Disabilities? No Problem! By: Sarah Al Zubi, Majo Carreno, Yazeed El-Sobky, Ella Majer
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“The only disability in life is a bad Attitude� -Scott Hamilton
Table of Contents Amazing Disabled Children: By Sarah Al Zubi “Three children, three stories, three disabilities.”
Just a label, Not a person: By Majo Carreno
“Three children with determination who achieved their goals and proved everyone wrong.”
Sports with disabilities: By Yazeed El-Sobky “Three disabilities with three amazing talents.”
The Rights of the Disabled: By Ella Majer “Disabled doesn’t mean Hopeless” -Ella Majer
Amazing Disabled Children By: Sarah Al Zubi One point in time, children were separated into two placements; one was common children and the other was children with disabilities. The common children were treated like any other child while on the hand, children with disabilities was treated like an outsider. They believed that these children couldn’t do anything amazing or make a difference in society. Sometimes these things happen in other places other than here. Until, 3 amazing children changed the minds of people who did not believe it was possible: Ismail Zulfic who swims with no arms, Rosie McRackan who plays T-ball with her missing left forearm and entire right leg, and Shah Bibi Tarakhail who is missing her arm. But she can paint with her fake arm. I think that some people can't do these talents even with all of their limbs. All Children with disabilities should be treated the same like children without disabilities.
Child Swimmer with no arms An article called “Swimming club gives hope to Bosnian children who are disabled“, from Newsela, states that Ismail Zulfic is a 6 year old boy who was born with no arms. He learned how to swim thanks to a swim coach who is against the people's way of ignoring Bosnia's disabled people. With much more training, Zulfic is hopeful that one day things will be different. He hopes that he might swim for a Bosnia at At the Paralympic Games. Even though Ismail has no arms, he should still learn to swim no matter the problems. Some kids his age that don’t have disabilities still can’t swim. Photo Link
The amazing T-Ball child playar with no left arm and entire right leg. An article called “For 6-year-old girl, T-ball shows her a life without limits“, from Newsela, describes Rosie as ”Pink helmet atop her head, she had hit the ball just as accurately as the other children on her team. But 6-year-old Rosie McRackan is missing her left forearm and entire right leg.” To play, she wears an artificial leg specially made for running. Her artificial arm, although she doesn’t wear it on the field, matches her blue jersey. She has a leg that was specifically made for running. Even though she does not wear it while on the field, she got an arm that’s myoelectric, which is controlled by the electrical signals sent naturally by her
muscles, and another arm that is controlled by a cable. She has weekly physical therapy as a part of Rosie’s schedule, along with countless visits to the prosthetic doctor.Though Rosie is having a hard and busy life with her disability, she is still following her dreams of playing T-ball even with all of her disabilities.
A lot of people cant even do this with all of their limbs. Shah Bibi Tarakhail is a 7 year old war victim in afghanistan. According to Newsela, "There was what looked like a rock that she picked up and threw on the ground and it exploded," said Ilaha Omar, a member of the Children of War Foundation. She brought her to the United States, where Shriners Hospital treated her for free. The explosion had destroyed her right eye. It took off most of her right arm, put a few scars on her face, and killed her brother. At the hospital, the young war victim then finds her artistic talent. Shah demonstrates that even though a bomb incident caused the disabilities she is still found a way to put her mind out of her crazy disabled life. In conclusion, all children with disabilities should be open to do many things. If these disabled children can do these things, then all of the disabled kids can do sports, play instruments, draw, and so many other things. If you see a disabled child who wants to learn something new, teach them. That will mean so much for that child. With the term “disabled”, people usually think ‘wow, I feel so bad for that person since they can't do anything fun,’ But now since you’ve read the article, I know that you think differently and you will treat disabled children just as you would treat any other child.
Just a Label, Not a Person By: Majo Carreno About 15% of the world's population has some sort of disability. People with disabilities are often underestimated just because they have disabilities. Which isn’t fair. Disabled people can achieve the same things that non-disabled person. Everyone should be treated equally and not be excluded just because you have a disability. A disabled person deserves to follow their dreams and not be underestimated. Disabled people can achieve the same success that non-disabled people can. 18-year-old Hasaan Hawthorne beat every wrestler he went against at a high school wrestling tournament in Alabama. Unlike other children Hassan was born without the lower part of his leg bone that helps humans stand up. By the time that Hassan was 2 years old, he learned to walk around using his hands. Even though Hassan had a disability, he had a great passion for sports and managed to convince his parents to let him play baseball by the age of 5. Some kids were not very nice to Hassan and called him names like 'robokid' because of his prosthetic legs but Hassan never gave up. I'm just like other people, just with different legs." Hassan says. This shows that Hassan thought wrestling was cool and tried it out. Hassan would wrestle without his prosthetic legs. Wrestling for Hassan had both good memories and bad memories. Either way, Hasan still managed to come in third place in the state and for his weight class.Hassan’s story shows how even though he had a disability he still manages to succeed in wrestling. Hassan inspires other people who have disabilities to follow their dreams and believe in themselves. It also showed people that disabled people can achieve the same things that a non-disabled people. Another example that shows that disabled people can achieve the same things as non-disabled people. Rosie McRackan is a 6-year-old who is missing her entire right leg and her left forearm. Although Rosie is missing limbs, she is determined to play T -ball and she can blow the ball equally to any other 6 years old. Rosie also joined a T-ball team of kids who are 5 to 7 years old. The team that Rosie joined is called the blue jays, the Blue Jays are also part of the program named Inclusion Service.“Our goal with Rosie is to have her pretty much live as any other child would,” said Rosie’s parents. Rosie parents have faith and hope that Rosie would be able to live and be treated like any other child. And they were worried that the kids in the Blue Jays team would be mean
and say hurtful things to Rosie. However, the kids in the Blue Jays proved to be the opposite. Rosie's parent claims that no child in the Blue Jays team has ever said anything hurtful to Rosie. The team treats her really well and the coach even made a special bat that has been lighter just for Rosie so she would be able to swing the bat with one hand.Rosie's shows that being disabled is just a label. It also shows that Rosie's presence had a positive impact. Unlike in Hassan’s situation, kids were really nice to Rosie. She plays T-ball just like any other 6 years old and she showed that to her everyone. Her positive impact taught the children in the Blue Jays' team that just because you may look different doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve the same things as anyone else. Jake Olson is another example. Jake loves to play football, but he is also completely blind. Jake dreams of one day being able to play with his favorite team called the Trojans. The Trojans are an American football team that plays for the University of Southern California also known as the USC. Jake Olson was born without his left eye and to save his life the doctors were forced to remove Jake’s right eye when he was 12. Before losing his sight completely Jake went and watched the Trojans play and admired their playing skills and techniques. Jake is now in his senior year of high school. Jake found a football position where you don't need your eyesight. This position is called the Long snapper. All the long snapper has to do is pass the ball backward to the player behind them, then the game begins. Jake’s mom did not want him to try out for the high school team’s long snapper because she thought that Jake might get hurt or rejected by the coach. Either way Jake went to the high school team coach, Peterson. Peterson said that Jake would have to earn his spot on the team if he really wanted to play. Jake was very passionate about being on the team so he kept on training and he finally made the team. As Newsela states when someone asked Jerry Fitschen a kicker for the high school team in which Jake played in he said: “We didn’t see him as a blind person, we saw him as a football player.” This shows how his teammates didn’t think that Jake Olson was just getting special treatment because he was disabled. They just saw him like any other player
who was good enough to make the team.This proves that Jake’s teammates saw Jake much the same as any other player when they played football with him. Even though Jake wasn’t able to see he was still able to play as well as any other player on the football team. Jake shows that even when you are disabled, you can still achieve plenty of success, all you need is a passionate attitude. If Jake hadn’t had a passionate attitude he would have just given up when the coach told him that he would of have to earn his spot on the team. Although Jake was underestimated by the other people who tried out he still proved them wrong by making the team and became the long snapper. His backward passes helped the team throughout the season. Hassan’s Rosie’s and Jake’s stories all prove that being disabled doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve what any other non-disabled person can. Having a disability can be hard to deal with but it’s not impossible. If you have a dream and you want to follow your dream it won’t matter whether you're disabled or not. What will matter is whether you're passionate enough to follow your dream or you just give up when things don’t seem to work out. Instead of excluding disabled people because we think that they won’t be capable of achieving success. We need to act now and make a difference by not putting labels on them and underestimating them. Disabled is just a label it doesn’t define who they are as a person or what they can achieve. They too can achieve the same success as non-disabled people can. T ball Link Football link Picture
Sports with Disabilities By: Yazeed El-Sobky According to the world health organization, about 15% of the human population are having some sort of disability, that's over a billion people. That number is stunning. The world health organization also says that people with disabilities are more likely to not have a job than have one. Employers should not discriminate disabled people during recruitment and should be giving disabled people the same opportunities as people without disabilities. A quote from Jim Abbott says “It's not the disability that defines you it's how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with. We have an obligation to the abilities we do have, not the disability.� This quote shows that the way you handle the disability is how you're defined and not for the disabilities you have. It also shows that even if someone is disabled, they can still do something amazing with the abilities they have. Just because someone is disabled does not mean that they can't do the sports they like to do. It's amazing what people can do even if they don't have their tibias. Hawthorne was born without tibias, it is the lower leg bones that allow humans to stand. His fibulas didn’t have muscles or nerves. (Fibulas are the two bones between the knee and ankle). When Hawthorne was 4 months old his parents were forced to make a huge decision by choosing to give Hawthorne an amputation or let useless legs grow, they chose amputation. When he was 5 years old, he started to play baseball. That is extremely impressive, he also competed at a high school wrestling tournament in Huntsville, Alabama when he was 18 years old. After the competition, Hawthorne had a perfect 37-0 record. This proves that just because someone is disabled does not mean that they won't do the sports they love to do. People with disabilities should be able to do whatever sport they want. Disabled people play sports because its fun for them and being disabled won't bring them down from playing sports. Link for photo
Even if someone is blind, they can still swim, compete and still be successful. Brint is a senior that goes to a highland park, he went to a club for athletes with disabilities for swimming. He competed in all four of the events for athletes with disabilities. He didn’t win, but he did set his own personal records. He finished 3rd place in two and 4th in the other two. “I would have liked to have gone a little faster, especially in the breaststroke," said Brint. But he still did an amazing job. This evidence shows that even though someone is a swimmer and blind does not mean they can’t be successful. Even though Brint was born blind, he can still do things that others can't. Every time Brint is faced with a challenge he takes it and does not use excuses. Even though someone has no arms does not mean they can't swim. Ismail Zulfic was born without arms. That does not mean he can't go and swim. Ismail lives in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ismail is a 6-year-old who learned to swim thanks to a coach who fights the public's habit of ignoring Bosnia's people who are disabled. In Bosnia 10 percent of the people are disabled. That is roughly 350,000 people. Ismail became a proud member of Spid, the only swimming club in the country for children with disabilities. Spid was set up in February. This shows that even if someone has a disability at a young age, they can still learn how to swim. Ismail was 6 years old with no arms and still was able to swim across an Olympic pool. Ismail can be shy and unwilling to talk to strangers since he was a new member of Spid. People should always be able to do the sports they love, even if they are disabled. Many of people do sports for their enjoyment, but the disabilities should not take someone down from doing sports. If you are disabled and you love sports, but don't do it because you are disabled then you should stop thinking that way and should do the sports you like. Just because you can be disabled does not mean you should not do sports.
The Rights of the Disabled By Ella. There once was a girl who lived in the war-torn country of Afghanistan. One day when playing with her brother, she picked up a grenade and she threw it on the ground. The blast from the grenade killed her brother and she lost her arm and her right eye. After the incident, she was flown to America so that she could get a prosthetic arm. People all over the world suffer from disabilities which can stop them from doing what they love, but there are resources and support systems that can help them overcome their challenges. People with disabilities should be able to do the things that they love regardless of how they are limited. Isabella Nicola is a ten-year-old girl who was given a prosthetic in order to play the violin. She wanted to play the violin and she was able to because of five high schoolers and a 3D printer. After she was given the prosthetic arm, she was able to play the violin with ease, playing every note like she has been playing her whole life. There are so many children around the world that have some sort of disability that prevents them from doing things that children all over the world should be able to do, such as sports, music or art. All of these things are important and achievable. We should never judge people's capabilities just because they have a disability. For Rosie McRackan, the 6-year-old T-ball player, having a disability is the least of her problems. She was born without an arm and her leg, but that doesn’t stop her from reaching her goals. She is living proof that people with disabilities are just as capable of doing something active, regardless of their physical limitations. Some people have a mindset that says “I can do more than people with disabilities because they are not as physically or as mentally capable.� This statement is false, with help from a prosthetic, a loving friend, family member or supportive community disabled people can do just as much as a non-disabled person. One thing we can do to help people with disabilities is to feel empathy towards them. It makes them feel loved and gives them hope and opportunities. Employing the disabled is more than just good business. In Chicago, there is a bakery called Sugar & Spice that has a work program available to people with autism. The bakery utilizes a $125,000 grant from the Chicago-based Coleman Foundation, to provide training and employment opportunities for jobs at minimum wage and are repetitive. After the initial training program, the workers did so well packaging the desserts that the owner of the business, Jean Kroll, offered for the autistic men to work at minimum-wage and promoted the workers without autism tackle more complex jobs. Allowing people with autism to work at Sugar & Spice was a smart business move because the company gains a positive reputation for
helping the disabled learn many valuable skills, and using the funding gives them that opportunity. The rights of disabled people should never be overlooked. This is why we should donate money to the foundations like AID.org, who fight against disability discrimination. There are so many people who help the disabled. They donate their time and money to helping people with mental illnesses or physical disabilities. The disabled are fully capable of doing things on their own, but we can still help them in feeling loved and cared for, and that’s really what everyone needs.