• "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson 

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• Being in school felt more like being trained and educated to be like everyone else. We were taught to behave and act like the norm. We were constantly told to lower our voices raise our hands if we wanted to speak, walk in a straight line, walk silently in the hallways, and be kind to others. We were never taught to embrace our true selves and find ourselves. In the last class, I told my story of my identity crisis, my first language is part of my identity. In elementary school, my first which is Spanish was looked at as a problem that needed to be fixed. I sat in a class filled with my white peers and white teachers. I felt like the outcast; a cheetah filled with a room of zebras. I was always pulled out of class to perfect my English, and when students were put into groups, I worked with the teacher. It was clear that I was not part of my peers as my education journey continued. I began to speak less and less Spanish in school and hid my Dominican self. When high school came, I distanced myself from my Spanish friends and when speaking to them I did it in secret.

  
  While I was reading the article of Zora, I laughed because I can just picture  a beautiful full of energy little girl that is ready to be part of the community. She is not like her peers. She wants to be part of something and because her personality is so outgoing and energetic she is having trouble trying to fit in. Her teacher is constantly telling her the rules, and how to behave. The teacher is so focused on how Zora is just out of control and acting impulsive because she’s not following the norm; not raising her hand, not standing in line, and interrupting class. But this child is filled with fearlessness. She is outspoken. She is creative. She’s living in her own world. I love that her family at home gives her space to be herself and discover herself. I love how fearless she is, always outspoken. She always defended herself even though she knew the consequences. She stood by her actions and stood on what she believed. I think that’s what makes someone so powerful and unique.

  💭I wonder, If our school system stripping away our differences, viewing them as weaknesses instead of strengthening them? 

  
  I always love watching the documentary Crip Camp, it is just a fresh reminder that it is ok to be different and to speak up for yourself. These young folks created a camp where they wanted to feel a sense of belonging to a community. One of the campers spoke and said it was utopia and it was like an outside world. I can see that they didn’t feel they were different. They all fit in with each other, they had things in common and they were acting like teenagers. Because they created this camp, it empowered them to do more and put their words into action. They went back to the real world and stood on their grounds to make disability equality to receive the same education as regular and students are having to install handicap railings and places. They stood on what they believed in, vocalized, and fought for their rights. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Both of these articles speak to each other because we live in a world where we have to follow the norms and follow rules of how to be. Embracing everyone’s differences and utilizing that to challenge and build each other can create a strong community.

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