Stereotypically, special ed and disabled people are considered an oddity compared to the rest of our society. There is not much expected of people like me.  Growing up, I knew I was different from my peers. I had Depression and Anxiety that I had yet learned to control, so much so that in high school I was placed in a Strive class  specifically for the mentally disabled, but in my junior year something happened that my mother and I never thought could.

The email arrived in my inbox one sunny September evening after school. I was ecstatic that I had even received an invitation to the National Honor Society considering I was refused an invite to Junior National Honor Society. I wanted to make my mother proud of something I had done.

“Mum!” I yelled out to her as I approached from down the hall with the cheesiest grin across my face. “You’ll never believe what I just got!”

She stopped her work in her home office and asked, “What?” Confused as to why I bother her during her office hours.

“I just received my invitation to the NHS!” I announced proudly.

I noticed a smile begin to form on her face as she congratulated me. I immediately began to work on my application essay knowing that my effort to get here didn’t stop at that invitation. I was asked to write about my work in the community, what makes me different from the other candidates, and why I believe I should be accepted into the NHS. I ended up writing a 2 page application about my troubled past that gave me challenges that I was able to overcome and use to my advantage. I wrote about all my hard work in my community whether it be picking up trash or spending a day at Feed My Starving Children.

I had grown up a straight A student with 2-3 B’s along the way. I was plenty book smart, and even took advanced classes. I was still afraid because I was special ed that they would look past me like many have overlooked my abilities in the past. We had almost given up hope as it had been weeks since my submission.

The letter had arrived in my inbox like the invitation before. I walked down the hall to announce my achievement to my mother once again. She hugged me tight, and smiled the biggest I had seen in a while. She was proud, but wouldn’t say it. She congratulated me in all my efforts, and sat with me through my acceptance ceremony.

Not only had I made my mother proud, but my entire support team as well. As I was thanking them all for supporting me this far one had told me:

“You’re the first Strive student to make the NHS.” The words I had been told I couldn’t believe. I asked the rest of my team if those words were true, and as far as everyone had known they were.

I am different. I will never be like my peers. I am the anxiously depressed kid who spaces out in his classes, and can never sit still. I am okay with that. I am okay with being me. I once viewed myself as such an awful thing for being different. For having disabilities. But I also learned that having a disability only hurts you if you let it. I at one time allowed my Depression and Anxiety to overcome me. It took away my success and happiness I had worked so hard for. I never want that to happen again. I take my disabilities and use them to build a set of stairs to my goals. I refuse to fall at the feet of people’s expectations, so I set my bar higher than the rest. I had finally for the first time met my own expectations, not just society’s.