#and we all just have to sit back like they didn't bully multiple individuals and groups of people alike | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

eds-zebra-warrior · 4 years ago

Text

2021 Ehlers Danlos Society Awareness Month (Day 5 Prompt: School and Teachers

I didn't get a diagnosis until I finished college however I did have several teachers who realized something was going on. The first one to take notice was my first grade teacher Mrs. M. She notified my mom that she believed I had learning disabilities and believed something was going on. The school continued to refuse to do any kind of testing but she stepped up and fought them. My mom even had a picture of a birthday cake I made for my dad in which I wrote “Happy Birthday Dad” on the cake totally backwards as if it were a reflection in a mirror. Mrs. M not only gave me the individualized attention I needed but also wouldn't take no for an answer from the school which made them do basic learning disability testing and put me into a specialized reading and writing class.

It wasn't until later elementary school, when I was in the 3rd-5th grade that I believe my Gym Teacher Mr. W started noticing something was going on. He never said anything so I can’t be sure he realized there was a problem however he did provide some extra help for me in gym, like when we did pull ups he was always happy to help lift part of my weight and never said anything about my inability to run, throw balls, do sit ups and pushups properly, only grading me on effort and would sometimes ask me if I needed help with certain things or would give me tips without it being too obvious to other students. He was genuinely just a happy guy though. He would whistle the lamb chops song while we ran and was pretty relaxed which is why I’m not sure he noticed but since he did conspicuously offer help to me makes me believe it at least crossed his mind that something was going on. A lot of EDS patients really struggled with gym teachers and learned to hate that class but I always had really good gym teachers who took notice to the fact that my inability do succeed in sports wasn't my fault. They always knew that I wasn't lazy and there was something more going on in my body that caused me to be clumsy, weak and different than the other kids.

In middle school, I didn't have a gym as I went to a homeschool coop which was more like a private school. When entering this school I had yet to start treatment for my Juvenile Dwarfism but in contrast to my first school where I was bullied for being tiny and clumsy, at this school I quickly became the most popular kid in the school. This made me blend in so my teachers didn't really notice much atypically that was going on. The students however were the ones that did notice but being small, I was no longer a freak but at this school I was “Pocket Sized” and my social awkwardness and clumsiness was embraced as uniquely different and original. The girls would fight over whose house I would spend the night at on the weekend and as gym was replaced by Friday field trips, the guys would fight over who got to give me a piggyback ride during the field trips. The falling is a lot less noticeable when people are either piggy backing you around all the time or you had people around you all the time so if you tripped usually someone was grabbing your arm to catch you before it was that noticeable. This is the school where I really came out of my shell and went from the shy kid to the social butterfly. So much so that the teacher would start occasionally referring to me as a butterfly before telling me to stop talking. I eventually passed up the educational capabilities of the teacher and was put into a place of teaching younger students myself which forced me to leave and return to public school, this time at a different public school in the country.

In high school I was kind of right in that sweet spot when it came to popularity. Right in the middle where I didn't have problems with anyone and was able to befriend some of the jocks and cheerleaders as well as the kids in quiz bowl and band. I had a lot of friends but not so many that it became overwhelming or stressful because here at least there weren't fights over whose house I went to, whose vehicle I rode in on the way to a field trip, which kid was going to get me as their big sister in the big sister big brother program, who got to sit by me etc. so it was more manageable and I again started falling more under the radar of the teachers.

My high school gym teacher Mrs. B again took notice of my unusual body mechanics in gym and after my first gym class which was sports based suggested I switch to another class that was actually a harder class but totally different as well, focusing on weight lifting, cardio and fitness rather than sports. She was able to teach me for the first time in my life, how to run. She also took note that where I lacked in upper body strength, I excelled in lower body strength and helped me to eventually be able to leg press 320 lbs. when I was only 92 lbs. by the time I graduated. My goal was to hit 300 lbs. which she suggested I lower that a bit but on the last day I leg pressed 300 lbs. and then told my partner to put a ten on each side, just to see if I could do it, and leg pressed 320 lbs. one time and said well, there's one. Now I can say I did it and we put the barbells up. When It came to bench pressing I barely could bench the 45 lbs. bar without any weights added at all and was the only one in the class who had to start with a mini 35 lb. bar. She taught me to do proper push ups and my body mechanics really improved with her help.

I had an English teacher in high school named Mrs. H. She reminded me of a grandmother when I was in high school and improved my reading skills more than any teacher I ever had when I was in the later years of elementary school, the reading and writing teacher pulled my mom in for a meeting, telling her that unfortunately, at this point, I just wasn’t progressing in those classes and I would be illiterate. Back then their teaching philosophy for reading was to look at the picture in a book and describe what was happening in the book which wasn't reading at all but it was also rather strict and if you did what she said and described the picture and it wasn't the same as the words she wasn't exactly mean but definitely made it clear in a very frustrated sounding voice that that was wrong. When I took the proficiency test she had essentially given up on me at that point and would read the multiple choice questions to me in the reading section and then ask me if it was A, B, C or D and if I got the wrong answer she would tell me to guess again, essentially making it look like I was doing a great job since all of the answers were right which in turn made it look like she was doing a great job to later tell my mom I would be illiterate. When I left that school I finally started learning to read in the 7th grade, reading at a first grade level.

By my senior year of high school. I was reading at a 3rd grade level when I got Mrs. H who was the first to really be able to teach me how to read. A lot of people didn't like her class because it was so hard and the homework could get extensive but the challenge is exactly what I needed as well as her teaching style to make reading, for the first time in my life, interesting. She was always willing to work with us and help and upon grading our papers she was incredibly thorough when marking errors and explaining why they were incorrect which gave me much more understanding than simply saying “No, that's not right. Try again” I was finally able to understand and learn from my mistakes as well as feeling as if her detail was proof, explaining why I got the grade I did. She was willing to work with us one on one up at her desk and it was quite obvious that teaching English was a true passion of hers which really wore off on me. By the time I graduated and took my college entrance exam, I was shocked to learn that not only was my reading no longer at a 3rd grade level but I had tested into college level, honors English and eventually took the hardest English class the college offered, not because it was required but chose it as an elective, just for fun and acing it. She really helped me overcome my biggest barrier when it came to learning disabilities and what's more amazing is that she was able to do this in a single year.

In college, multiple professors took notice of my health issues. While in the nursing program I was often used as the example student. The one the professors would call to the front of the class for demos or in the classes with two professors they used me as a fill in to help with demonstrations because I had been in the hospital so much myself that I oftentimes already knew the content being taught and sometimes had teachers saying they wish they could test out people like me from some of the classes because I could have probably gone in the first day of class and passed the final without even taking the class because of my life experiences and medical history. I was the one everyone wanted to use to practice drawing blood on because I was such a hard stick so it was no secret that I had a lot of health issues though at the time no one knew the ultimate cause of them was Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

The interpreting field classes on the other hand had a lot of immature teachers who reminded me of teenagers and seemed to have nothing better to do in their lives than to try to publicly humiliate me to try to get me out of the program. I was top of the class and later found out when they tried to kick me out of the program for something I didn't do and I had to take them to court. My lawyer believes the reasoning behind it was that they were intimidated by me and actually wanted me out for job assurance. My health issues were very well known as I was in this program the second time I lost the ability to walk and had multiple hospital trips for seizures, heart issues and my thyroid.

There was one incident in particular I was hospitalized because I was on thyroid medication for hypothyroid but somehow I flipped from hypothyroid to hypothyroid leading to my T3 and T4 levels being four times the normal levels which can be really dangerous and left me with the worst migraine of my life. I emailed my teacher while in the hospital telling her what happened as this happened two days before the final and I was admitted and had no idea how long they would keep me. I told her I know she said there will be no makeup and if we missed the class we would have to retake it but asked her to please have understanding and and let me make up the final since I was hospitalized. She told me what she said still stands and there are no makeups and that anyone can say they're in the hospital, not believing I was truly there so I took a picture of myself in the hospital as well as my hospital band with the date on it and sent it to her. She replied saying that she said there were no makeups, come take the final or take the class again next quarter. I told her I would check in with them first thing in the morning to see when I may be released.

The next morning they said they would probably keep me for a few more days and I emailed her that morning and updated her, again asking to make up the final since I obviously have a good reason to not be there when she again refused to let me retake the class. I got the email an hour and a half before the final on which I was again told no makeups and if I don't show up she will see me again the following quarter. I was forced to tell the staff I had to leave and was checking myself out of the hospital because I had to take the final, explaining how much the class cost and how much work I had put into it. They did not agree with this and made me sign a waiver stating that I was leaving against medical advice and by the time I got out, it was about 45 minutes before the final. I got dressed at the hospital, and haven't showered since before I went into the hospital so I put my hair up and my mom drove me to the college where I barely made it into the room in time for the exam. The medical term for what I was dealing with was called Thyrotoxicosis, Thyrotoxic Syndrome or a Thyroid storm and at my levels were life threatening the heart rate, blood pressure and temperature can shoot up and you’re at high risk for heart attacks, strokes, brain aneurysms, coma, seizures and there was a 75% chance of death if left untreated at the levels my TSH, T3 and T4 were at The nurse told me that if I was going to do this to keep a heating pack around my neck the entire time to prevent my temperature from spiking which could cause seizures and organ failure. I had to keep the hospital bracelet on so it would be easier for them to re-admit me when I finished the final and she made me promise to come right back when I was done and because the migraine was so bad, I couldn't tolerate the light and kept throwing up at the hospital from the light so wore sunglasses and she gave me a dose of Zofran right before pulling my IV to try to get me through.

As soon as I got into the glass Professor P, humiliated me in front of the entire class bringing the class into it about how ridiculous I looked in pajama pants, with a shirt that didn't match at all, sunglasses, an icepack and my hospital bracelet on telling me how I was making an ass out of myself and if I was really that sick I should have just told her and made up the test later. I told her that I emailed her multiple times, explaining the situation and she said I couldn't make it up when she then denied she ever told me that and said “You know I would have let you make it up” and continued to use that against me since the day I graduated saying all the time that I would be a bad interpreter because I was just plain weird, calling me weird in front of everyone multiple times and going back to the never in my life have I seen a student come into a final looking so ridiculous with an ice pack around their neck and sunglasses and at one time calling me a freak. She said nothing about my dedication by making it work nor did she acknowledge the financial burden associated with having to pay to take a class over and graduate late because of it when most college students don't have a lot of money. I would have never left the hospital if she wouldn't have told me multiple times that she would not allow me to make up the final. She again made fun of me when I had to go back into a wheelchair and back into therapy to learn to walk again telling everyone how I was a freak and weird (yes she used those exact words) time and time again, saying I would fake illness and was mentally ill turning my entire class against me. She got another professor in the department, Professor D on board to assist in making me a joke who ended up being worse than Mrs. P and lied about me time and time again eventually getting me kicked out of the field.

I ended up having to the college to court to get back into school and provided around 100 documents to prove I didn't do what she said I did and then changed the reason she kicked me out to something else that wasn't true in which was also backed by those documents. The Lawyer for Columbus State requested their documents to prove their case time and time again and always got the excuse of it was lost or I must have stolen it out of a cabinet that was locked in the department office area in one professor's office and in a locked filing cabinet so behind three locked drawers and their lawyer found this out by accidentally calling the professor who kept the files in his office. They pulled me into a room, locking me in it with them while both of them yelled at me trying to intimidate me to say I did it into a camera and I refused to admit I did something I didn't do and after two months of not sending them anything their lawyer said she would drop them if they did not provide any proof at all so they sent in the video of them harassing and verbally abusing me to try to get me to admit I did this and refusing to let me out of the room with me in tears and them still screaming in my face and calling me names but I never said I did anything and their lawyer asked my lawyer to see my documents of proof which proved without a reasonable doubt that I did not do what they said I did so she told them she was dropping out of their case and would not support them in court so I automatically won the case.

Their lawyer actually called me because all I was suing for was to be able to go back into the field and take the class again without having to pay for it even though it forced me to graduate late and she told me that if I really wanted to go after them I could tack on verbal abuse, harassment and unlawful detainment. I did not do this but the teachers in this program were unethical and made my life a living hell for a genetic condition I never asked for and in no way caused to myself.

Part of me wishes I would have went through with it and added to my case so that they will never work as interpreters again but I just wanted to get back in school and get my degree, not knowing then that I would be too sick to use it but being an interpreter was a dream of mine since I was in the first grade.

To fulfill my physical related credit I took a jazz dance class. I can't say much about that other than I was god awful. So bad at dancing that the professor came up to me in the fourth class and said, I know this isn't your major but I grade it as if it is and I think you should consider dropping this class because if you don't you will fail. I wanted to take Yoga but it was never available so I decided, I can't dance so why not learn. Though it was a beginners class it was short lived and I ended up having to drop it. Since that didn't work out the following quarter I took a fitness class that sounded a lot like the one I took in high school with Mrs. B. I loved her class so I decided to give this one a try and ended up loving it just as much. What I didn't expect was to have a professor who was just like her, since he knew right away something just wasn't right about me.

I really wish I could remember his name because he was an awesome professor. He noticed the first day and simply asked if there was anything he should know about. I told him no because I was still undiagnosed at the time so didn't know why I was so clumsy and so much weaker than everyone else. He really took notice, asking several times if I had any medical conditions he should know about before I did any of the exercises. I continued to tell him just Celiac Disease, hypothyroid and Scoliosis but none affected the class. Since there was an odd number of students in the class he ended up assigning partners instead of letting everyone choose their partners and made me the odd one out so he could be my partner to make sure I didn’t get injured.

During the class he modified exercises and gave me a barbell limit, telling me I was not to use any barbells over 25 lbs. When doing pull ups I was not allowed to do them alone making sure I did it in a way that protected my shoulders and using elastic straps under my knees while he supported me for proper body mechanics, I had to do sit ups on a balance ball instead of on the floor and he did some exercises on a balance board which made it more like an extremely intensive physical therapy class than a gym class.. I truly believe he knew what was going on and what was wrong with me. Rather he knew the name for it, I don't know, rather he had heard of EDS before, I will probably never be able to ask but I truly believe that he has at least seen the same symptoms before and knew the risk I was taking by entering this class and doing certain exercises.

I've had both good and bad luck with teachers throughout my life but what makes me different than other EDS patients is that I couldn't have asked for any better Physical Education teachers and professors throughout school if I tried. I was incredibly lucky in that aspect.

#MyEDSChallenge #MyHSDChallenge

0 notes