Left Behind as a Teenager

My electric wheelchair at highest speed was insufficient for the school-yard-pace. A sudden interest would see my peers haste away.

The grounds of my high school were split into three levels. One ramp connected the top and middle levels. The other ramp connected the middle and lower levels. While my peers went up the steps chatting, I went the long way round. Conversation bonds people. There were so many conversations that I never heard.

To join in group conversations, you had to be quick. My speech is not quick!  I couldn’t get a word in.

My peers were never deliberately cruel to me. They just didn’t slow down. They didn’t take the time to get to know me. I think they just weren’t aware.

It was painful. I was lonely. I cried often. I thought that I didn’t have friendships with peers because I was boring. The pinnacle was when after I had spent lunchtime with a girl, when a guy joined us she said that she’d been alone all lunchtime. Well Stevie’s here but …“

I wasn’t considered company.

A flow of tears in the integration room that afternoon,.

At 17, I  started going to church. There I found that people did take the time to get to know me. They sat down and talked to me. It wasn’t until I was 17, that I discovered I had interesting things to say. That I wasn’t boring. It wasn’t until 17 that I discovered I could make people laugh. I wished I could tell my teenage-self that I would have some deep and beautiful friendships as an adult.

It is now my joy when I have the opportunity to speak to groups of young people, discussing concepts around disability inclusion. I outlay practical ways to include their peers and give them time to think about and discuss steps they can take within their own communities. That aligns with the Personal and Social Capability component of the Victorian curriculum.

My hope is that with some awareness and know-how, teenagers with and without disabilities will enjoy genuine friendship with one another. That fewer young people will be left behind.