Prospérité by LASA Ezine

Prospérité

Fall Ezine 2021

Table of contents

Letter From the Editors

The Mistakes Made in a Pandemic Ｂㄗ

By Declan Connor

What Makes a Virus? By Declan Connor

When Life Goes Under Lockdown By Nawar Bint Muhib Prospérité | 4

Keeping Calm and Carrying On By Nawar Bint Muhib

What Healthcare Worker Are You?

Playing Hide and Seek with Harmful Ingredients By Jo Kramer

When Did THAT Get in There? By Jo Kramer

What Makes Special Education Special? By Shraddha Ganesh

Anatomy of a Leg Prosthetic Ｂㄗ

By Shraddha Ganesh

Letter From the Editors Dear readers, In recent times, health has been on people’s minds more than ever. There are many facets to health, and it means different things to different people. In this magazine, we aimed to explore the subject from a variety of perspectives, addressing topics including disabilities, pandemics, mental health and safety of cosmetic products. What you are about to read is the product of a semester’s labor, working on computers that occasionally took less than an hour to load in a classroom with a wildly oscillating temperature. But it wasn’t all bad. After working together to create this magazine, the four of us went from mostly strangers to absolute besties. We helped each other every step of the way while also having fun and developing inside jokes. We hope you enjoy reading this magazine, and that you come away from it having learned a lot about health! Sincerely, Declan Connor, Shraddha Ganesh, Nawar Bint Muhib and Jo Kramer

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Jo Jo is a small container for a large personality. They stand at a mighty 4’11 ¾” stature and hope to breach 5’ by the end of the year, but don’t call them short otherwise they will carry you away and put you into a trash can. Since working with Adobe Illustrator, they have started to find love for graphic design.

Nawar Nawar is the angelic being of the group. She kept us relatively in order as we progressed through the making of the magazine. Nawar and Declan have a regular rivalry at the game “Snake”. Nawar always beats him.

Shraddha Shraddha is the most artistic of the group. She has been a help to everyone when working on graphic design, even though she despises Adobe Illustrator. She enjoys watching Bungou Stray Dogs and can’t stop talking about it in class.

Declan Declan is infuriatingly a foot taller than the rest of the group. He’s an expert at fencing and messing with Shraddha’s laptop. He knows the location of every country in the world but doesn’t know what a ship is. He has been affectionately described as a “decent menace.”

The Mistakes Made in a Pandemic By Declan Connor What mistakes have we made, and what can we do for the future? A new COVID-19 variant has just been identified, with risks being very high. The mistakes made in the past have shown their effect on the present, but also our futures. With vaccines being rushed to people across the world, and a new COVID-19 variant spreading just as fast, COVID-19 health officials are looking at what mistakes have been made over the past year. Many people The CDC believe the headquarters

in Atlanta, Georgia shines in the sunlight. Photo courtesy of the Center for Disease Control

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first months of the pandemic have compared to what the disease can been mishandled in the US, with do to someone,” Imtiaz said. vaccines and mistrust being one of Vaccines are a large topic the largest topics discussed. in misinformation, especially in the United States. Ever since Dr. Rubina Imtiaz is an vaccines became available to the epidemiologist and internist and public, they have taken the center has been working for 37 years in stage for controversy in mistrust. building and managing complex Even though nearly all health health programs. officials agree that the vaccine “They’re afraid to take the is safe, and millions of people vaccine because of the side effects continue to take the vaccine, yet of the vaccine that we set, you a large portion of the population know, when I hear all the time, will refuse to take the vaccine. and it’s really surprising, because ”Sometimes the message vaccine side effects are nothing doesn’t go out the right way,”

Imtiaz said. People can misinterpret the message to get a vaccine. People against the COVID-19 vaccine often mention that vaccine mandates (along with mask mandates) are “against their freedom.” This message has been spread by politicians and has caused a political dispute over something that should not be one.

“The number of people who are affected by COVID-19 disease, the number of people who have died, the number who have been hospitalized, or who have been sick is just huge. It’s just enormous.” - Dr. Rubina Imtiaz

The world has never seen a pandemic like this one in over 100 years. Compared to the previous outbreaks of viruses, such as the Swine flu pandemic of 2009, the scale of it is unique on it’s own. With millions being hospitalized, we must learn from our mistakes and prepare for what might come next. “As long as our vaccination rates remain low, the viruses are very good at adapting and surviving,” Imttiaz said “So they keep changing. They keep changing and new ones keep coming up to beat the vaccine. So it’s a game going on right now,”

Imtiaz said. The game mentioned by Imtiaz is one we are in today. We are currently in a struggle to get people vaccinated as fast as possible. If we are too late, it is likely that the virus will mutate and the vaccination process will be more difficult. We have seen an example of this with the spread of the Delta variant this summer. Nur Aini Kusmayanti, MPH, is a researcher at the Centre for Tropical Medicine in Indonesia. “Because of new mutations, we cannot make sure that the pandemic will totally end in a short time,” Kusmayanti said. “Mutations of

the COVID-19 virus is the largest problem that we face today.

“If we can control the pandemic, in the very early stages of the pandemic, the situation is very different,’’ - Nur Aini Kusmayanti In the future, we must take the lessons learned from the pandemic today and not repeat the mistakes that we made. The early stages of the Edwin Quildan receives a COVID-19 vaccine in London. Photo by Chiara Luxardo

The Task Force for Global Health receives the Conrad N. Hilton award. Photo courtesy of The Task Force for Global Health.

pandemic were the most disorganized and uncontrollable. Even though the pandemic originally started in Wuhan, China, in the span of a month it had reached every corner

of the world. “The virus can fly everywhere in a very short time,” Kusmayanti said “That’s why the pandemic cannot be controlled in such a short time.. Similar to what we saw in the early stages of the pandemic, the virus spread like wildfire. The COVID-19 virus went from an epidemic in a specific area to a global health crisis in the span of a few months. This is because the speed of the virus led to it becoming out of control. Even though the amount of cases per day are more

controlled than what they were, a new problem has revealed itself, and that is vaccination rates. As vaccines became available to the public earlier this year, the vaccination rates were incredibly high in countries where they were easily accessible. However, we do not see this today, even in the US, there is a large portion of the population which is not yet vaccinated.countries, there is a vast problem of misinformation and mistrust.

“In the red states, it’s like three or four times the death rate of blue standards. And that’s driven by politicians” -Dr. David Ross Politics have played a large role in the

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lesson to know for the future. In terms of the future,

pandemic. With the 2020 election being set in the middle of the pandemic, it was a large topic in debates between politicians. This ultimately was something that led to the false information which cost many people their lives.

“One of the lessons learned is that we are going to have to learn how to communicate complicated technical information to the lay public in a much better way,”

While researching on the mistakes made during the early months of the pandemic, a large issue was the communication between health officials and politicians. Governors of states such as Texas decided to lift mask mandates, even with cases on the rise. Even though almost all health officials disagreed, they were incapable of doing anything. These kinds of scenarios should not be happening in a global health crisis, and thus is a

“We need to have very strong eyes and ears, programs that train young, bright people who have the curiosity to know, and keep an eye on the community.” For our safety, we must learn from our past mistakes and prepare for the future.

What makes a virus? A look into the key parts of a virus

Nucleoprotein (RNA)

Nucleoproteins are widely considered to be the core of a virus. They consist of either DNA or RNA, in this case it is the latter. It is the code of the virus and plays a critical role in the viral infectious cycle.

Lipid Envelope The lipid envelope of a virus not only serves as a cover for it, but also serves other functions, such as being sufficiently stable for any environment. The Lipid envelope is very similar to the capsid of a virus.

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Neuraminidase The neuraminidase consists of a group of enzymes at the surface of a virus. They are also present in most other cells. In terms of the human body, they are known to stimulate the production of antibodies, and to cleave sialic acid. This allows a virus to free itself and infect another cell.

Capsid

The capsid is the shell of a virus. It is made out of viral coat proteins ( VCP), or capsid proteins. The capsid serves to enclose and contain all the genetic material of the virus.

Information provided by Britannica

when life

GOES UNDER Lockdown Local psychologists explain what effects the pandemic has had on young people’s mental health By Nawar Bint Muhib

ou exit the last Zoom meeting of the day and close your laptop with a deep sigh. You look around at the bedroom where you’ve spent the last seven hours staring listlessly at a screen. All the concepts you learned in class slip out of your mind, replaced by dark thoughts and a seemingly limitless fatigue. Does any of that sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. After the COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures across the country Prospérité Prospérité | | 14 14

in March 2020, millions of students had to complete nearly a year and a half of their education from home using video conferencing platforms like Zoom. While staying under lockdown was for the benefit of everyone’s physical health, many students’ mental health was harmed as a result. For psychologists in the community such as Dr. Elizabeth Calvin, a psychiatrist from the Timothy Center, this negative trend has been

apparent in many of their patients. “I definitely have seen more anxiety, and I definitely have seen more depression,” Calvin said. “That makes sense, given that uncertainty is a very key factor in raising anxiety, and isolation is often associated with depression.” Child and adolescent therapist Jennifer Kramer, who runs a private practice, also elaborated on this. “At the front end of the pandemic (...) people reported having social

the fear of getting COVID, fear of not knowing.” Negative thinking like this can become habitual and gradually lead to a worsening mental state. Calvin, who has a background in biology and

become tedious for kids in the world of video conferences. “Because so many kids were doing Zoom school, coming to see me after a day spent online was really hard,” Kramer said. “So one of the things that I’ve done that I continue to do differently now is I have shorter sessions Uncertainty is a with kids, especially younger kids.” very key factor Kramer has reduced her session in raising anxiety, times to 30 minutes for younger patients to better suit their and isolation is attention spans, while sessions often associated with teenagers remain a full 50 minutes. But she still worries that with depression. the quality of her sessions were -Elizabeth Calvin somewhat compromised when she couldn’t be in the same space as her patients. neuroscience, described what “So much of my work involves happens within the brain to reading people’s nonverbal cause this. signals, reading your body “Essentially, we have tracks in our language and facial expressions,” brain, and you get potentiation of Kramer said. “You don’t get as those tracks when they’re used a much information about your lot,” Calvin said. “So if you think clients when you can’t see them about having a strong muscle, in person. You definitely don’t for example, you use that pick up on the same shifts in muscle over and over energy.” Student sits in front of a and that muscle becomes Dr. Caryn Carlson, a professor of laptop, holding her head in strong. Similarly, when psychology at the University of frustration. Online school you have certain pathways Texas at Austin, has faced similar was a major source of stress in your brain that you use struggles while teaching online for many students. a lot, those pathways get classes. Photo courtesy of LearnSafe potentiated. (...) That is the “I have a really small class, place that your brain more so I’m used to having a lot of easily goes, the more that connection with my students,” distancing nightmares where you think about it.” Carlson said. “Personally, I they would dream about being It is generally agreed upon that can’t say I felt exactly the same in a situation that they couldn’t receiving therapy is an excellent connection, because for me, it’s easily get out of, and the people step to take when combatting little things like if you’re giving around them were not keeping a mental illness, but since the a lecture and the lecture is up distance,” Kramer said. “That pandemic, the very process of [on the screen], you can’t look at kind of anxiety was very high at speaking with a therapist has everybody’s face.” the front end of the pandemic:

“

”

The UT College of Liberal Arts is home to the university’s psychology department. This is where Dr. Caryn Carlson teaches her class on positive psychology.

the dorm, and now they don’t have that group of friends around Photo courtesy of the University of Texas. anymore. They had been used to going out with a group of friends, exclusively studying mental and suddenly they can’t do that kind health problems, the focus is of stuff. Those are the kids who are instead placed on “what goes right struggling.” in life?” Carlson said. “How can we With in-person interactions help make the lives of everybody grinding to a halt during lockdown, happier, more productive, and more many teenagers turned to social flourishing?” media as their main way of The class tends to involve a lot of connecting with others. While this hands-on exercises and meaningful can be a good thing in moderation, personal discussion about one’s own it can also take its own toll. experiences and emotions. Many “I definitely see worse mental health of Carlson’s students from the last outcomes when people are just school year spoke about significant passively scrolling Instagram or changes in their social lives because Snapchat reels for long periods of of the pandemic. time,” Kramer said. “That tends to “When I’ve talked to my students increase the sense of isolation and about how they’ve done in the alienation.” pandemic, there are ones where In the case of children who already their networks broke down,” suffered from mental health Carlson said. “They had been in conditions, such as anxiety disorders Prospérité | 16

or ADHD, the pandemic generally led to worsening symptoms. Later,

“Their networks

broke down. They had been in the dorm, and now they don’t have that group of friends around anymore.” -Caryn Carlson as the ennui set in, others also started to develop cognitive issues they didn’t have previously. “They had difficulty focusing, especially on tasks that might have been a little bit challenging before,

but cumulative pandemic stress and the stress of isolation built up,” Kramer said. “It was harder to do things like balance a checkbook or remember what you’re supposed to find at the grocery store. Even some people were having trouble reading.” But to look on the bright side, it has been noted that children’s focus and academic performance has been improving since their return to in-person school for the 2021-2022 school year. Not only that, but their mental health as a whole has taken an upturn. “Their states of mind tend to be better because they’re now back with their peers,” Kramer said. “That’s really certainly buoyed people’s moods. I definitely see fewer depressive symptoms.” But by talking with a variety of

patients, Calvin has observed that not every child has adapted to the recent transition the same way. “I have some kids and teens who really did well in the virtual environment, because they had a

“Their states of

mind tend to be better because now they’re back with their peers. … I definitely see fewer depressive symptoms” -Jennifer Kramer

is making them more anxious because they’re having to do things that they didn’t have to do for a while,” Calvin said. “I also certainly see people who are extroverted, meaning they get a lot of energy from being around other people, and they were isolated, and so returning to in person school has been very helpful for them.” Even so, the pandemic was an earth-shattering occurrence, and psychologists agree that it will continue to have a lasting impact on mental health and development, especially for younger children with less experience in a regularly functioning world. “It’s such a large event, and it has had such profound effects on people’s daily lives,” Carlson said. “I suspect that at least for some people, there are going to be lasting effects that hopefully we’ll be able to overcome.”

lot of social anxiety at school, but they had a strong network of Pair friends, (...) and returning to school of 6th graders

pose for a picture together after returning to the school campus in 2021. Children’s mental health has generally improved now that they can regularly see their friends again. Photo courtesy of WHYY

Keeping Calm and

CARRYING ON

5 easy ways to take care of yourself during difficult times By Nawar Bint Muhib

MediTaTe Focus your attention on taking deep breaths. This will help you unwind and calm down if you’re feeling stressed.

5 minutes

Information provided by Self Prospérité | 18

go on a Walk The fresh air and exercise can boost your self esteem and help you concentrate and sleep.

15 minutes

30 minutes

reach ouT To soMeone If your problems feel overwhelming, talking about it with someone you trust can be a big help.

geT a good nighT’s sleeP Getting enough sleep every night can better your mood, help you think clearly, and even improve your memory.

24 hours

8 hours

Take a daY off If it all becomes too much, it’s okay to take a day for yourself and practice some of these other methods.

What Healthcare Worker Are You? Circle A, B, C or D to find out! What interests you most? A. Physically looking and observing things B. Educating C. Studying and reporting D. Talking to people

NOTE: This is simply sattire, there is no mal intent or purposely harmful steryotyping

How do you like to interact? A. Talking to people and asking questions B. Talking and doing tasks with people C. Individual work, with only a small amount of talking to others D. Listening

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What is your weird obsession? A. Pimple popping B. Cardigans C. Medieval illnesses D. People spilling the tea

Finally, choose an inside joke from our group A. Color scheme leg B. Pressing the accesibility options button C. Seterra D. The secret Pinterest

Time to tally your answers! If you have mostly A’s

If you have mostly B’s

You got

Special

Dermatologist!

Education Teacher!

If you have mostly C’s

If you have mostly D’s

You got

Epidemiologist!

Psychotherapist!

Playing hide and seek with harmful ingredients

By Jo Kramer

With surfacing information, people have begun to turn over their products to examine their extensive ingredient lists.

A new wave of awareness has been born around what ingredients are included in mainstream products, spurring more of an abundance of “clean” companies. However, there have been some spots where we forgot to look for harmful ingredients, some of Prospérité | 22

which can be cancer causing. Social media and the vast availability of the internet shined some light into the murky depths of the extensive ingredient lists that accompany most products. This light has been fueling companies to “clean up their ingredients,” as well as causing more conscious companies to pop up. Sadly, there are still some companies, many of which have been around for a long time, which incorporate unideal ingredients. Hopefully, this article will give you a place to start in terms of re-examining your household items. In that process, you may find products which you may want to discard, or something that may be best to use a cleaner alternative of. Prioritizing using clean ingredients can have many upsides,

such as preventing dermatitis, a skin issue, acne, anxiety, and even cancer. A lot of times, the most apparent issues from irritating or toxic ingredients manifest in the dermatological field of skin. If you choose to go to a dermatologist, often times they can easily spot contact dermatitis, which can be caused by using makeup with irritating ingredients. Mika Tabata, a resident physician

“In dermatology, one of the most common things that we see is contact dermatitis, a rash to things that come into contact with [people] in an environment” -Mika Tabata at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a Stanford University Medical school graduate, and has also studied at Rice University. “One is where your skin is irritated by something

A person washing their hands. Image courtesy of Alexander Raths and Shutterstock.

that will irritate anyone’s skin,” then [we] call that out as allergic contact dermatitis, but the majority Tabata said, “And the other of it is what we call irritant contact is actually an allergy that you dermatitis. And that’s from the develop after you’re sensitized to product actually been irritating something after you hear you’re to the skin not because it’s a true exposed to it, then you start allergy,” Henkel said, “That’s developing an allergy to it.” definitely the most common seen When putting on makeup or in instances where people may put skincare products that have not products on their skin that can cause been scientifically studied, pigmentary changes.” cleared by websites such as Contact dermatitis generally EWG (Environmental looks like a red area on Working Group), Pictured the skin with light or monitored here is a shelf full red dots. To an by local of colorful makeup in inexperienced eye, governments, a store. Many makeup brands have been increasing you are at a higher in popularity, as many new risk of developing evolutions have occurred dermatitis or in the makeup industry. Image courtesy other skin issues. of Getty Emily Henkel is a dermatology resident at University of Texas Dell Medical School. “The most common thing is what we call contact dermatitis.” Henkel said, “That can be a result of either having a true allergy to a product,

it can look like small pimples, so don’t pop them, they will just come back if you do. Contact dermatitis can be most easily stopped by simply ceasing the use of the irritating product. When people develop things like contact dermatitis or allergic dermatitis, to narrow the field of what could be causing it, they may choose to drop products from their daily routine, and if the dermatitis clears up, then they can conclude that the dropped product was what was causing the rash. Rashes and eczema can be caused by harsh soaps, which is not where some would expect irritation to come from. Rashes and eczema are easily caused in people with sensitive skin. Therefore, for sensitive skin, products with fewer ingredients are generally better, Tabata said.

who

is mindful of their ingredients, because it is easy to pack a bunch of harmful ingredients into makeup so that it lasts longer, or has a better performance, but that is not ideal in terms of taking care of your body. Sometimes, companies cut corners and use ingredients that may cheapen the process of making the product, but

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will overall decrease the known is that most skincare quality of whatever they and makeup products are are selling, may it be not regulated by the FDA. That makeup, moisturizer, or is why it is so important to do soaps. your research on what you are “In terms of irritation, we see buying before you put it on your a lot of people who have to wash body. Kim Olian Anderson from their hands a lot for work, whether Noyah beauty said that when they work in the food industry, or Noyah’s founder was looking what we saw a lot in the pandemic at ingredient lists in lip with health care workers was that products, he noticed that the certain soaps can be really harsh on ingredient lists were long, the skin,” Henkel said, “And if you and included things that have to wash your hands every few were not necessary for the lip minutes or every hour or so, it’ll product to work, but simply really dry out your skin and give you made products easier to something called hand dermatitis handle, like preservatives, which is a form of irritant so Noyah uses contact.” only essential Person is Something that ingredients washing their face as is not widely to make part of a skincare routine. products that Skincare companies have had a much larger platform are clean, and to showcase products, function just assisting the popularity of as well, if not the skincare fad. Image better as brands courtesy of Getty Images that do use the harsher ingredients. Noyah is paving the way for other clean companies to make customers feel safe about buying makeup and skincare products even though they are not regulated by the FDA. With more data coming out about how there is the risk of harmful ingredients seeping into the skin by way of makeup and skincare such as sunscreen, it is even more important to use cleaner brands, especially those without

preservatives and parabens, so that you don’t run the risk of getting skin cancer, acne, or dermatitis and eczema. Preservatives allow the makeup or skincare item to last a long time. According to Elle, parabens have been studied and been found to be able to penetrate the skin, which occurs in the large majority of the women studied. When those parabens penetrate the skin they can go into breast tissue and act as the hormone, oestrogen. When there is an excess of oestrogen, it can cause tumors to form. That can lead to breast cancer. The David Suzuki Foundation estimates that 75 to 90 percent of cosmetics have parabens in them. That is why many companies who are trying to clean up their ingredients are choosing to market their products as “paraben free.” Tabata said that especially for sensitive skin, physical sunscreens, also known as zinc sunscreens are better because they physically block light that would be harming your skin, instead of chemical sunscreen, which chemically breaks down those particles from the light

A tube of Noyah’s Cherry Cordial Lipgloss. Image courtesy of Noyah

that would otherwise burn your skin. However, physical sunscreens will often leave you looking very pale and so if you want a physical sunscreen that is more visually appealing you may have to spend more money. Long story short, your body will

thank you if you take the time to do a little research before slathering on products. The app EWG is free and so is the browser version, and it will give you a rundown on whether you may want to keep or ditch certain products. A person applying sunscreen at a beach. Image courtesy of The Skin Cancer Foundation

WHEN DiD THAT GET IN THERE? Here are some clean Axiology Beauty

A timeline of toxins in everyday products brands! By Jo Kramer

BH Cosmetics

Alima Pure Noyah

Mineral Fusion

There were companies of makeup products who are using lead in their products which leads to disease. A company that did this at this time was Bloom of Ninion Products

Late 1700s

1800s

THERE WERE MANY

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Dr. MacKenzie’s Arsenic Wafers

Dr. MacKenzies Improved Harmless Complextion Wafers were manufactured. If you really have to say “harmless” in your title, it’s probably not harmless. Arsenic kills blood cells in the body, causing the coveted pale complextion of that time. Oh also, arsenic happens to be extremely deadly.

A better alternative to tampons with rayon, or really any other tampon, is a

Diva Cup

Kotex starts making tampons, and it is later revealed that they use rayon in their tampons, a substance that increases the risk of TSS, also known as toxic shock syndrome, a deadly condition.

1930s

1971

Red 40

Red 40 Dye was appproved for use in the United States and is still used today, despite how bad it is for the body. The product is also often tested on animals, which is a form of animal cruelty. The dye is linked to problems in kids such as agression, and inflamation in the brain. It is linked to bad reactions in kids with ADHD, and could make ADHD symptoms more prevalent in kids. Long story short, don’t eat it!

What Makes

Special Education Special

By Shraddha Ganesh

A picture of Doss Elementary School. Photo courtesy of Doss Elementary.

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Special education continues to aid students with disabilities as they make their way through school.

time teaching preschoolers, she ran into one or two naughty children.

“He was a handful. That’s a naughty kid. That’s what they do. [He was] not a special needs kid because he did everything on purpose.” Fayeza Rahman A special education

The school bells rang, and the students made their entrance into the classroom. The teacher smiles as the kids crowd around her in a small circle. The teacher looks into each of their sets of wide eyes, each pair telling a different story, each mind wired differently. The teacher finally hushes the class and begins her lessons. As disabilities continue to be a struggle among many, experts are actively making adjustments and creating solutions to aid them in their lives. One such example is special education and assisted teaching.

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classroom arranged so all kids are facing each other. Image taken by Autism Educators

Disabilities are anything that cause physical or mental impairment and affect a person’s ability to complete daily activities. Special education has proven to be important and beneficial to aid the disabled youth community to complete these daily activities. Due to their special conditions, they receive education that is sculpted to their needs. Fayeza Rahman, a learning special educator, teaches students who have mental disabilities such as autism and down syndrome, which can also cause physical deformities. Prior to becoming a special educator, Rahman had no experience or desire to become a teacher in this field. “No, I didn’t,” Rahman said. “The only experience I would say that I had was when I was a teacher at a pre-school where they are all four year olds.” During her

Due to stereotypes, people commonly misinterpret a mischievous child for a special needs child, associating the violent, out of the ordinary behavior with being a special needs child. As Rahman currently teaches these kids, she’s realized that this is far from true. “I was so surprised,” Rahman said. “I thought that they were angry, like maybe they excessively hit people, but they don’t.” These ideas we have created about kids with mental disabilities are still present today. “10 years ago, I’d be very uncomfortable around them because I didn’t have any experience before that,” Rahman said. “But five years ago, I got to see my cousin’s special needs child and then I was around her for a little bit.” These stereotypes create false generalizations in neurotypical people’s minds that are harmful to the disabled community and cause discrimination against them.

When Rahman recently applied to become an educator at Doss Elementary School, she was not expecting to be placed in this position. “I was actually applying to a different position.” Rahman said. “But then I did accept it because it was different, and I wanted to know these kinds of children, how they work, how they perceive the world.” Rahman was originally applying to become a teacher for neurotypical students and did not have any intention to be placed in a different position. However, her curiosity to get to know these neurodivergent children drove her to accept this job. Currently, Rahman is enjoying her line of work and is always learning new things from the kids she teaches. The students Rahman teaches do not have physical disabilities and while physical disabilities cause effects in stature and physical growth, mental disabilities influence their intellectual growth and communication skills, but physical disabilities may require special education if the disability interferes with the completion of school work. Many of the students she educates have down syndrome which can cause physical growth delays and intellectual disabilities. She also teaches kids with autism which can limit the ability to socialize as well as delay intellectual growth. Rahman teaches kids in third and fourth grade, as she puts in constant efforts to get them caught up with neurotypical curriculum. However, these students aren’t always present with her and instead alternate

between the classes. “He stays with his normal class,” Rahman said as she discussed the fourth grader she teaches. “He learns what they do, and I just help him.” The special needs kids she’s assigned with often bring her homework and classwork they need help completing. This allows her to practice patience, as she works with them.

“I am learning how to feel and how to be patient around them, and how to be patient in general. That’s a skill everyone should have.” Fayeza Rahman

Patience plays a huge role in her job as sometimes she needs to work with these children for long periods of time. As she continues to refine this skill, she’s also learning more about the children in general and how they interact. “They fascinate me,” Rahman said. “If they know something, they can show it. If they don’t like it, they’ll tell you to your face. They don’t hide it, and they’re just like an open book.” Their direct behavior is something Rahman finds endearing

as she continues to communicate with these special kids. However, as much as their expressions can be generalized, each one acts differently and expresses themselves in unique ways. “Every child is different,” Rahman said. “Even though they are autistic, they are in different spectrums.” While we continue to find solutions for disabilities, it is important that we acknowledge and take these impairments seriously so neurodivergent children are more comfortable with themselves in an educational environment which is where a lot of time is spent for most students. Special education will continue to evolve and will hopefully be able to aid and assist more students with adapting to their disability.

Anatomy Of a Prosthetic A DEEPER INSIGHT TO THE PARTS OF Leg A PROSTHETIC FOOT ANKLE

SHANK Prospérité | 32

Fun Fact The first aboveknee prosthetic was created in 1800 by Londoner James Potts.

KNEE

SOCKET

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