It seems Leah is doing so well that she leaves me with nothing much to say these days lol. Her progress at school has been awesome thus far. She loves being with her friends and loves learning new things every day in fact things have been going so well that Leah was recently awarded with most exemplary student. Needless to say the whole family was very, very proud of our little girl.
A few days after this event some dark clouds seemed to try and steal our sunlight. Leah and I usually have our girl talk time in the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner but this particular day she was unusually quiet and when I questioned her as to why she seemed so down, she told me that one of the kids in the class told her that their dad said the only reason why Leah was selected as exemplary student was because of her dwarfism and that they feel “sorry” for her and she got the award because she has a disability. In a instant I was filled with rage and I had to bite my tongue as I did not want to show Leah how this affected me, after all me doing a melt down is not showing her much encouragement on how to deal with these heart breaking moments, so I took a deep breath and I asked her how it made her feel when her friend said this, her answer was “I don’t really care anymore she is just jealous that’s all”. She made me so proud and I was really surprised at how something that enraged me to my core did not mean anything to her. I guess if I had acted out on my emotions she would be left doubting herself.
But this is my blog and now I get to say my say….
What does enrage me is that a PARENT (adult human in this case as ignorant as a rock) would put forward the suggestion that the only reason Leah was awarded is because “they feel sorry for her cause she is a dwarf”. This angers me cause it is these parents who teach their kids that disabilities is a “feel sorry” situation and that people with disabilities cannot really achieve much. Whatever gave you the idea that Leah gets special preference at school? The sad reality is you as a parent lack common sense and the lessons you instil upon your child will force the new generation to carry on with your selfish ignorant thoughts towards people with disabilities. It’s probably parents like you who park in parking bays reserved for those with disabilities because you are too lazy to make use of your fully functioning legs that extra few meters of walking is just too much for you to bear. Its parents like you who suffer from the worst know disability to mankind and it’s called IGNORANCE and you breeding this disease amongst your kids. I don’t blame your child I blame you for planting your seed of ignorance in their young growing minds.
I’m happy that Leah has not allowed any negativity to break her spirit, I’m happy that Leah has the support of loving teachers and friends at school, It’s just sad that there is one parent out there who has serious issues to deal with and I do hope you read this post and somehow find the wakeup call that might cure you from your own sad insecurities.
Raising Leah 