week 11

Thursday: On Thursday we listened to two guest speakers talk about their physical disabilities and how they deal with not only the disability itself but also how they deal with other peoples reactions to it. Mr. Peterson talked to us for awhile about his disability and how he's gone through life with his disability. Even though Mr. Peterson might be physically disabled, he is still one of the smartest people I know in and out of the classroom. If you get talking to him about sports it seems like he knows everything about any particular sport you mention. Then the other speaker started telling us  about his disability and what he's gone through. His disability is a little different from Mr. Peterson's. From an early age he was diagnosed with what seemed to be a less severe type of bipolar. Which you wouldn't be able to tell just by talking to him. He really knew how to speak to a classroom and just seemed like any normal person. What I got out of the two speakers that we heard was that they just want to be treated like any normal person. They want to be able to talk sports with their students and joke around just like any other teacher or person in society would want us to do. I mean Mr. Peterson might be in a wheelchair but he's probably not only one of the smartest teachers I've met but one of the smartest people I've met too. I just can't understand how two people that're more friendly can be treated so unfairly sometimes. Mr. Peterson hasn't been able to walk and he understands that, but maybe the people without physical disabilities should understand that most of us will never have to be in a wheelchair, so we should have to respect what he goes through everyday. And same with the other speaker! I don't know what it's like to have any sort of bipolar, but I couldn't imagine having such disorder! All I know is the two men that spoke for us are two people that're stronger mentally then I'll ever be. And I respect them for that.