What is normal?

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 A defining point in my life in which I more clearly understood my privilege and perception of what it was like to function in this world was meeting my friend, lets call her Meg, and her dog. She is legally blind and became blind because of an accident that took her sight. I had always felt bad for people who were blind and wondered what it was like not to see. When I first met her, I treated her different. I tried to protect her, and treated her a bit like an invalid, but that is not what she wanted. I am so grateful that she took the time to educate me on how she wanted to be treated and that she was a strong and capable person. She had worked hard to have the ability to do most things that she wanted to do, however she had to consider everything before she went out. If I asked her to hang out, she needed a bit of prep time to see how she could get there. If walking, she needed to know if there were sounds on the traffic lights to help her know when to cross, and what the curbs were like to be able to know how she needed to step. I had no idea that how our cities and towns are set up make it so much for difficult for so many people to function in their day to day lives that could be set up to enable everyone to be able to live life in a way that they want to. The story Sensoy and DiAngelo tell, in their book, “Is Everyone Really Equal,” about the person with 2 eyes instead of 3 really resounded with me. It reminded me of how Meg said people responded to her. Meg told me about how people would respond at seeing her and her guide dog. How there were whispers when she was walking down the street or people who didn’t believe her that she needed her guide dog to help her navigate the store. These are things that I take for granted. I can navigate a store alone and don’t have to worry that they might place a display in the middle of the aisle. I don’t even think about the curbs or noise at the traffic lights. This world is made for people certain abilities and , as Sensoy and DiAngelo say, my privilege had been invisible to me.

When I do become an educator, I want to help the students have some of those moments that I was able to experience with my friend Meg. I want to partner with organizations and people in the town that I am in, to provide experiences for the children that help them see what another person’s normal might look like. I want to have representations in my classroom of many many different people living their lives in the way that seems best to them. I also want to have a space where no topic is taboo. If a student has a question, that they can ask it without fear of judgment or recrimination, and I want to use those as learning points for all of us.

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