Special Stories book- Despite being classified with multiple disabilities, discover the abilities one teen has
I realize that we have to give names to things, but I’m not sure that “disability” or “disabled” should be used to describe human beings. Read the below story about one teen I worked with and let me know how “disabled” you think he really is.
A sixteen-year-old high school junior, Ralphie (not his real name) has Down syndrome, autism, and is deaf in one ear. He is four-feet-ten-inches tall and, like many young men with Down syndrome, is stocky. He has a difficult time expressing himself verbally—he stammers, his words are nearly indistinguishable, and he has to concentrate hard in order to speak each syllable. Despite Ralphie’s multiple disabilities (MD) classification, his school hired me to work with him to identify and unearth his abilities.
When I first met Ralphie during my initial intake with him and his family, I discovered that Ralphie’s interests included listening to music, preferably from 1980’s hair bands such as Skid Row, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard.
A music lover and fan of ’80s music myself, I related to his musical tastes. While Ralphie frequently spoke key phrases from certain songs, I acknowledged them and then repeated them back to him. This put a smile on his face.
Connection made.
After job developing for a week, I located a mom-and-pop record store where Ralphie began working and was paid at the end of each week with CDs of his choice. (Since Ralphie had no concept of money, this was a meaningful form of payment for him.) Ralphie’s duties included straightening up merchandise on the shelves, cleaning the glass cases with Windex, dusting, and removing CDs from boxes and placing them in their proper display sections. With minimal assistance, Ralphie performed these tasks and enjoyed his work.
Wanting to expand his vocational opportunities, with Ralphie’s approval and his parents’ blessing, I secured Ralphie a second job at a small toy store in his hometown where he worked in the stockroom. Ralphie unpacked toys from boxes, stickered them with the price gun, and then placed them in a designated area out on the sales floor. Though Ralphie required supervision to keep him on track in both jobs, after a few hiccups during the transition process, Ralphie performed extremely well in all of the tasks asked of him.
This next example really showcases Ralphie’s abilities.
One summer I took Ralphie as my guest to a company picnic. His mom informed me that he should not eat more than one meal, and that he could be quite clever. I nodded sagely and said, “No problem, I got it covered.”
She grinned with a somewhat disbelieving smile.
After joining the picnic, Ralphie immediately let me know he wanted to eat. “Mi-koo … Ral-phie … hun-gry,” the words were slurred and indistinct as he tried hard to enunciate. I made sure to get him his desired and mother-approved meal—a cheeseburger, fries, and a Diet Coke. After wolfing down his meal and chugging down his soda, Ralphie instantly lost interest in me.
Hmm. OK.
Being that he is an adorable kid, there was never a shortage of people wanting to be around him. Many folks at the picnic knew who Ralphie was, with some coming up to him to say hello. Ralphie seemed anxious to ditch me in favor of hanging out with someone new.
At that moment, a colleague of mine approached us. Ralphie reached for her hand and asked her if she would take him down to the lake. She gladly accepted and I approved. A few minutes later the counselor returned and let me know she never did make it to the lake with Ralphie. She said along the way that Ralphie told her that he was hungry and hadn’t eaten, so she got Ralphie a cheeseburger, fries and a Diet Coke. I thanked her for—
Wait—what?
I looked at Ralphie and told him he’s a genius—A GENIUS!
When Ralphie’s mother came to pick him up later that day, I relayed the story to her. She shook her head and said that at family picnics Ralphie goes through several family members claiming to be hungry and manipulating them to get what he wants to eat. Once he eats, he ditches them and looks for new unwitting accomplices to get him more food.
In the disabilities field, someone who has Down syndrome, autism, is hearing-impaired and stutters is classified as multiply disabled.
I’m not so sure about that.
To read more stories about interesting kids with disabilities, visit https://www.specialstoriesbook.com to learn about the new book, “Special Stories: Short Stories On Youth With Disabilities And My Adventures Working In The Disabilities Field” by Mike Kelly (2017, Vendue Books)
