Aric – How did you handle going back to school?

It was a small town, so it was almost a parade especially in a wheelchair. So, I had friends wanting to push me and I said, “no you can’t do it because I could fall out if you push,” different things, so it was a learning experience. But it was easy because there were 60 people in my graduating class, so we all knew each other, and it was more just going, I say “back home.” One of the funniest things is in biology class, the teacher had a skeleton and said, “we’re going to learn about the spine.” And I raised my hand and said, “can I teach it?” And reluctantly, she goes, “sure.” So, I got to lead the class on that—what happened to me, how it affected the different body parts. And that was one of those an “aha” moments to me, to be able to share that with my other peers and friends in the classroom, as well the teachers. Because in the small town, there were no other disabled people except elderly, who may be in a wheelchair, or someone who may have been severely disabled and living in a nursing home. They just didn’t exist there.