Recently I was in the car headed to Costco with my daughter. My kids LOVE going to Costco and as it’s a 40-minute drive, it provides some time to have conversations with my teenagers.
The topic of Special Education came up in the course of our ride. She said that the kids at her Middle School, whenever they want to throw an shade at a person, they say things like “Retard” and “Sped”. A friend went off calling people “Sped” and she told him how hurtful that was, and that he may not know who was a Sped kid.
Now my daughter is gorgeous and well-liked.
He asked why she thought that.
Her reply took me by surprise.
“Because I’m Sped. I have ADHD and I’m proud of it!”
So often we think of disabilities as hard, horrible things. Yet here was my daughter saying that she was proud of one of hers.
She is proud of her ADHD because she loves herself. She’s proud of herself, and comfortable in her own skin. I wish I could bottle that up and give it away as gifts to others. She should be offering classes in her Middle School to the other kids.
It’s okay to be different.
(Unless your difference is that your Mom and Dad don’t think you need a smartphone and saddle you with a flip phone.😉)
