Blog Archives

FINALLY

By Brett Schaffran

At 34 I spoke my first word. I am a speller, and my name is Brett Schaffran. All my life there was the desire to speak: but my mouth doesn’t listen to my brain. For a long time I believed I might one day be able to, but when I realized that would never happen, I despaired. Almost all of us are seen by the world as incapable. But given the right supports, we are very capable indeed.

My life has changed so much in the past year. Feelings of joy are now the norm for me, rather than the exception. My dream of talking has come true…and I want to finally be heard.

11/25/2024 0 Comments

Fear

People need to understand more about who nonspeakers really are. We can read others’ feelings easily, and know that most people are afraid of us. People don’t like what is different from them, and boy!...are we different. That’s kind of an understatement, to be honest. We are loud, and our bodies are not in control. We begin to stim, and people freak out. Talking for myself, I perceive fear often in others. It is so ubiquitous that I can tune it out at times.

But sometimes it hurts. We are only scary if you don’t get us. My hope is that someday the sight of a nonspeaker will evoke as much reaction as a lightbulb…and that no one will bombard me with fear again. I believe that one day we will not inspire fear so much; after all, there are a lot of us.

The thing that inspired the writing of this was an incident that happened at the Jets game two weeks ago. My OCD made me take a child’s water bottle. He freaked out, understandably, and I felt sick over it. His fear totally washed over me. Maybe people won’t get so scared someday to have someone like me do that.

For all my life, I always felt fear everywhere. I hope it stops.

0 Comments

11/11/2024 6 Comments

The Great Teacher Mystery

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes a great teacher. Is a great teacher someone competent to teach the subject, or is there an unintelligible quality that defies description? Or is it someone who has the desire to impart knowledge? Or is it someone who feels passionately about student success? After much contemplation, I realize that it’s all these wrapped up in one person.

And that is why there are so few great teachers.

Many intelligent people go into teaching, but most are not great teachers. The quality that is the most difficult to describe is the most important. I feel that it is sort of an instinct that tells the teacher when to push a student and when to ease off. It tells the teacher when a student is not getting something and when they no longer need help: instinct and a feel that are not easy to describe. It’s like an artist who has a sixth sense for discerning beauty. A great teacher has a sixth sense for knowing how and when to get students to learn.

I have had many teachers in my life, and some truly cared about teaching. I believe many wanted me to succeed, and most were pretty nice people. The thing is, none could see past the disability. To them I was a disabled boy named Brett, rather than being Brett, who happens to have a disability. Having a disability is like having brown hair: it is not who someone is. It’s something someone has. Teachers lower their expectations for students with disabilities.

I am at last happy because there are people who see me and don’t give a damn if I speak with my mouth. These people teach me at the level I am, not the level I appear to be on the outside. All these people expect me to learn, so I do. I cannot begin to tell you what that feels like. After so many years of teachers expecting me to learn nothing really, I am now expected to notice iambic pentameter in a poem by Shelley or Wordsworth. That’s the real Brett.

So what, in the end, is a great teacher? I think it’s so many things, but ultimately, I think it’s someone who has the desire to teach, the ability to explain, and that sixth sense of understanding her students. Perhaps that’s a kind of empathy. Whatever it is, Judy has it in spades. We are able to learn to talk because of it. And we are able to succeed because she makes us know we can.