The “R” Word
By DJ Flores
The school year was almost over and I had that sense of joy bouncing around in my chest like a fly in a glass bottle. The first day of classes in the last semester is always so redundant: listening to the same rules for every class and going over the same syllabus with a few adjustments for the different classes. But the day was almost over and it was time for 6th period, Unified P.E. Unified P.E. is a class to help teach the mentally challenged how to play sports and have the proper sports etiquette. I might have been more excited than these kids with their big smiles and big hearts. I was new to the class and experience, yet I knew it was going to be a good one. Two of my favorite women were in the class, my mom and track coach, so what more could I ask for?
As I walked into the gym, a faint smell of body odor arose in the air, and I knew I was going to have to get used to this smell. As I looked around the class, I realized how wrong I was to judge these wonderful people. I never directly referred to them as a “retard” (the R word), but I never gave these kids much attention or respect that I should have. These kids with their big hopes and dreams deserve more respect than anyone gives them. You can always hear kids in the halls talking about how bad Jeremy smelled or mocking these kids in general. You would here kids either make fun of the way they talked or just the things they did.
Jeremy was one of my favorite kids in that class because he loved sports just as much as the next guy and had an awesome personality. Every time Jeremy saw me, whether I was in class or not, he would say “DJ Flores.” I would always respond with, “That’s not my name.” He never caught on that I was just quoting a song because he would always try to argue with me after I responded. But it was all just fun and games between Jeremy and me. No matter what sport we were teaching them, he always wanted to be the best at it. His dreams of one day playing football and being the starting quarterback just showed me that there is so much more to this kid than anyone can see.
At the start of every semester, Mrs. Vermillion assigns an athlete and partner to work together throughout the class. The kids are referred to as the” athletes” and the teacher’s aides are the “partners.” Just as I was hoping, I landed Jeremy as my athlete! I knew working with him was going to be a challenge, but I was prepared to face any challenges I might encounter. Getting Jeremy to do things such as the warm up stretches in the class was like trying to get a child to eat vegetables. He always wanted to skip the stretches and go straight to the sprints at the end so we could race, just as a kid always wants to skip the healthy part of dinner and go straight to dessert. After many failed attempts, we finally landed on a deal. If he was good the whole class, I would reward him with his favorite candy. He too was a Sour Skittles fan. As my and Jeremy’s bond got stronger, I faced an even bigger challenge. His parents never gave him any real directions on how to have self-cleanliness. Now I had to get him to take showers after every class. I felt so bad for him. It felt wrong trying to get him to get naked and shower in front of the other students. I didn’t want people to judge him more than they already do. The kids in the locker room would laugh and make jokes about me trying to help and teach this kid a valuable life lesson. This wasn’t fair to Jeremy. He did nothing to deserve this mockery from students.
It was April and Mrs. Vermillion gave me a project to do. It was to make a Public Service Announcement (PSA) of all the kids in the class. I gladly accepted this request with no hesitation. I wanted other people to see these kids for who they really are. I had already made a couple drug awareness PSA’s, so I already had a feel on how to make a PSA and get my point across.
When I interviewed these students it was truly a life changing experience. I asked them question such as: how does it make you feel when you hear the R word? And do you feel connected to SUHS (South Umpqua High School)? The tone and look of sorrow in their eyes and voice as they responded to these questions just made my heart feel as if it shattered into a million pieces. I had to ask them several questions and getting answers out of them was almost impossible for some. Even asking questions about how they felt about the R word seemed to affect them as if they were being called it. This one word has done so much damage it seems almost undoable. I had a half an hour to show my PSA to the school, but my time got cut down to 10 minutes because I guess high school dances were more important.
Kids in school throw the R word around like a ball, not paying attention to how it makes other people feel. The kids in my school were so blind they couldn’t see something if it hit them in the face. It filled me with anger knowing that these people were so emotionless. They didn’t care for anyone’s feelings but their own, and I was hoping this video would change their views and attitude towards these other students.
It was finally Disability Awareness Week. I was so excited to have my video shown in front of the whole school. If this video didn’t change people’s minds or make them think twice about saying the “R” word, I didn’t know what would. At the beginning of the week some fellow students and I hung up posters asking people to pledge to not say the R word. Before the day was over, the posters were already torn down or ruined. I felt like the school had a real genocide on its hands. That Friday my video was shown and I was so proud of myself. I felt like I had made a real difference. I got a long standing ovation, and everyone was cheering. As people walked out, we had a big long poster for people to pledge to not say the word anymore.
There were so many people signing up, but as I watched and listened, they were only signing up to get a free bracelet, kind of like the “livestrong” bracelets but these ones were for Disability Awareness Week. I heard comments like, “Why should I stop saying a word because people choose to be offended by it, it’s what they are.” How could someone say that? I guess if you are white and have no disabilities, then I guess it easy to make that assumption. But being a person of color and hearing or being called the many words society has given you, you share that sense of emotion.
Although not everyone’s opinions were changed that day, I know some were, and it was because of me. Taking Unified P.E. was truly a life changing experience for me. If anyone has the option to work with the mentally challenged, I would recommend doing it. These kids have so much to offer and share. All that I ask is for pledge to stop saying the R word.
