My Rudolph

O.K., so I have been tooling this thought in my head for the past 6 weeks or so. See, Christmas was JUST here, even though it really was a full month ago. But as I get older, time really speeds up...so it was JUST here, in my mind.

My oldest child is obsessed with the holiday. I am not kidding. The Christmas songs begin well before the Halloween aisles are full of candy and The Polar Express (his absolute favorite) is still in our DVD player well into March.

As he was watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" shortly before Christmas, it suddenly occured to me that my son is practically a clone of Rudolph's.

Now, he does not have a red nose, unless he has one of his many upper respiratory infections...nor does he have antlers or fur (in fact, he battles with alopecia), but he does have one very distinctive similarity with the reindeer, and that is he has a disability.

It struck me SO STRONGLY when I watched that show that IHAVEBEENWATCHINGRUDOLPHTHEREDNOSEDREINDEERSINCEIWASACHILDBACKINTHE70'S.

The story is all about how Rudolph is an outcast and once they discover he has a talent, a sense of purpose, he is included with his peers and somewhat 'starlike' among them. His life is shown to have purpose (even though, as a child, I KNEW his life had purpose well before the other reindeer accepted him).

Where I went to school in the 70s, the district did NOT believe that kids like Rudolph should be with the other reindeer. No, they were holed up in some stable miles away from the North Pole where they were only seen on rare occasions.

Where we choose to live today, our son IS with his peers. 100% of the time. Now, is he as well loved, snuggly and nostalgic with his peers as Rudolph is with his? Not so much...He's accepted, tolerated, be-friended on occasion, but he IS different. The kids know this. But things can always be improved upon.

I think our society has come a LONG way when it comes to bringing kids with disabilities together with their peers. But there is a LONG road ahead and the work is NOT done. Lumping kids with disabilities in with their peers isn't enough. 'Typically developing kids' need to be educated about their disabled peers so that it removes the barrier of fear. Kids fear what they do not know and do not understand.

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" has been out for a very long time. I think the copyright is sometime in the 60s. Though it's message was a good one, I think it can be better.

It's time for a sequel, don't you think? Something like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and His Two Best Friends: Tina Who Is Typically Developing and Dan Who Has Down Syndrome... and other stories on how inclusion can be successful in all aspects of home and school".

Happy reading all!!