I’m autistic. I guess a better way to put it is that I have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It was interesting being a child on the spectrum, but I think I’m better for it, still trying to figure that one out. For the better part of two summers I’ve been working with children and teenagers who are also on the spectrum. It feels right to me, like I’ve finally found something that is for me in a world that doesn’t offer that a lot. I’ll save y’all the whole spiel, that’s for my colleges to hear. But working with people on the spectrum is something I’m passionate about and I want to continue into my future.
So when I heard about the National Inclusion Project (NIP) last summer I was real interested. And when I heard that they were going to have a gala in October to celebrate their 20th anniversary, I became very interested. I wanted to see how inclusion could be national and what the people advocating for 20 years have to say. I also just wanted to go to a gala.
NIP was founded by Clay Aiken, of American Idol fame, and Diane Bubel in 2003 after Aiken had been working with Diane’s son, Michael, as part of his pursuit for a degree in special education. Aiken and Bubel founded NIP based on three core principles: every child can participate, every child can make a friend and every child can succeed. I’ve worked with children who haven’t always been treated by these principles, and I was once those children. You don’t realize it at the moment, but it hurts, a lot. Inclusion can be difficult to facilitate sometimes, I’m not going to lie. But when I tell you that there is no better feeling in this wild world than seeing a child make a new friend, to see a child succeed, to see a child happy, I mean it earnestly and sincerely. To be in a room full of people who have dedicated a part of their lives for the past 20 plus years to making kids happy meant everything to me.
I can’t really express how going to the gala and hearing patrons and members of NIP speak really made me feel, mostly because I don’t know how. It was affirming and empowering, but also really nice and heartwarming (although the heartwarming part may have come from the lack of AC in the venue.)
What really struck me out of all the speeches was actually not a speech at all, it was a timeline of NIP. During the segment about Aiken’s time on “American Idol,” he mentions many times in the interview segments on the show that if he went far in the competition, he would put that fame to use and start a foundation for children with disabilities. Aiken has always wanted to do this. fame didn’t muddle or change that. To me that is just the coolest thing in the whole world.
Speaking of cool things in the world, Clay (we’re on a first name basis now) loved my suit and said he has one just like it in his closet. I talked to him about wanting to be a teacher and working with children on the autism spectrum, and I think he had a positive reaction to that. I honestly can’t remember because I was starstruck, realizing that I was looking at myself in 25 years. He then shook my hand, MY HAND DEBRA! The only other person’s hand he shook at our table was John Wilson (not the East math teacher), former president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. So I’m not saying that I’m just as important and awesome as John Wilson, Clay said that for me.
The night ended with Aiken singing his whole first album while looking at the lyrics on the floor, which was an amazing end to an affirming night.
