By Meagan Gillmore
Dear teacher,
You’ve been teaching us about types of writing: the difference between fiction and non-fiction; procedural writing; business letters and personal letters—like thank-you letters. I thought I’d practise and write a letter to you about teaching me. And “me” is a student who has a disability.
That makes writing this hard—not because it sometimes takes me longer to write things, or to figure out what I want to say. It’s hard because I don’t know how to describe this letter. My disability is part of my life, and it is not the worst thing to ever happen to me. It is not the worst thing to happen to our classroom. I don’t think I’m amazing because I live with one. I’m not a superhero; I don’t expect you to be one, either.
Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.
