All around the world, schools have the objective to welcome and introduce students to the community where they are supposed to have the opportunity to make their own contribution.
For this reason full inclusion of children with disabilities is an important goal that the school system should pursue through high planning and quality by increasing the effort towards staff training and local resources.
A specific programme adopted for a particular student may turn out to be of importance for other students as well.
A „special child“ needs a joint academic, psychological and physical assistance that may include physiotherapy, speech therapy and much more. But we need to be careful, such a system cannot be considered an alternative to traditional school but an important „complementary ally“ of it.
Too many people still think that it is not instructional to include students with disabilities in a traditional school system but often these people do not realise that a full inclusion improves not only special children’s life but also „normal“ student’s ones.
Fortunately there are different examples to prove the opposite. One of these is the story of Nick Vuijcic, a 30-year-old man who was born in Australia with a shocking medical pathology: he has no limbs but just 2 fingers in the left foot.
For this reason the young Nick was not admitted to traditional school courses but thanks to his family’s efforts and laws rebuilding, he had the possibility to be one of the first children who attended a mainstream school system.
Early inclusion allowed him to follow a school programme with other children, developing many different skills that also include writing with his left foot.
But being special also meant difficulties: bullying was one of the worst enemies of young Nick. Maybe even worse than his disability itself.
Nick was able to overcome this bad situation with the help of his relatives and by learning various stories similar to his, Nick started focusing on his abilities instead on his limitations.
Speaking to a janitor at his school, Nick started to tell his story to other people and make them involved in his life.
This experience allowed him to be more confident and to find a new strength in him.
After this experience „a new Nick“ was born: he was no longer a bullied guy, but he became a famous and loved motivator. Thanks to early inclusion and the possibility to set an example for other people, he is now one of the successful and happiest men in the world and especially a loved husband and father.
http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com/about-nick-his-story
Find out Nick Vujicic’s special life
http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
Read more about Nick Vujicic „Life without limbs“ organization.
