At the end of August 2002, I was looking forward to my second year as a high school athletic director and physical education teacher. An accident during a motorcycle ride on August 18, 2002, dramatically changed the path I thought my life would take. This week, I am looking back at 20 years of living with a complete T2 SCI, and I am back to teaching PE.
I spent 5 months in the hospital, and upon my release, I approached the school board where I worked to let them know I would be ready to teach PE at least part-time by September. They not so politely declined to continue my employment. I was shocked, as my evaluation in June had been stellar. This was my first experience with obvious discrimination due to my newly acquired disability.
What I really liked about teaching PE was that I got to interact with students in a different way than in a classroom setting. Getting to know students on a personal level and guiding them to positive decisions for their futures was something I wanted to continue. Becoming a guidance counselor was a natural fit. I graduated with distinction with a master’s degree in counseling psychology and went back to the school board with my shiny new degree. Again, they declined the need for “someone like me.” The last conversation ended with a comment from the Director of Human Resources that the board, “didn’t have any high schools that are wheelchair accessible.” With that lie, I knew they just didn’t want to deal with me. This was the public school board – was there not ONE student in the entire district that used a wheelchair and had a right to be accommodated?
I had a friend in a smaller board in the same city who encouraged me to apply there, and I received 5 school-based interviews right away. Obviously, their need for counselors was greater than their disdain for potential employees with a disability. I took a job offered at a brand-new accessible school because it met all the new needs my body demanded, but it was near where I lived before my accident. When my old life was so regularly in my face, I could no longer avoid the grief about the accident.
With a dramatic increase in needs and a change to online counseling during the pandemic, I knew I could not return to that role in 2021-2022. When I was trying to figure out what to do, one of my good friends asked me why I wasn’t teaching PE. In the years since my accident, I have remained active by playing wheelchair basketball, whitewater kayaking, downhill skiing, mountain triking and more. I found a posting for a PE teacher at a school for students with “extreme behaviors.” So, I called the principal to find out what the job entailed and ask if I would even be considered for the job with my disability. He didn’t say, “No, we can’t use you,” which is what I expected. He was curious about how I could fit in at his school and invited me for a tour.