How did your disabililty affect your life at High School.?

Question

I have a moderate to severe hearing loss. I go to a resource room for extra help and have a assistant with me the most of the day. She also does other activities outside of school with me. Yeah I wish I could have a normal teenage life. I try not to let my disability or my other needs get in the way of making new friends or getting a girlfriend. But it does since I am in that category. I am not popular and tend to be shy which I am trying to outgrow. Living a normal life is hard even if you have a mild disability. Many people overthink my disability and think I am incapable of doing things. I also have Charge Syndrome but a very mild case of it. My parents force to me to learn about that syndrome but I refuse because it does not make me who I am. My disability does not make me who I am.

Answer 1

I had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in the 1970s at a time when one didn't have a "disability". You had a handicap that you'd better overcome. My high school didn't have ramps or elevators and granted, there were only two floors, but man, there were a lot of stairs to climb and I hurt all the time. It was a battle just to get a Dr's release from Phy-Ed but when I finally did, it was a blessing (whew)
You're right, my Dear, your syndromes do not make you who you are. You make you who you are. Don't let your parents (who *do* love you a great deal) or othrs hold you back. It'll be a slog getting over the shyness (I took a long time with mine) but you can do it. Good luck.

Answer 2

I had a rather difficult time in high school. I have a learning problem especially with reading comprehension and a previous brain injury from childhood. My mother didn't want me placed into the special ed resource room even though I felt as though I would be more comfortable academically. Fitting in was a problem since reading was difficult and perhaps not being at the same level of some of the other students both scholastically and emotionally (though I've always had an inordinate amount of empathy for others). I do wish that I had participated more in afterschool activities even if I felt that the student were less than friendly ;)

I would have liked to have been more physically active, however, the brain injury gives me problems with balance and coordination (and getting dizzy easily) among other issues. It does get better after high school, however. You are absolutely correct in that having a disability doesn't make you who you are. You are not defined by your disability or illness though are living your life dealing with it. We are people first as you mentioned -- a person with a hearing problem or a person with a brain injury (or learning disability). Another postee had a wonderful suggestion of looking into some activities and/or support groups for others with similar difficulties as yourself just to feel more comfortable with others and develop confidence that you are just as wonderful as you see other people and have the wisdom since you've dealt with so much thus far. Bless you and please take good care.

Answer 3

As someone who has a mild disability, I have to agree with the statements "Living a normal life is hard even if you have a mild disability" and that many people view the disabled as being incapable of doing anything correct. Don't let them get you down. I've made that mistake when I was younger and now 20 years later I'm kicking myself in the *ss because of it. Now, I'm having to make up for lost time which is aggravating as hell because no one takes a person with any form of disability seriously at all.

Focus on your academics and prove to these *ssholes that you are capable of doing anything that you want to do in life. If the people you meet accept you for who you are, which also means accepting your disability too, than you have found a real friend and this person should be cherished. However, if this person does not accept your disability than forget them because they are not worth wasting your time or effort with.

Remind strong because by not allowing your disability to make you who you are, I can see you living a very sucessful and happy life one day. Good luck.

Answer 4

Disabilities come in all degrees...for those people out there who are upset by hearing loss being labled as a disability. I have had insulin dependant diabetes since I was 9 and I started losing my eye sight while in college. I have always had to take insulin 3-4 times a day. When I was in high school it was sort of a drag to have to go to the nurses office several times a day to take injections and stick my finger. It was the most embarassing though when my sugar got too low some times. My friends and teachers were aware of the problem so were always able to help, but sitting on the gym floor not being able to talk did sort of bother me. The good thing was that most people were really interested in learning what was going on with me. I even did one of my speaches in Public Speaking class on how to take insulin properly. My class loved it. It sort of made things easier when I was more open about it. There are always people who think they need to feel sorry for someone who is different or has a "disability" but you are right not to let yourself be defined by it. For the most part I think being disabled just means we have to do certain things differently than others might do them...it seems like a good opertunity to be a leader instead of a follower to me! By the way...what is "normal" these days?! Don't ever let yourself forget that every single individual has a different idea of what normal is or isn't.

Answer 5

No of course your disability doesn't make you who you are, but it does contribute to the person you will become and by rejecting it and not learning about your disability utlimately you're rejecting yourself.

I realize it must be hard to have to have an aide with you most of the time , it does kind of cut down on the social interactions with other teenagers. Are there not deaf and hard of hearing support groups you could attend and do activities with them? Not that you have to stay with only people with a similar disability to yours, but at first it may just make you more comfortable with yourself and your disability.

There were half a dozen of us with disabilities in hs and all different kinds. There were the jerks who liked to push me down the stairs for fun, however I got so I could roll pretty good and I look up and say oh I think that rates a ten don't you?

Probably explains my bad back now, however the kids at my hs finally put an end to that with a friendly little chat from some of the football players out back.

I did everything everyone else did in hs, and the kids then didn't seem to have a major problem with it and I went to a hs with close to 2000 kids in it .

Looking back kids back then weren't quite so mean and polarizing and the kids that were just got ignored or got told off by other people.

Maybe that's part of living in a small town too, everyone knows everyone else and knows everyone else's parents,grandparents , aunts, uncles, siblings. You act like a jerk they hear about it.

Be who you are , be friendly, try a few activities at first . Make sure your aide doesn't crimp your style by acting like a surrogate parent. Explain politely to people what your disability is and how it affects your life , they may be as shy as you are and don't understand about disability, make the opportunity so they learn that disabled people are people too.

Answer 6

I actually found after-high school harder and worse than high school or before. College was alright after I transferred and felt better about where I was. Having job troubles is like the worse, I have never felt like I had to fit a mold more than when I'm trying to find jobs because bosses around here are picky or something.

High school wasn't easy (just like for everyone) but survived, I was as popular as I could get despite having a disability, I guess being mostly mainstreamed helped, and I did make the senior superlatives (most unique).

Answer 7

I walk with a limp, and I guess my head leans to the right at times. And I wear thick glasses. I've also got some learning disabilities too. In high school, kids used to pick on me all four years. IT got better as the years went on. But still. I was really good in history and english, but when it came to math and science, not so much. So I was in math classes two levels behind my grade. So yeah, I was the only senior in geometry class. There was this one sophomore who'd always tease me for being a senior in a sophomore class. I'd just ignore him, or tell him I was outta here in a semester, but he was stuck for two years. One day he shined a reflector to the lights, and let it reflect off my glasses. The teacher didn't notice, but anotther student did, and spoke up. I never reeally made friends, Iwas shy too. My doctor perscribed that i sit at the front of the class, but my spanish teacher made me sit in the back, i had to go up to the board to copy stuff...embarrassing! Then because of this, I fell asleep after a movie once, and was almost locked in class! When I was a freshman, a girl twice my size threatened to kill me, because she thought I was ugly. She knew where I lived, so I was scared, but I'm alive. High school sucked. Graduation was my happiest day. THe only people nice to me were teachers and people in the resource program. Luckily, I only had to hunt for seats my senior year, because I had friends at lunch all other times. College is SO much better! They don't have time to tease u. Some are more friendly too.

I hope ur high school experience will be much better than mine.

Answer 8

As a person with a disability, high school is the worst time of your life. It gets better later, really, it does. You're always going to have the occasional jerk who thinks you can't do something that you can, but you can prove them wrong, or you have the freedom to go where they are not. In high school, you're pretty much stuck with what fate hands you. Also, people have not matured at that point and will attack anything different from themselves. Out in the real world, this is seriously frowned upon. People may still have preconcieved ideas about you, but the'll be quieter about it.

I'd reccommend learning as much as you can about whatever syndromes you have because it's good to know what to expect. of COURSE it doesn't define you. But it's good to know about. I am legally blind. It's good to know what to expect. It's good to have something to say to people who ask about it. Also, if you can educate other people, they'll be less inclined to expect incorrect things about you. I also have asthma. It's good to know as much as I can about that because it keeps me ALIVE.

Anyway, disabilities make life very rough in high school and the best advice i can give you is find a few close friends- seek out people who have cause to understand being different, and they'll make for better companions than the people who just don't "get" you. Good luck, and just remember, after graduation, life really begins.

Answer 9

I was (learning) disabled in high school but I didn't identify myself as disabled. Because of not accepting myself as needing help I struggled more than I should have. I didn't want to go to a resource room and preferred to try to work it out on my own. I didn't want to get speech therapy (because I couldn't hear well) and preferred to pronounce things badly.

I regret it now.

Who thought what about me in high school is now long forgotten. I wish I would have taken advantage of every resource I could have now. I still speak in a way that makes it hard for people to understand me sometimes. I finally learned the tricks I could have learned in high school to deal with my learning disability almost 20 years later.

Take advantage of everything you can - you have more opportunities for support around your disability in high school than anywhere you will ever have in the future.

Answer 10

No your disability does not define who you are... but it does make you who you are. I respect your will and that is wonderful do see. However i'm going to talk to you real for a min. people that are different can't afford to be shy. All that is is fear and you aren't a scared young man. So there is nothing to be afraid of by talking to people. Its like this dear... what you don't have in one area... you have to make up for in another. Don't let people make you feel less than an inspiration... because that's what you are hunny.