Sitting on the school steps waiting for pickup, I am astounded. So astounded that I start counting: 1, 2, 3, 4567, 8… 9! Nine kids who have Down syndrome at Lydia’s school! Nine children who look just like my daughter, cheerfully walking by in a line. I am so delighted & struck by the sight that later describing it to Dan I use my best Oprah impression to capture what it felt like to be there: “You get an extra chromosome! And YOU get an extra chromosome!”
For most of her edu, Lydia has been the only child w/ DS in her class. Last year she was the only one in her entire school. At the elementary my boys attend, there are none. Our district clusters disabled students K-6 into “central location” schools in order to consolidate resources. This is not my favorite arrangement for many reasons… They move us around, Lydia doesn’t get to attend w/ her brothers or neighborhood friends, inclusion is typically less, & the classes for these students are large & place heavy burdens on teachers & staff. BUT, today, for just a moment, I focused on an unforeseen positive: almost a dozen kiddos at one location who all share the same extra light.
This particular school is a pillar in the district & community. A few yrs ago they tried to move the Sped program out of it, & the community revolted. “NO. We want these kids here. We’ve built a program that we are proud of. We are integrated & they are part of us. The program stays.” And because of the outcry, it did. So as I watch Lydia’s classmates file by in numbers I usually only see once or twice a yr at large events, I think, “Wow. What a gift for this school. To interact w/ this happy crew all the time. To see them all over—on the playground, in the halls, in class & at lunch. To have so many kids w/ disabilities that it’s not even uncommon anymore… it just IS.” And then I thought of the hundreds of students at my sons’ school who will have absolutely no interaction w/ children w/ disabilities until they move on to junior high. What a cavernous hole in the social make up. What undeveloped skills for those peers. What a loss.
“Hi!” says a friend waving to me. “There’s Lydia!” says another. I smile. She already belongs.
