Successful adults with disabilities from throughout the metro-Atlanta area inspired all children at Gwinnett County’s Nesbit Elementary School on Oct. 12, 2011 to dare to dream for their futures as part of a new disability mentoring day and career expo pilot program.
“I Have a Dream: Creating Your Life Portfolio” is a program created by the Southeast ADA Center – a project of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University – to celebrate October’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The Southeast ADA Center answers questions and provides training and materials about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) throughout the southeastern U.S. The Center designed the program to break down barriers and introduce students with and without disabilities to individuals with disabilities from the community who have achieved their dreams personally and professionally. The Southeast ADA Center will also work with other schools throughout Georgia and the southeast to replicate the program.
The “I Have a Dream: Creating Your Life Portfolio” mentoring day and career expo is the first event of a three-part pilot program at Nesbit Elementary, which also includes a Parent Engagement Night in February 2012 and Exceptional Children’s Week in May 2012.
“Dispelling myths and starting a conversation at an early age about disability is one of the first steps in fostering understanding and getting young children to be aware of the need for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and why it is important as they grow to adulthood,” said Pamela Williamson, project director of the Southeast ADA Center. “That is why our assistant project director L. Elaine Sutton Mbionwu initiated the program and partnerships with Nesbit Elementary School, Gwinnett County Public Schools, and local community organizations to host this event and inspire all children that anything is possible for their futures.”
Students began the day with a kick-off assembly that included an inspirational video, an uplifting performance of “I Believe I Can Fly” by jazz artist, event committee member and Abel2 founder Myrna Clayton, as well as inspiring words from Nesbit Elementary School Principal Clayborn Knight, Nesbit Elementary School Parent Teacher Association (PTA) President Bonita Collins, Southeast ADA Center Assistant Project Director, program creator L. Elaine Sutton Mbionwu, and Gwinnett County Executive Director of Special Education Paula Everett-Truppi, who shared her personal experiences as a student with a learning disability.
Students met throughout the day in small group mentoring sessions, with 12 successful adults with disabilities from the community. Mentors represented a cross section of different disabilities and cultures, answered questions, and talked with the children about having a disability, what their lives are like, and their personal and professional successes. The mentors message: work hard, stay focused, dream big, and and know that anything is possible. The children used this time to ask candid questions of people with disabilities in a safe and encouraging environment,, a powerful opportunity to dispel myths and break down barriers.
Students asked Crystal Beelner, an attorney and disability rights advocate who is a Little Person, how old she was and what shoe size she wore. Beelner answered the questions with honesty and humor. “I bet everybody here wears a bigger shoe than I do. I wear a kid’s size two. It’s very hard for somebody like me who is a lawyer to find lawyer kind of shoes for kids,” she said. “Even though you’re not supposed to ask a lady how old she is, that’s OK.. I’m 35.” When one of the children said she looked like she was 21, Beelner replied, “You just made my day.”
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Nancy Duncan, executive director of Disability Resource Group who is blind, gave a hands-on presentation by bringing items she uses every day, such as a special device she created to help her write in a straight line, her braille spice jars, checkbook and even the braille Uno cards she uses to play games with her grandchildren. “To me, one of the most powerful questions today was ‘did people bully you?,’” said Duncan. “I thought that’s another wonderful thing about all of us being here that we helped to maybe reduce some of the bullying against people who are different.”
“It’s kind of a taboo to ask someone with a disability about their disability. So being told by that person in a casual environment what their life has been like, what they do and how they cope is really helpful to people who aren’t familiar with it. In that sense, it was a very important thing for these children to experience,” said Wes Lawson, an assistant who works with speaker Guillermo Cesario, who is blind.
Following the mentoring sessions, students created art projects, decorating stars with their names, grades and the dreams they had for their futures. As they etched their hopes and dreams on the stars to be displayed in school wide art project, students shared what the day meant to them (for more student reactions, see the “What I Learned from the ‘I Have a Dream: Creating Your Life Portfolio’ Program” sidebar).
“Just because you are different than somebody else, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have as much confidence as somebody else or that you don’t have that much strength,” said Ayoa, a 5th grader. “We all have different dreams, we all don’t have to have the same dreams. If someone says to you, ‘you’re too short’ or something, you should say ‘I don’t’ care’ because we’re not all going to be the same. We’re not all the same people.”
“I learned that people with disabilities are the same as everybody because they can play with other people, too,” said Daija, a 1st grader.
“Don’t ever give up. I learned that (people with disabilities) never gave up on their dreams and they did the hardest they can,” said Julian, a 4th grader.
“All you have to do is focus and your dream can come true,” said Asad, a 4th grader
“Never give up and never say I can’t,” said Xochiote, a 5th grader.
Principal Knight was joined by three students (one with a disability and two without a disability) in a Principal for a Day job shadowing opportunity, where the children learned what it takes to be an elementary school principal and all that goes in to balancing the needs of students, parents, families and staff.
“I think today was probably one of the most powerful things we’ve done in the three years that I’ve been here at the school,” said Principal Knight. “ What we began to do today is we began to increase that awareness, to heighten that sensitivity . . . that we’re all abled, we’re just differently abled. Some of us are able to walk. Some of us are able to move in a wheelchair. Some of us are able to read with our eyes. Some of us are able to read with our fingers.”
“We gave [students] that message that anything possible and that their future is limitless,” he added.
In addition to the Southeast ADA Center, Nesbit Elementary School and the Nesbit PTA, additional local event partners included the Disability Resource Group and ABEL2. Several adults with disabilities from Gwinnett County and throughout the Atlanta-metro area volunteered their time to mentor the students. Atlanta businesses, including UPS, provided volunteers to take part in this community initiative.
To learn more or if your school is interested in conducting the program, visit the “I Have a Dream: Creating Your Life Portfolio” website at dreams4mylife.org.
Source: YouTube [8:10, captioned]: Disability Mentoring Day and Career Expo 2011
(youtu.be/2a0OnfYQSFA).
“I learned that anything is possible.”
– Belladini, 5th grade
“Some people have been born with birth defects. It doesn’t matter if they can walk or talk well, they can still do what they want.”
– Alexis, 5th grade
“Even if you have disability, you’re still a normal person like anybody else, but you’re like special. You’re normal and nobody should treat you in a different way.”
– Ambreen, 5th grade
“I learned that whether you have a disability or not, it doesn’t make you not human. You or anybody else, it’ doesn’t make you not a person.”
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Alicia, 5th grade
“I learned that everybody is different. That everybody gets to places different. And just because you’re different doesn’t make you not a regular person.”
– Jordan, 5th grade
“I liked the teacher with the dog. I learned that her dog can pick stuff up,”
- Josue, 1st grade
“I want to be a policeman.”
– Max, 1st grade, wheelchair user
“I want to be a dentist.”
– Alondra, Kindergarten, wheelchair user
“That man was in a chair and he can’t walk but his favorite thing is sports.”
– Crystal, 1st grade
“The man with the car showed us how he opened the doors.”
– Bogard, 1st grade
“I learned that (people with disabilities) have a family.”
– Ruth, 1st grade
For more, visit
Inspirations - Quotes and Videos : I Have A Dream: Creating Your Life Portfolio
(dreams4mylife.org/inspirations.php).
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