Finding a place to call home by Ratchell
Ratchellof New Brunswick's entry into Varsity Tutor's May 2018 scholarship contest
- Rank:
- 1 Votes
Finding a place to call home by Ratchell - May 2018 Scholarship Essay
"Special Needs" is a phrase that I am very familiar with. It's the phrase that describes my younger sister as well as hundreds of other people in the world. Although in public schools the words "special" and "needs" is used as an insult, I have never seen it that way. For me, someone who is labeled as having special needs is someone who just needs more attention and love than most people. In high school, since I had to do community service, I decided that the best path for me was to help those with special needs; people who like my sister needed love and support from the community in order to thrive. After months of searching for a place that was close to home and offered what I wanted to do, I came across the Women's Connection in Summit, NJ. I started off during the weekends to see how the atmosphere of the location was, and if I agreed with their methods of helping children with special needs and so forth. From the moment I walked in, to the last day I was ever there, I felt so much love and support from the community there.
After knowing how amazing this new community was, I decided to introduce my sister to it. Where we lived at the time, special needs children were thrown off to the side as if they were disturbances to the community, while just 40 minutes a way those same kids were appreciated and loved. In this nirvana for those who were special, I felt more at home than I did in my own town. From that point on I urged my parents to make the move to a place where my sister could comfortably grow up with other people like her as well as a place where I could continue to be involved in this community I loved so much.
Working at the Women's Connection taught me a lot about what I want to do in the future. Apart from my aspirations for the future, this experience also taught me all the injustices and stigmas that there are around those who have special needs, and how if we work together to help and love them, we can help these people reach their full potential. They are much more than just people who need special care, but rather humans who need and deserve the same things we all do: love and a community to help them prosper.