VIDEO: Students Celebrate Disability Awareness

Emma Rodriguez’s rendition of “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus was a telling way to end this year’s Disability Awareness day at Sachem High School North on Wednesday afternoon.

She took to the dais in the little theater at North and belted a song about overcoming obstacles, something each student next to her has done everyday for their entire lives.

For a change, they were the stars at school. Others came to watch them speak about their disability and the positive attributes they find in life.

“They call it special education for a reason,” said Emily Alaia, who has had trouble in various subject areas, but grew to not having any support classes this year, has a show on and plans on going to college for broadcast journalism. “Each of us are different in our own way and that makes us special. We may not be the smartest or fastest, or have the best attention span, but that still makes us us and that’s pretty great too.”

Sachem has held a segment like this every year since 2003. This year special education teacher Danielle McBride took charge with the set up.

“It’s wonderful that everyone gets to listen and understand the disabilities of these children,” she said. “They realize they can do everything that all the other students in school can do. It’s a great experience for them to get up and speak and have the other students listen to them.”

James Higgins played “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast on the piano and others like John Moloney, who has cerebral palsy, gave wise statements.

“Overcoming my disability is my everyday life,” he said. “Over the years I’ve learned that you need to succeed and behave if you want to get anywhere in life.”

Michael Slattery, who is a regular fixture on the sidelines at football and lacrosse games in Sachem and has ADHD and epilepsy, gained considerable recognition around the district this month when he about the meaning of special education teachers in his life.

“Just because I have a disability doesn’t mean I can’t do sports or other activities,” he said.

“The main purpose in doing this is to educate the rest of the students and everyone else,” said Karen Santoriello, another teacher who helped McBride, along with Lauren Puleo and Sheri Rose. “They’re used to seeing the kids but they don’t always understand them. It’s changed the reactions of students in the school. It’s really had a positive impact.”