I love to learn. Whenever I say that phrase, I think about the show hip-hop Harry and giggle a little. If you haven’t seen the show, there is a section of each episode where they sing a song about loving to learn, and the lyrics are as follows: I love to learn, I love to learn, but if you have seen the show, I just explained it to you and you get the vibes lol. It’s true, though, I always have loved learning. I have spent most of my life in school. I know people say that, but I promise it’s not really hyperbole for me. When my sister and I were born, the doctors were worried that I might fall behind because of my cerebral palsy so I was enrolled in Head Start. From there, I went through the standard K through 12 schooling and then immediately on to earn my bachelor of arts in journalism at SUNY Fredonia.
I’ve always been a very curious person. I like to make the joke that the reason I became a journalist is because I’m a naturally nosy person who loves to ask people questions and that’s a big part of the job. My curiosity, though, was fostered at a very young age mostly through reading. Books were my first friends. I took pride in the way I learned about people, places, and things. I loved the idea that I could escape to someone else’s world for a while and completely forget about my own even when I didn’t yet understand what I was running from. By the time I got to school, I was a pretty good runner. I learned to find solace even in the books about things I cared nothing for. That love for books became a love for writing and a desperation to give an audience someday, the same pleasure, excitement, and escape that books always gave me. My curiosity expanded to questions about people I would see on the street or in stores. I began creating imagined realities for them and adventures that they might go on. No matter the subject in school I was always doodling little stories in the corners of my notebooks and taking every chance I could to read something about somewhere or someone new. I think that’s why I also loved history and social studies because I’ve always understood that in order to see the life I want to lead I’d have to fight for it.
Before I ever knew how to fight for myself, my mother fought for me. She began in the 90s when I was born and doctors told her that my sister and I would never walk, talk, see, or attend “regular“ school. She dismissed this warning and because of her we grew up to be successful women. She fought for me again when they tried to talk her into letting me have a non-regents diploma simply because I was disabled. Now I wasn’t a complete A+ student, but I got pretty good grades and I was only ever terrible at drumroll please… Math. Numbers and I have never been friends, we will never be friends. That’s why I love a calculator to this day. Math aside, though, my mom understood that my disability did not mean I wasn’t capable of earning the diploma that my fellow students received and earned that diploma I did. My mother‘s choice to fight for me when I had no idea that she was forced to until much later, her tenacity, strength, and inherent belief in me has given me that same strength and ability to fight for myself. Aside from the assumption that I couldn’t earn my high school diploma because of disability, I fought the thoughts and opinions of a few rogue teachers, who didn’t believe I could ever succeed. Every time I do something that they insinuated I couldn’t do, I laugh a little and tick it off of my imaginary list.
So, this past weekend when I watched a video of Greg Guttfeld admit that they(Trump supporters, pundits, Trump, himself, etc.) didn’t want disabled children specifically to have an education, I thought first of all the ways the education I deserved had to be fought for, then I thought of the students today who don’t have a parent like mine to fight for them.
The students today who face the complete demolition of a department of education and the right to their own education as a result. And finally, I thought of the disabled student specifically, the ones who love to learn, like I do, the ones being punished and used as scapegoats to further a political agenda that sees us as things to tuck away or rid society of entirely. We, the disabled people someone can proudly announce they don’t care about to laughter around a table on national television. The disabled students who deserve an education and educators who see their value. After all, it only takes one person to bust down the door in order for the many to walk through. It’s up to us to do some busting and to fight fascism, ableism, racism etc. if the dismantling of the Department of education does actually happen, it’s up to us to hold up the people in our communities who need it most. We owe it to the next generation and upcoming leaders to fight for a world that they deserve to learn and grow in. After all, anything can happen when you have the right people in your corner cheering you on.
After my college graduation, I went onto to sell three books, win some awards, lose some awards, appear on some morning talk shows, travel the world, and start co-writing a musical. I have so many cool things in the pipeline and looking back, it all began with a mother who is a fighter, unyielding curiosity, and quite a bit of genuine excitability. I am who I am because I was given the chance to fall in love with learning. It is my greatest hope that young people don’t lose the opportunity to do the same.
Xoxo,
Keah
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