rjr2006
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- Jan 24, 2005
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I submitted the essay 2 weeks ago and I hope that I will win and go to WASHINGTON DC in March 2006 to get $10,000 for my future education! the scholarship is limited to two winners. if I win, I will be the first deaf and quadriplegic person to represent all people with disabilities nationwide!
2006 **** *. ****** / **** ********** Essay
By: Rajiv J. J** R***
Since Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was established on July 26th, 1990, many people with disabilities have been able to receive equal rights, yet there are many serious barriers that the disabled still face throughout their lives. “Able-bodied” people and companies tend to forget about the disabled, and they still don’t want to be bothered with ADA law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 strengthened the ADA to enable people with disabilities to be integrated into “non-disabled” environments, rather than being stuck in medical institutions. The Olmstead decision was established in June 1999 to ensure that everyone with disabilities has the right to live independently.
I have been involved in many activities, since I started high school in 2002, in an effort to claim my equal rights as an American citizen with a disability. In March 2004, I wrote a letter to my headmaster and the superintendent of Fairfield Public Schools, regarding my concerns about the Connecticut Academic Performance Testing (CAPT), and how it affected students with disabilities. Later, I met Congressman Christopher Shays and explained to him and the state, how CAPT affected the way students with disabilities were successful in school. The purpose of CAPT is to measure the quality of Connecticut’s high schools in main subjects to see if the high school meets the state requirements. Everyone is required to pass the standards on CAPT in order to graduate from high school. Many students with disabilities struggle through CAPT because the state didn’t give them the accommodations they needed, making it impossible for them to succeed. Every individual with a disability has different needs. When I finished explaining, the state didn’t change anything.
In 2005, I joined Connecticut’s Kids As Self Advocates (CT-KASA). It is a disability organization that helps young people to understand that they have the power to change society’s attitudes toward the disabled. We discuss self advocacy issues and what to do in the future. We are involved in public speaking writing articles and making a positive change for young people with disabilities in Connecticut and around the country.
During my junior year in high school, I wrote an essay for the Connecticut Youth Leadership Forum (YLF). The purpose of the forum was for the 40 top high school students with disabilities from all over the state to explain how their disabilities affected them in our able bodied society. Our experiences at the forum have helped us continue to be leaders in our towns and communities as we grow into the future.
My goals include going to National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), which is my dream college. I want to be with deaf college students around my age, and have fun, while taking a major in web design, which is my hobby. I have designed a yearbook website for my high school as well as my own website where I share my experiences as a young person growing up with disabilities. Since, I am the only one in my family who is deaf and has quadriplegia, I have been very frustrated with communicating with the hearing world, just because I couldn’t speak well verbally. That is why I really want to go to NTID and it’s the only college that has deaf students with secondary disabilities. For my graduate studies, I would like to go to the University of Connecticut (Storrs), and continue studying in web design. I want to teach college students and employees with disabilities what they can do, (instead of focusing on what they can’t do) so that they will be capable of deserving to be equal in employment!
The Connecticut Youth Leadership Forum enabled me to increase my leadership skills, and taught me that I am able to change things for people with disabilities and I have solid intelligence. If I win this award, it would go toward my education so I deserve to be in a college where I really belong, and educate “able-bodied” people about what it is like to be disabled. People with disabilities have the ability to help each other and be cooperative and respectful to each other, so that “able-bodied“ people will view us as equal people in the “able” world.
Links: http://www.rwsite7.com/ (my website)
http://www.fairfield.k12.ct.us/ludlowehs/cludlowehs28/ (yearbook website I created for my high school)
2006 **** *. ****** / **** ********** Essay
By: Rajiv J. J** R***
Since Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was established on July 26th, 1990, many people with disabilities have been able to receive equal rights, yet there are many serious barriers that the disabled still face throughout their lives. “Able-bodied” people and companies tend to forget about the disabled, and they still don’t want to be bothered with ADA law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 strengthened the ADA to enable people with disabilities to be integrated into “non-disabled” environments, rather than being stuck in medical institutions. The Olmstead decision was established in June 1999 to ensure that everyone with disabilities has the right to live independently.
I have been involved in many activities, since I started high school in 2002, in an effort to claim my equal rights as an American citizen with a disability. In March 2004, I wrote a letter to my headmaster and the superintendent of Fairfield Public Schools, regarding my concerns about the Connecticut Academic Performance Testing (CAPT), and how it affected students with disabilities. Later, I met Congressman Christopher Shays and explained to him and the state, how CAPT affected the way students with disabilities were successful in school. The purpose of CAPT is to measure the quality of Connecticut’s high schools in main subjects to see if the high school meets the state requirements. Everyone is required to pass the standards on CAPT in order to graduate from high school. Many students with disabilities struggle through CAPT because the state didn’t give them the accommodations they needed, making it impossible for them to succeed. Every individual with a disability has different needs. When I finished explaining, the state didn’t change anything.
In 2005, I joined Connecticut’s Kids As Self Advocates (CT-KASA). It is a disability organization that helps young people to understand that they have the power to change society’s attitudes toward the disabled. We discuss self advocacy issues and what to do in the future. We are involved in public speaking writing articles and making a positive change for young people with disabilities in Connecticut and around the country.
During my junior year in high school, I wrote an essay for the Connecticut Youth Leadership Forum (YLF). The purpose of the forum was for the 40 top high school students with disabilities from all over the state to explain how their disabilities affected them in our able bodied society. Our experiences at the forum have helped us continue to be leaders in our towns and communities as we grow into the future.
My goals include going to National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), which is my dream college. I want to be with deaf college students around my age, and have fun, while taking a major in web design, which is my hobby. I have designed a yearbook website for my high school as well as my own website where I share my experiences as a young person growing up with disabilities. Since, I am the only one in my family who is deaf and has quadriplegia, I have been very frustrated with communicating with the hearing world, just because I couldn’t speak well verbally. That is why I really want to go to NTID and it’s the only college that has deaf students with secondary disabilities. For my graduate studies, I would like to go to the University of Connecticut (Storrs), and continue studying in web design. I want to teach college students and employees with disabilities what they can do, (instead of focusing on what they can’t do) so that they will be capable of deserving to be equal in employment!
The Connecticut Youth Leadership Forum enabled me to increase my leadership skills, and taught me that I am able to change things for people with disabilities and I have solid intelligence. If I win this award, it would go toward my education so I deserve to be in a college where I really belong, and educate “able-bodied” people about what it is like to be disabled. People with disabilities have the ability to help each other and be cooperative and respectful to each other, so that “able-bodied“ people will view us as equal people in the “able” world.
Links: http://www.rwsite7.com/ (my website)
http://www.fairfield.k12.ct.us/ludlowehs/cludlowehs28/ (yearbook website I created for my high school)
and I do hope you win
