Different? I don't know different.

A few months back I realized that one of the things that I really love about living on our campus at COTP is how accepting everyone is of individuals with special needs. All of the other missionary staff are also parenting children with special needs and the kids have grown up alongside each other so there’s actually very minimal effort we have to put into teaching our kids to accept and to include others. They’re used to siblings with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, down syndrome, or arthrogryposis. 

Both Samantha and William have cerebral palsy. They don’t play or interact with other kids in the “typical” way other three-year-olds or four-year-olds do, but they still LOVE to play and to interact with their friends! We have two next door neighbors, Robert and Danny, who are five and six years old. They come to my door almost every morning to peer in to see if Samantha and William are awake yet. They’ll come to knock on my door to ask if they can come play with Samantha and William.  They don’t see each others’ differences and they can just play and be kids together. They all get on the floor together and have fun. I love that about our community. Our missionary staff won’t bat an eye if a child is being tube fed and the kids will run to get a syringe or the milk to help. Everyone naturally makes space to accommodate the kids who need wheelchairs. Everyone speaks to the kids with special needs just as they do to the kids without special needs. The adults and the kids realize that special needs are just one part of who these kiddos are and it’s not what defines them. 

Today I was talking with Robert and Danny as they walked with me to drop Samantha and William off at preschool. I asked, “What do you like about Samantha and William?” to which they responded “I like to play with them. I like to go for walks with them. I like when Samantha laughs.” Then I asked them, “What’s the same about you as Samantha and William?” and they had a lot of examples. “Samantha likes to go to school and we like to go to school. I like to play with Danny and William also likes to play with Danny. Samantha is the same like Carly (a girl in their home, drawing the comparison that they’re both girls). William smiles a lot and we like to smile.”

Then I asked the boys what was different about them than Samantha and William. “Different? I don’t know different,” Robert said. “You don’t know what the word different means?” I asked him. “I know that word but I don’t know how Samantha and William are different.” I am constantly learning, growing, and being challenged by these kids. I pray that Samantha and William will always have friends like Danny and Robert wherever they go, friends who see their similarities first and struggle to see their differences. I also pray that Danny and Robert will be forever changed by these friendships and always spread God's love and acceptance wherever they go in the future.

*Names have been changed to protect the children’s privacy

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