1st Place Essay Winner

Allyssa Ertz, 7th grade

August 1st, 1993. Dan, my 17-year-old brother, dove into shallow water in Lake View, Iowa, and broke his neck. He is now a quadriplegic. He is paralyzed, in a wheelchair, and has to deal with it every day. Imagine what this would be like.

Others cannot comprehend being paralyzed. It is hard to think of what it would be like not to be able to move our body parts. It would be the hardest thing I can imagine.

I was wondering what it would be like to be in a wheelchair like my brother. I was hoping to maybe experience for just 3 hours during Disability Day what he experiences every day. Instead, I was able to experience something else that was interesting. I got to wear a helmet, and feel the heat and heaviness of it. Having that on your head all the time would be hard. You might get used to it, but it would still be annoying. People might stare, or make fun of it. That would be difficult to handle, because it isn't your fault that you have to wear it. I think it would be difficult to worry that your body wouldn't function right all the time.

I also believe that all the other disabilities would be hard to handle, like not being able to hear. You wouldn't know what was going on around you all the time. I have a deaf cousin who can read lips, and he is very good at it. It's amazing the different things they came up with to help everyone with their disabilities. These are the reasons why inclusion in important. We need to make sure that people who have disabilities, and everyone, are included in our activities. We should make sure everyone is able to join, and feel loved because we need to love each other and God loves us. God will help us to be inclusionary and love others, and help others.

I didn't get to experience what my brother had to deal with, but I got to see and hear things about being in a wheelchair and about other disabilities. I'm thankful we got to do this, and happy we got to help others. Thanks for the experience!!

Levi Blunk and Kevin Baqueiro, participate in Disability Day.

2nd Place Essay Winner

Jillian Ludwig, 6th Grade

When I had to be in the wheel chair it was not fun at all it was hard. People kept looking and staring at me because I was not normal like them. People always walked in front of me. It hurt my feelings. I felt like a rock that people never even cared about it was sad. I had to use the elevator and it took me more time then every body else. All the 5th graders kept staring at me. But now I look back and I'm glad I'm not disabled it would be really hard to deal with, people always staring, hurt feelings, left out of all the games, and when all your friends are playing fun games you only get to watch them play. I have this really good friend his name is Bobby and he has a disability and he gets teased a lot. He's always left out of things. Some people tease him so bad he tells me he wants to kill himself, then I worry that whole night about him. Sometimes after school he'll walk home with me and he'll tell me how his day went. Most the time it went good others not so good. All I could really tell him is that "We're in 5th grade now buddy its gonna be hard people will eventually start maturing 'Hopefully' they will." They're just being brats now. They'll get better. I think that helps him out now we're in 6th grade he has to try to suffer from that without me this year. I feel bad that he gets picked on like that. I want them to be in his shoes it's probably really hard. I was his only friend that makes me sad. I'm hurt that people say and do things like that. If I was in the public school I'd get laughed at. They should all be glad they are normal and don't have a bad disability!

The world would go better if everybody that had a disability would be included in stuff the other kids are doing. If I ever see someone that is not getting included I would go and include them in what I'm doing so they aren't hurt by the other people's actions. When I'm somewhere and I see someone with a disability I feel sorry because people stare. Just because you're different doesn't mean that people stare and make others feel sad. The other day I was at the mall this guy was on stilts and I looked around some people were laughing it was hard to watch, because he must have been a small person and there must have been something wrong with his legs. I felt terrible. I wish I could've yelled to the people "What if you were that way?" It made me sad to watch that guy listen to the laughing and watch the staring. I thought the inclusion activity at school was good because if I had a disability like that, I think people in my school would include me. Now we all know what it's like to have a disability and be excluded, which makes you feel invisible to the kids that don't have a disability.

Alyssa Seuntjens and Kelsey L'Heureux head out of class.

3rd Place Essay Winner

Kelsey L'Heureux, 6th grade

On disability day I learned how it feels when a person is disabled. I felt scared when all the people were looking at me. I also felt strange not being able to walk right. It felt cool to know how people feel and look when they are disabled. It also felt scary because you would not know if people would like you. So I hope people don't laugh and just be friends with disabled people, and don't treat them like they are never there. That is how I felt being disabled.

How do disabled people feel? I think they feel very scared not being able to do what they use to do, or not being able to feel what other people can do, like running. I also think they feel like one of a kind doing it their own special way. They probably feel very sad not hanging out with their friends. Like maybe if someone is deaf they won't be able to be in a conversation, or people in wheelchairs and walkers won't be able to be in fun stuff, like basketball, volleyball, soccer, and other fun sports. Some people who are blind won't be able to see all the cool things, like seeing a cool rainbow, or if they just moved into a new house they won't know where everyone is, or what it looks like. For some people who can't talk it would be very hard because, if you wanted to say something you would have to write it very fast, or do sign language. I think all the people who are disabled would have a very hard time not being able to do the fun things.

How do others treat disabled people? Well some people treat disabled people like they are not even there, or "Who cares about them? We can do what ever we want because they are disabled people." Although some people are nice and do notice them. Some people treat them like they are a person. Some people know it's not right to do what ever they want to disabled people. They know it's not fair to the disabled people, because if they were disabled they would not want to be treated however non disabled people want. They can't defend them selves, because if they were in a wheelchair, walker, blind, deaf, or can't speak they would have to have someone to help them to ask them to please stop. I think INCLUSION means that you let everyone in so nobody feels sad. That is what I think inclusion means. I think people should know that they are really there. I hope the disabled people know that it does not matter if they are disabled because God loves everyone in a very special way. I hope the people who are disabled knows that they are very very special. That is what I learned and thought of Disability Day.

Azurena Baqueiro and Alex Smith help Adam Jenkins, while Jack Vazquez watches.