Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons | Ayush Midha

It came as a shock to most of us when we learned the results of the Honor Council Survey that we took last year. While the majority of students agreed that they wouldn’t cheat, a large percentage of Harker students also felt that their parents would prefer cheating over getting a bad grade and that it’s not cheating if everyone is doing it. I was puzzled about why there would be considerable support for two apparently contradictory statements.

After thinking about the survey carefully, I thought I came to a conclusion. As indicated by the survey, the majority of Harker students don’t cheat. So that begs the question, “Why don’t we cheat?” 

A lot of people don’t cheat because they are afraid of getting caught. That was the only explanation in my mind for why most students would not cheat but still thought that cheating contributes to success and that their parents would be okay with it. I concluded that the majority of students believed that cheating is probably beneficial, but the risks of getting caught outweigh the potential benefits! This reasoning offers a stark contrast from following the honor code for the right reasons: it’s the right thing to do, preserves the honor of the school, and promotes real learning.

Of course, we can’t generalize about everyone’s motivation for not cheating. However, this is a phenomenon that is present in multiple scenarios. For example, a lot of people don’t speed on the highways because they are afraid of getting caught, instead of trying to keep the roads safe. Additionally, some volunteer just to obtain hours or to beef up their college application rather than in an effort to give back to the community and help those in need.

After pondering this for a while, I concluded that it’s not enough to merely do the right thing. It’s just as important to do the right things for the right reasons.

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.”