Last week, I had the pleasure of attending an elementary school district employee awards ceremony. My wife was receiving her 10 year plaque. She sat with the other recipients in their main floor section, and I sat with the other guests up in the bleachers. During the ceremony, a team of Special Education teachers won an award for excellence in their work. The best part was that they were nominated for it by their peers, the other teachers at their school.

As I listened to the administrator describe that team’s efforts, I was moved – so moved in fact, that I’ve been inspired to write a blog about my own experiences with special education. However, I’ve also realized that there is too much to say in one blog. As a result, I have created a four-part blog called “The SPECIAL … Series”.

This is the first of 4 blogs, each exploring a different element of Special Education.

Part 1: The SPECIAL Bus

When my twin brother and I started school, he walked with our older sister 2 blocks to the elementary school in our neighborhood. I was bussed to a school in a neighboring town. It wasn’t just any bus, no – this was what you might call a “special bus”. Who’s kidding who? That’s what people called it back then, and probably still do today. For all practical purposes, that’s what it is. It’s a bus that carries students with special needs to and from school.

I still remember some of the people who rode the bus with me back then. I may not remember all of their names, but I sure do remember the experience. I rode that bus for two school years – kindergarten and first grade, yet everyone on board left a lasting impression. One student named Bob was probably in 5th grade when I started riding the bus. He seemed so confident, so comfortable, yet he was completely blind. He got on that bus every day with his white and red cane, made his way to his favorite seat, and greeted everyone else on the bus with a hearty “Good Morning”.

Fast forward 45 years. My mom was talking to a woman on her bowling league in Sun City, Arizona, and they shared stories of their sons who are ironically both visually impaired. It turns out that we both had the same special education teacher back in Illinois. Through their conversation, it was discovered that my mom was talking to Bob’s mom. How cool is that!?

They exchanged contact information, and since their conversation, Bob and I have reconnected. While we’ve not seen each other in 45 years (OK, I’ll wait… get the jokes out of your system), we have enjoyed catching up over the phone. To this day Bob maintains a positive attitude. Does he ever have a bad day? Sure, we all do. Does he ever get frustrated? Yeah, everyone does. We each have our own unique challenges, but we find ways to navigate them. For example, though Bob is completely blind, technology has come a long way, so even his computer is easily accessible.

I sat in the top row of the bleachers at my wife’s award ceremony, and I have technology to thank for that. In the past, I’ve used binoculars, but that would look strange in a school gym. I could do that at a football stadium, but not the school gym. I’ve used a monocular, but then I look like I’m at the opera, out of place in the school gym. However, this time I had my video camera with its little display screen. I was going to record the entire ceremony when I realized… I don’t need to. I just need to look like I am. That way, I could zoom in on the speakers and recipients and see all the festivities like everyone else… without looking out of place.

I know I shouldn’t worry about looking out of place, and I really don’t. What bothers me is how some people treat anyone with special needs like they’re… stupid. I may not see well, but you don’t need talk louder or more slowly – I’m visually impaired, not hearing impaired. In my role as a corporate trainer, I’ve even had a participant who walked into the classroom while I was setting up my laptop. She saw me looking very closely at my monitor, and immediately viewed me as “unprofessional because he’s handicapped”.

That kind of attitude is unacceptable! Back when Barb and I had our first apartment in the suburbs of Chicago, I rode a full-sized beige school bus operated by PACE from where we lived to and from the train station each day. I’d been riding the bus for a couple of years, and got along well with the other passengers. One afternoon, an unsuspecting man in a business suit carrying a briefcase approached the door of the bus. I typically sat in the front seat on the door side, so I could more easily notice when we were approaching my stop. This stranger gently pokes his head in and hesitantly asks the driver, “Is this a … special bus?”

I was in a jovial mood that afternoon, so I immediately replied, with a lisp for effect, “It thurtanly iz. Climb aboard – there’z plenty of room for all!” Everyone on the bus laughed, and then the driver informed the business man of which PACE route we were. I felt badly for my behavior later. I mean, the bus did look different, so I guess I could understand the confused commuter’s question.

Isn’t that how society is though? If someone looks different, or speaks differently, or believes different things, or has some kind of physical challenge, some people just don’t know how to treat them. That perception becomes its own limitation. When I was a kid headed to grade school on that “special bus”, do you know who really impacted me the most? It wasn’t any of the other kids, it was the driver. No matter how she had to assist any one of us on that bus, she always treated us with respect. To this day, when people ask me how to treat a person with special needs, my reply is simple – like a person.