{"id":7093,"date":"2017-10-29T21:39:41","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T01:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7093"},"modified":"2017-11-03T21:20:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-04T01:20:30","slug":"birdneck-student-builds-awareness-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/birdneck-student-builds-awareness-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Birdneck student builds awareness for disability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifth-grader Devin Johnson knows people will have questions. He would rather they just ask him instead of whispering under their breath or behind his back.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s experienced both at other schools, which is why he asked his teachers if he could host an assembly for all of his fifth-grade peers. New to Birdneck Elementary School and to Virginia Beach, he wanted to provide answers right from the start.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came to this school I thought it would be OK to tell them about my disability so they would understand,\u201d explained Johnson. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to look at me in a different way and say, \u2018Oh, ew. That\u2019s a little bit weird.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

During PE class, \u201cI told them that I have a rare disorder and that my arms and joints can\u2019t work so my arms just stay like this; they can only go this far. And my hands are crooked a little bit. I told them I eat differently. I can\u2019t take my hand and grab something. I just lean over and eat like this without using my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson also told them that he plays power chair soccer and wants to play on Team USA. He\u2019d like to be a sportscaster, too.<\/p>\n

Robin Meyer, a special education teacher at Birdneck, remembers Johnson\u2019s command of the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018There are some things I want you to help me with and some things I want to do on my own.\u2019 He\u2019s very independent in that respect and likes to advocate. He has no problem answering questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching her son play ultimate football in PE with his classmates, Johnson\u2019s mother Mariah Gifford also noted his desire for independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita \u2013 we call it AMC for short \u2013 and a connective tissue disorder,\u201d explained Gifford. \u201cHe wants to be just like every other kid that\u2019s running out there. Everyone else is very active at his age. He doesn\u2019t get to be as active as he would like, which is why he wants to get into sportscasting because he knows his sports. He can talk about it all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

\u201cI love football because my dad always watches it and I got into to it too,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI just like the action \u2013 throwing, juking. I like basketball too. I like when they break ankles. I don\u2019t mean someone gets hurt. It means juking someone, making someone going the opposite way you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not watching sports at home, he\u2019s thriving at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been amazing,\u201d said Gifford. \u201cHe\u2019s in student council already. He\u2019s involved with music. He\u2019s in math tutoring, and I\u2019m excited that he\u2019s even opened up to receive that help because he wants to be very independent.<\/p>\n

\""<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re glad to have found Birdneck. We love it,\u201d Gifford added. \u201cWe had other friends that we met in military housing whose kids came here and they recommended it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The respect is mutual from Birdneck staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevin is just a breath of fresh air. He really is. He just has a great outlook on life,\u201d said Leighanne Beaumont, Johnson\u2019s fifth-grade teacher. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great life lesson for my students who, they themselves, struggle with things, and then they look at the bigger picture and they see Devin and his struggles and he doesn\u2019t give up. He perseveres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson is known for a common response to new situations: I\u2019ll figure it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s always his answer,\u201d said Beaumont. \u201cHe wants to try and do as much as he can. Sometimes he realizes it\u2019s not going to work or it has to be modified, and sometimes he\u2019ll look at you like: See, I told you I could do it. He just has a very good, positive outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant Principal Allison Jordan praised her teachers for working hard to \u201cfigure things out\u201d right along with Johnson and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey spent two hours here this summer walking through the school with the family,\u201d said Jordan. \u201cOne teacher\u2019s dad even made an adjustable slant board for Devin.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was Meyer, whose dad does woodworking. After seeing the number of different slant boards to use for different angles, Meyer asked him about creating a single adjustable slant board.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevin wanted something that was unassuming,\u201d Meyers said of him not wanting to draw more attention to himself. \u201cThis one is the color of the desk with an oak stain color. It\u2019s small and lightweight and we can just adjust it. He needs it at different levels for different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Just like Johnson always says, they figured it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know myself as well as the rest of us who work with him have learned so much,\u201d said Meyer. \u201cHaving to think outside the box more, having to adapt things, the on-the-spot thinking \u2013 it\u2019s really been eye opening for all of us as well as the kids. They\u2019re learning a lot from him and I think that\u2019s the biggest message here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson has another message to share.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreat people with disabilities the way you want to be treated,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can\u2019t always do stuff like you. They may have a little bit of a struggle about some stuff that they really, really want to do but they can\u2019t do it because their joints or their bodies can\u2019t work as well. Don\u2019t say something mean because it can make them feel really bad about it and make them feel like they\u2019re not as cool as the other people. So, always be thoughtful about how you\u2019re going to say stuff to them. Be nice about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson plans to show how cool playing power chair soccer is when some of his teammates visit Birdneck for a demonstration in PE class. Following the assembly he led earlier this year, Johnson\u2019s soccer demonstration will help build even more awareness among his peers and staff members.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people would look at a disability as hindering them and he\u2019s the complete opposite,\u201d Beaumont said. \u201cYou wish more students \u2013 students with disabilities and without – had that same aura about them or outlook on life. He\u2019s a special kid. He is a wonderful advocate for himself: \u2018If you have a question, ask me. I\u2019ll tell you anything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifth-grader Devin Johnson knows people will have questions. He would rather they just ask him instead of whispering under their breath or behind his back. He\u2019s experienced both at other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-7093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birdneck-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7093"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7101,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093\/revisions\/7101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}