, a sophomore. "I didn't even know what I was coloring let alone what color markers I had in my hands."

The students also had to complete a workout routine. The majority felt dizzy and embarrassed. All the students believed even in the short period of time they were disabled that one of their other senses became stronger.

Affliction day gave students a small insight into the life of a disabled individual. The tasks they completed were simple to those without disabilities, but they could tell that life would be much more difficult with a handicap. The students got to experience a few of the challenges having a disability creates, but there are many more such as discrimination in employment, higher insurance and for teenagers a social status that can be difficult to overcome.

Many of the students said walking in another person's shoes is the best way to experience their life.

Insensitive

As many of you know, I have a 19 year old daughter named Jessica. I adopted Jessica when she was 9 years old. She had spent most of her life in foster care, and along the way was both physically and sexually abused. In addition, she was diagnosed as an infant with brain cancer. She had a tumor removed and two years of chemo and radiation. The cancer and its treatment left her with a significant intellectual disability, and her time in foster care left her with a significant mental illness.

Jessica has, however, become a fine young woman. She does struggle daily to keep the mental illness under control, and she is striving to learn enough to be able to live semi-independently. She is still in school, and will stay there until she is age 22 and must leave. She is in a self-contained classroom and always has been.

So imagine my surprise when I received a phone call last week from a Navy recruiter. He asked if I was Jessica’s mother. I said yes. He then went into his recruiter spiel and I couldn’t get a word in because he was reading so fast from his script.

When he finally took a breath, I asked, “Have you met my daughter?” He said no, but that he was the recruiter assigned to her high school and was looking forward to meeting her. I asked, “Do you get any information about the students you are trying to recruit before contacting them, or do you just get a list of all student names from the school?” He said, “I get a list, and then I contact the students who are of age to recruit.”

I said, “Has it crossed your mind that some of the students you contact might not be qualified to enter the armed forces?” He said, “We work very closely with our recruits and are usually successful in helping them become the best they can be.”

I then described Jessica to him. This time I was the one not letting him get a word in. I told him of her background, of her challenges, of her sweet nature, of her desire to be, as he described, the best she can be. Finally I stopped, and then said, “Okay, now shall we discuss her recruitment?”

He was momentarily speechless, and then when he did talk, he stumbled all over his words. I decided to put him out of his misery, and suggested that perhaps in the future he might want to do a little more homework before contacting families.

I have always accepted Jessica’s challenges and love her for the person she is. But, I’ll bet there are some parents who are still saddened by dreams unfulfilled. Approaching such a parent with talk of Navy recruitment is just plain insensitive.

Today I am thankful for Jessica's tenancity.