October is National Disability Awareness Month. Though they may not be visible conditions, students deal with a variety of obstacles that are out of their control every day. From playing football to planning student council events, all types of students are affected with conditions that they do not let get in the way of their learning and participating.

**This story won third place In Depth News/Feature story in UIL’s ILPC state competition.

Driving with dyslexia

Reynolds sees words backwards

by Jaiden Garcia

Dyslexia is an obstacle junior Amanda Reynolds has learned to cope with. photo by Jaiden Garcia

Misreading letters. Reading slowly. Having to turn around.

Junior Amanda Reynolds is constantly dealing with dyslexia and the anxiety that comes with it, but she is slowly getting better.

Starting from the second grade, Reynolds still to this day is affected by her disability. When she is at school, she has the most difficulty with reading.

“I read things backwards. If I read for too long, I start to see blotches of color on my paper,” Reynolds said.

Reading is one of Reynolds’ biggest obstacles. When she is called out in class to read, it bothers her and embarrasses her too.

“I’m embarrassed when I read out loud in class because I read slow and then forget what I read,” Reynolds said.

While at school, Reynolds has to go to certain rooms and test groups on her testing days. This is supposed to help her with reading the questions better and getting a better score on her test.

“I get modified tests and I have to test in small groups, unlike other students,” Reynolds said.

Getting her license and driving is also a challenge. Reynolds occasionally misreads the street signs.

“I read the signs backwards and it confuses me. Sometimes I read them wrong and I have to turn back around,” Reynolds said.

Growing up, she has learned how to cope with this disability.

“The older I get, the less insecure I am about it,” Reynolds said.

Get knocked down; stand up again

Senior suffers from dyslexia

by Carley Rogers

Senior Brittany Davenport suffers from dyslexia. Being called on to read aloud in class is no easy task. Photo by Alyssa Garrett

Avoiding eye contact with the teacher, shaking in the seat, praying that she does not get called on, having dyslexia makes it more nerve wrecking to read aloud in class. The pressure to not mess up in front of peers while trying to overcome the disability can boil up inside.

“When I was in elementary school I found out I had dyslexia,” senior Brittany Davenport said.

Ever since she found this out, she has been going to reading classes.

“I read way slower than others. It makes other people look down on me, but I know they just don’t understand,” Davenport said.

Having a twin that does not have this disability makes it even harder for Davenport to deal with overcoming her dyslexia.

“Jaylynn gets tired of spelling things that confuse me. It’s hard when you have a twin that does not understand why you don’t understand simple things,” Davenport said.

Davenport overcomes many obstacles in school.

“Writing papers has always been hard as has reading. I try not to focus on my disability and just write and read to the best of my ability,” Davenport said.

A diagnosis at the age of 7 gave her time to understand her disability.

“When we were little, I made fun of her a lot. I feel bad now looking back at it. I feel really protective over her when someone comments on her disability,” Jaylynn said.

Having this disability makes Brittany hate being called on to read in class.

“The SAT is harder for me because of I do have dyslexia. I think they should give me more time on the reading sections to make it fair,” Brittany said.

Brittany never tries to hide her disability.

“I don’t really care if people know. If they want to judge me for reading slowly then that is their problem,” she said.

Jaylynn is secretly really proud of her sister.

“I am overjoyed with how she has tried to defeat the disability although I’ll never tell her that. No one sees how hard she works in school,” Jaylynn said.

Having a twin makes people think that Brittany should be exactly like Jaylynn.

“The fact is that she will never be the same as me. Not just because we have different personalities but because of her disability,” Jaylynn said.

Brittany says she has never felt ashamed of her disability.

“It is something that makes me different. Being different is a good thing,” Brittany said.

Junior stays active while battling epilepsy

by Kelsey Morris

Having seizures is an obstacle that does not keep junior Katie Schuessler down. She has battled epilepsy her whole life.  Photo by Madison Jennings

Student Council member Katie Schuessler is known for her positive attitude and glowing smile, but what some people do not know is that Schuessler has been suffering from epilepsy her whole life.

“I don’t let epilepsy change my normal life,” Schuessler said. “If anything it’s made me a stronger person and it makes me who I am.”

According to doctors, epilepsy is a condition of the nervous system that impacts more than 2.5 million Americans. Even though this condition is common, everyone has a different trigger to their seizures.

“Doctors have never been able to figure out what for sure triggers my seizures. This makes me nervous because I never know when to expect them and what to look out for,” Schuessler said.

Although Schuessler lives a normal teenage lifestyle, she has had her fair share of episodes that have not only impacted her health, but herself personally.

“When I was in junior high I had a seizure in front of my whole class. The next day everyone was talking about it and some people still bring it up to this day. I guess you could say I was embarrassed; no one wants something like that to happen to them in front of their peers,” Schuessler said.

While Schuessler’s condition might have impacted herself personally, she does not let epilepsy affect herself in school.

“After my seizures I am completely unable to function correctly so I tend to miss some school, but other than that, I make very good grades and I’m just a normal student,” Schuessler said.

One would never know Schuessler was a victim of epilepsy because of the way she lives her everyday life.

“Even though you may have struggles you have to remember that they make you who you are. Without epilepsy I wouldn’t be who I am today,” Schuessler said.

Disability does not stop players

by Kamrey Purvis

Carlos Weathersby wears a hearing aid during games so he can hear his name called. Photo by Makenzie Baker

Football: the American sport. Not only does it call for ability, but players also have to listen well to hear their coach’s directions. A hearing disability can really make it difficult for a player to follow directions.

Senior Carlos Weathersby has played varsity football for the last three years as a hearing impaired athlete.

When he was little he was teased for wearing hearing aids.

“Kids would make fun of me, they would laugh and take my hearing aids out and throw them on the floor,” Weathersby said.

He became sick of how people treated him. So he changed, he wanted to be the person that kids, teens and even adults looked up to.

“I didn’t want people to tell me I couldn’t be what I wanted to be, so I made myself tougher and stronger,” Weathersby said.

He became more active, he used football to get his mind off of the teasing.

“My hearing disability never slows me down, in a way it made me stronger,” Weathersby said.

Even while on the field, Weathersby wears his hearing aids to help him. With games getting rough and Weathersby working hard to get sacks, he still wants to listen for the coaches, team members and his name over the microphone.

“I always want to hear if my name gets announced. I want people to know I was the one that sacked them, and once they announce my name I do my running dance,” Weathersby said.

Weathersby is following his dream for being a NFL (National Football League) player for the New Orleans Saints. He has been ranked as one of the best Nose Guards in Texas, has won many awards for his performance as a Nose Guard and has received “The Wylie Way” award. He was named player of the week in 2012.

Weathersby has not given up his dream because of his
hearing problem.

“I’m never going to give up, I’m not going to let my hearing problem stop me,” Weathersby said.

Weathersby says people shouldn’t hide from their disability. They should flaunt it and not let it stop them from what they want to do in life.