The Ideal Situation May Not be so Ideal: Response to The Novel "Out of my Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

          Living a life that's dictated by a disability isn't the ideal situation. Life for disabled people is full of struggles that the majority of healthy, unaffected people don't have to face. These struggles may include bullying, immobility, feeling alone, feeling different, feeling as if you're a burden, being constantly categorized in a certain group because of physical and mental impressions, being heavily dependent upon others, or worse, never being able to do anything for yourself, and probably worst of all, not being able to say anything that you desperately want to say. Melody Brooks, a ten-year old girl in the fifth grade has experienced every one of these struggles. Not being able to speak, and barely being able to move controls her entire life. She can't do anything by herself, and getting her point across to anyone takes a tremendous amount of effort. Although she has to deal with these obstacles, she always manages to make the best of her life. Unlike most of us, she doesn't take for granted the true gift of friendship, and whenever she makes a new friend, it feels like Christmas day. She doesn't have many friends, because people only take time so see her on the outside. She has realized over a course of time that the only important physical aspect of a person is their smile. Melody takes the time to get to know the inside of a person’s personality, even if they don't lift a finger to figure out her personality. She never takes for granted the importance of independence, and does what she can for herself and or others whenever she gets the opportunity. She never underestimates the power of knowledge, because although she can't do much, one thing she can do is learn. Whenever she learns about something, whether it be about monkeys, architecture, Latin roots, or even cooking techniques, it's one of the only things that can make her non-different, and more human. Everyone learns. She has that in common with everyone, so she learns as much as she can. She never lets her disability take control. No matter how hard the challenge may seem, she always finds a way to conquer it. Disabilities aren't barriers that prevent you from conquering what you want to conquer, they are just simply small mountains that you have to take time to figure out, plan your routes, and climb to the top.

          This novel shows readers that even with a severe disability, you can achieve things beyond your wildest dreams! Melody, having spent most of her life learning from the Internet, books, and television, is exceptionally smart beyond elementary, and even middle school levels. One thing she has definitely wanted to do is be on the quiz team at her school. The school then competes on television for another chance to be on television in Washington D.C. Thanks to a new program her school has added, she is able to spend half of her day with the General Education children, and the other half in her under-level SPED classes. This gives her the chance to take the team's admission test in her new Social Studies class! She ends up getting a perfect score on both the exams, and makes the team! She is extremely exited and also nervous about being on the team, but once everyone sees how smart she actually is, most of them learn to accept her, and even become friends with her. 

         Being handicapped affects more than just people’s physical needs. This is shown throughout the story. Being handicapped may seem like a horrible thing to people who are healthy, but in reality, being normal is more horrific. When you never have to worry about how people perceive the overall way you look (we still worry about how other people think we look, but not in a way that handicapped people have to worry about it), it makes a person less sensitive to other peoples feelings. Commenting on a person’s appearance, staring at them, even whispering about them. They see it all. When you never have to worry about being completely ignored by your peers because you make them feel "uncomfortable", you become less aware how you make people feel by not even willing to talk to them. When you never have to worry about making friends, you rarely consider the fact that most children with special needs have zero friends, and that it feels horrible knowing that no one in their school wants the slightest bit to do with them. Melody see's how mean and insensitive the normal children act to each other, and she knows they wouldn't consider the small comments "mean", because not having any physical or mental issues prohibits them from perceiving humanity through a different set of lens. Having a handicap affects more than a person’s physical or mental needs. It forces them to see the true "normal" population, and how cruel they can be without even knowing it. Because the disabled population has to deal with the cruelness of being ignored, being laughed at or mocked, being talked about without them knowing it, and no one taking the time to see their personalities or what they have to say more than any other categorized group, it shows them how being healthy might actually be worse than having a handicap. They too would become part of the insensitive, judgmental majority. 

          I hope that children, teens, and adults alike read this book, and see the true kindness, intelligence, and integrity in every single person, handicapped or not, without first-impression appearances being an aspect in judgment of a personality. I hope they learn that disabled people go through many hardships, and that just a complement or nice comment can make their entire week. I hope they learn that although these hardships sound incredibly challenging, the people who carry these challenges around with them every second of the day never let it act as a barrier to their goals. I hope they learn that the only physical aspect that they should consider for personality-judgment is a persons' smile.