Systems

By Noelle Sisk

In the name of ability she sits in the sidelines…

She sits at home, she sits in a waiting room to be fixed…

Systems….

In the name of EI/ECSE she sits in a segregated classroom at 2…

In the name of ECSE she remains in segregated preschool while denied from 9 community

preschools because of a label…her whole being weighed 19 pounds and was all of 30 inches tall….

Systems….

In the name of therapy she missed out of Music Together and Mama and Me classes…

In the name of Jesus she was told she couldn’t be in Sunday school if she couldn’t sit criss-cross apple sauce and not stim…

In the name of an IEP she was told “we don’t take sped students here, this is a Gen Ed school” at 5 years old…

Systems….

In the name of competition she is asked to play adaptive soccer instead of regular soccer…

In the name of resources she is told a segregated classroom at 3rd grade makes more sense….

Because this is where education “gets real”….

Systems….

In the name of independence we are told at 5th grade the gap is too big and we can’t modify anymore, even though the federal law says it’s not and her desire to be with her friends has her begging to continue…

In the name of ease we are every year after asked to consider a specialized classroom that will surely meet her needs and the isolation will not matter because this is where a teacher can really help her…Have you seen those classrooms? They aren’t magicians. She will ALWAYS experience disability …

Systems….

She doesn’t need to be fixed.

She needs whatever every other child needs.

Friendship, education and support.

It’s not rocket science, it’s education. Separate will NEVER be equal…. I will never believe that isolation is an equal trade for education.

One should not have to choose.