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How a Specially-Abled Child Changed Me as a Person…
How accepting and living spiritually with conflict is the gateway to peace.
My fifteen-year stint as a teacher in a primary school has given me both memorable and life-changing experiences. It was one of those initial years in the early 2000s when I joined a school as a primary teacher.
I was assigned to teach Grade I students all subjects. Managing a large class of fifty students, aged between six and seven years, was a daunting task. These tiny tots were a noisy, naughty, and chaotic lot.
That year was particularly challenging because I was entrusted with the responsibility of teaching a specially-abled child with learning difficulties. He was much older — around twelve years old — and taller than his peers.
The younger children often made fun of him, which was heartbreaking to witness. However, with patient handling, he began to adjust to his little friends, and gradually, my teaching sessions became more manageable and enjoyable.
The sad reality at that time was that his aged parents, particularly his mother, were unable to accept his disability. Let’s call him “Big Boy.” His mother, a sensitive woman, harboured the hope that by admitting him to a school for “normal” children, he would somehow become like them.
