The Invisible Disability | Zina Jawadi

Last year, I thought of starting a disability club, but Mr. Williamson, Harker's high school Dean of Students, wisely recommended a more ambitious Disability Awareness Program instead.  Inspired by Mr. Williamson's suggestion, I reached out to Dr. Vinton Cerf, the inventor of the internet who also has hearing loss, to invite him to speak at Harker.  Despite his busy schedule and his living and working in the East Coast, Dr. Cerf graciously accepted.  On January 11, 2013, the Disability Awareness Program celebrated its first event, a speech by Dr. Cerf.  The assembly was a resounding success and a huge hit with both faculty and students.  A few days later, the program's second activity followed:  a hearing loss simulation spelling quiz.  The assembly and activity taught me the value of passion.  I am hearing impaired, I am dedicated to disability causes, and I always feel compelled to advocate for the civil liberties of people with disabilities.  Driven by my love of advocacy and disability rights, I felt ignited by a force larger than my own capabilities to achieve what seemed like a big task of organizing an event of this magnitude.  For the first time, I witnessed hundreds of students and tens of faculty seriously moved and influenced by something so dear to my heart.

I would like to thank Dr. Cerf, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Keller, Ms. Kohan, and many others who helped make this event such a success.  Hearing loss is often described as an invisible disability; however, this week, hearing loss was anything but invisible.  Rather, hearing loss was the impetus in changing people's attitudes about disabilities.

Lessons from Living with a Disability | Zina Jawadi

Having a disability is not about overcoming the actual disability but rather about overcoming society’s attitudes towards the disability.  The media portrays disabilities in a pitiable fashion and emphasizes the barriers of overcoming a disability; however, often times, reaching out to those without disabilities is more challenging than the disability itself.  Fortunately, research in contact theory has found that people who learn more about certain disabilities start to feel more comfortable with the disabilities and act more normally around people with disabilities.  Certainly, I can affirm this hypothesis through my personal experiences.  Explaining my hearing loss to my peers has influenced my peers positively and has increased their respect and appreciation of what I go through daily.  While hearing loss is considered a disability, my hearing loss has strengthened and shaped my personality, attributes, abilities, and outlook.  For example, hearing loss has taught me to focus intently in class in order to speechread and comprehend, to communicate better with my teachers, and to work hard to make up for what I do not hear in class.  Hearing loss has also taught me self advocacy.  And for these positives outcomes, I am proud of my disability, and I embrace, not shun, my disability.

Deaf President Now! | Zina Jawadi

In freshman year, during a speech-and-debate tournament, an orator discussed how his brother participated in the Gallaudet Deaf President Now Movement.  I have always been inspired by this movement, in which thousands of Deaf students at Gallaudet University, the world's first university for Deaf and hard of hearing students, demanded that a deaf president run the university, expressing their anger through sign language and through speaking.  As a result, when I heard this story by someone whose brother was personally involved in that movement, I could not help but feel moved, excited, and enthralled all at the same time.  The Deaf Movement symbolizes my love for the Deaf community, Deaf unity, and Deaf culture.  What initially began with the Deaf Movement soon sparked an entire Disability Rights Movement, which in many ways is still continuing.  December 3 was the International Day of People with Disability.  I’d like to dedicate this post to this awareness day.

Perseverance | Zina Jawadi

I remember arguing with my speech therapist, Sarah, when I was four years old, who was aimlessly urging me to pronounce the letter "r."  Now, at age seventeen, while at times I still feel frustrated and upset thinking back about how difficult and tormenting speech therapy was, I realize that speech therapy taught me valuable life skills beyond learning how to pronounce certain letters: I have learned about persistence, persuasion, and patience.  Hours of repeating the same letter again and again has taught me the life skill of perseverance and hard work.  The most challenging part of speech therapy is saying something that you hear differently.  Imagine you hear "bab," but you need to say "dad."  People with hearing loss sometimes pronounce certain sounds incorrectly, because they (the people with hearing loss) are hearing those sounds incorrectly.  Hearing something and saying it a different way requires persistence.  When I debated with my therapist over the correct pronunciation of certain letters, believing that my way was correct, I was also learning how to convince and persuade others.  Sitting through hours of speech therapy required patience and focus - something I can proudly say has helped me many times in my life.  As a result, despite the fact that I may grumble once in a while about speech therapy, I know I would not be where I am without speech therapy.  Beyond learning how to pronounce, speech therapy has helped shape my personality today, and if I were to start my life again and were given a choice to attend speech therapy or not, I would undoubtedly sit through the hundreds of hours of speech therapy again.  Thank you Sarah, Vicki, Sandra, Maryam, and all the therapists for the hard work and persistence in teaching me those lifelong skills!

DIS-ability | Zina Jawadi

We often hear the term "Are you retarded?"  I am always bothered by that expression, because it connotes that having a disability is unacceptable, shameful, and wrong and that people with disabilities are inferior to those without.  From my personal experience with hearing loss, a disability only becomes a DIS-ability when a person with the disability is at a disadvantage strictly because of her or his disability.  Given the same opportunity, people with disabilities are fully capable of excelling at almost everything people without disability can master.  Furthermore, people with disabilities often compensate and perform better in the same area of their disabilities.  For example, people with hearing loss may not hear well with their ears due to biological reasons; however, people with hearing loss often compensate with more and better speech reading (sometimes inaccurately called lip reading) and by observing people's body language and emotions more acutely than normal hearing people.  "Are you deaf?" is another offensive expression that our society does not seem to be able to shed.  Anyone who has been around deaf people will tell you that they tend to be highly expressive, including in their use of signing.  Next time we hear "are you deaf?" or "are you retarded?" we should object and remind the perpetrator that such expressions are simply unacceptable.

Potential | Zina Jawadi

Over the summer, my family and I sojourned in Egypt.  One day, while my mother and I were shopping for groceries, my mother stumbled upon an orphanage close to the place we were staying.  The building housed forty orphans, several of whom had disabilities.  I started visiting the orphans and was deeply moved by them, yet at the same time I was reminded of how fortunate and blessed Americans are.  One of the orphans I met was a five-year old boy named Adel who had autism and other mental challenges.  I was appalled to hear the terms used by the caregivers to describe Adel’s disability, especially his presumed “low IQ.”  All my encounters with Adel proved that he was nothing short of intelligent.  For example, Adel pointed to me and said, “Zina, look, there’s a man out in the balcony over there,” and surely enough, he was correct.  He was able to articulate his thoughts with remarkable ease and accuracy.  Having a disability does not mean that Adel had a “low IQ.”  I was truly saddened to see Adel’s potential being completely underestimated.  Distressingly, Adel is not alone.  Millions of other people in less fortunate countries are completely underestimated for different reasons, including disabilities.  While many people without disabilities pity, patronize, and preclude those with disabilities, people with disabilities are most often just as smart and intelligent as those without.  People like Adel will thrive if given the opportunity and the benefit of the doubt rather than just being labeled as a “low IQ.”

Honor Appreciation | Monica Thukral

My previous school’s everyday environment was absolutely the antithesis of that of Harker. Unfortunately, despite the many positive aspects of the school, the negative is what I will always remember: daily thefts and constant uneasiness.

When I joined Harker in the ninth grade, what surprised me the most was trust established within the tightly knit community. At first I laughed to myself at how naïve these students must be, as they left their laptops and other valuables scattered around the campus. Surely, they wouldn’t still be there when they returned, I thought. It wasn’t long before I began to do the same, eternally grateful for the ease at which I felt around the faculty and students of my new school.

In my opinion, this trust is the greatest aspect of Harker, and although we sometimes take it for granted, I love to think about just how lucky we are to spend our days in such an environment. Let us all work to keep it that way and increase the bond and faith we have between each other.

Proud to Be an American | Ayush Midha

Last Saturday, the weekend of Martin Luther King Day, was National Service Day in America. The day, a part of inauguration festivities that coincide with MLK Day, belongs to a nationwide drive to increase community service opportunities across America.

The National Service Day is just one feature of the widespread culture of community service in American politics. The idea of volunteering transcends the usual political infighting and is actively promoted by American politicians. For example, the Obama administration formed a nationwide initiative called “United We Serve,” a project inspired by the growing need for volunteers during the economic downturn. The project has started nationwide initiatives to provide hunger relief, give aid to Hurricane Sandy survivors, mentor youth, and serve veterans and their families. 

This pattern is also visible outside of American politics. For example, most high schools in America have community service requirements in order to graduate similar to those of Harker. This emphasis is unique to our country. The idea of required volunteering may seem odd, but it instills in young adults values of giving back to the community and serving those who are less fortunate. This sets a solid foundation for youth in America to begin serving the community well into adulthood.

The emphasis on community service makes me proud to be an American. Political beliefs aside, I am proud to have political leaders who actively promote volunteering and serve as role models to American youth. I hope that the culture of community service in America will continue to spread and make the world a better place.

Second Time Around | Arjun Goyal

During my most recent visit to KIPP Heartwood, I was placed in the fourth grade math class to tutor kids on integer manipulation. When I arrived, I was surprised to see Daniel, a kid who I had helped last year. I was even more surprised when he recognized me. Daniel is shy, but also pretty coy. He tries to find shortcuts, both to finish the problem more quickly and to get out of more work,  has no problem interrupting his working friends to squeeze in a joke, and smiles tacitly when he finally gets a problem. This occasion was the first time that I was able to tutor the same student more than once, and it was amazing to see his progress. After a brief refresher, he breezed through material he once found difficult. I was impressed and happy for him. After the two-hour session, Daniel and I fist-bumped (with an explosion, of course) and waved goodbye. Experiences like these are the reason I love going to KIPP.

What Break? | Ayush Midha

Just like every other high school student, I start counting down the days to Winter Break as soon as December begins. Two weeks of no work and complete relaxation seem like bliss to every teenager, especially after a grueling week of final exams.

This year, though, I began making lists and schedules of work to do, like volunteering, doing research for debate, practicing guitar, and getting a head start on some school assignments. My relaxing vacation was slowly turning into a stressful nightmare. I realized that too often, we forget about what’s important when we get sucked into the tornado of stuff that just needs to get done. Winter Break gives us an opportunity to spend time with family, catch up on some sleep, and help out in the community. While Harker’s policy of not assigning homework over break facilitates these important activities, other work (not just from school) always finds a way to fill up empty time like gas in a container. 

When we have so much stuff to do, we have to make sure that we set some time aside to have fun, and relax. For me, I realized this halfway through break, and as soon as I did, I spent more time with my family and even enjoyed doing some of the things on my to-do list. For example, I volunteered at a homeless shelter the day after Christmas and really enjoyed the experience. Although this activity started off as something on my to-do list, I felt incredibly satisfied and content after volunteering. I realized that I could be productive and enjoy my break at the same time. As soon as I made this commitment, my break became so much more enjoyable.