Last week, the Basilica School of St. Mary in Alexandria celebrated their second annual Inclusion Week. This week is dedicated to teaching the school community about those with disabilities. The week began March 17 with a schoolwide assembly led by the Mater Dei teacher, Monica Davin. Her presentation focused on three questions: “What is Inclusion Week? Why should I care? What can I do?”
“When we don’t know about differences, we can be afraid to get to know someone who is different from us,” Davin said. She explained to the students that Inclusion Week teaches their community about the dignity of all life.
“God is perfect. We are all made in the image and likeness of God,” Davin said. “God doesn’t look at a child with Down syndrome or any other disability and say, ‘Oops … I made a mistake.’ No, God created everyone with dignity and love.” She emphasized that people should care about all of God’s creation, including those with and without disabilities.
To answer the question of “What can I do?” Davin gave the students specific ways to get to know those with disabilities and how to support them. The first and most important way is to be kind; simply being kind to someone can go a long way. Davin also described specific businesses that support and employ individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Davin introduced the guest speaker, Matt Simpson, a parishioner of St. John the Beloved Church in McLean. Simpson is a blind paralympic athlete who has represented the United States in three different Paralympics in the sport of goalball. Simpson spoke to the students about his introduction to goalball. He began losing his vision at a young age and at the age of 10, he was introduced to the sport of goalball. Goalball is unique to the blind community. Players are blindfolded and use a weighted ball with a bell inside to try to score against the opposing team. Simpson instantly fell in love with the sport and said that blindness was not the focus of him playing. He could demonstrate his athleticism without worrying about his loss of vision.
Simpson shared personal stories of how inclusion helped him grow in his faith and relationships. He told a story about a friend forgetting that Simpson was blind while serving as Simpson’s guide runner. Because he forgot Simpson was blind, he didn’t think to guide Simpson from running into a telephone pole. The story highlighted that inclusion allowed his friend to not focus on Simpson’s disability and just enjoy the conversation they were having.
Before concluding his speech, Simpson brought up his faith and said that the church is at the root of inclusion. “As Catholics, we created inclusion. We were all created in the image and likeness of God. We are all included in the Catholic Church. God uses all our differences to highlight his goodness and beauty,” Simpson said.
To continue educating the school community about inclusion, teachers showed students different videos that taught about blindness, autism, dyslexia, limb differences and Down syndrome, and shared the perspectives of those with disabilities. Students also supported World Down Syndrome Day March 21 by wearing mix-matched socks.
