COLUMN: 'Rules' is one 'R' word that is worth reading by all ages

By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor

I was late in joining the “Ready to Read ... Across Mattoon” program.

But I will be a regular now that I have participated for the last two years.

Last year’s book, “Shakespeare’s Secret,” was a good read. One of my favorite movies is “National Treasure,” the Nicolas Cage movie in which the characters follow historical clues to find treasure left by America’s founding fathers.

“Shakespeare’s Secret” offered similar clues to several kids as they looked for some jewelry in an old house.

This year’s book, “Rules,” also struck a personal note with me, but not in the same lighthearted way.

“Rules” is the story of a 12-year-old girl who has a brother with autism.

She tries to find her way through adolescence while living with a brother who poses challenges within the family and for his sister who wants a normal middle school life.

Several years ago, I wrote a column about being the best friend of a developmentally disabled boy named Bob who lived down the street when I was growing up.

I’m not proud of how I sometimes treated this boy, who was six years older than me, but wanted a friend to play with.

It wasn’t so bad, when I was in elementary school, to have a “retarded” friend. But once I got to junior high and high school, it wasn’t “cool” to hang out with Bob, the boy who was different from the kind of people I thought I needed to associate with.

Although “Rules” is about a girl dealing with an autistic brother, the book’s message is about how people, especially young people, treat others who are “different.”

It’s a great topic for all of us, regardless of our age.

I commend the Mattoon Middle School students who selected “Rules” for this year’s communitywide book.

In the book, the main character, a girl named Catherine, has a hard enough time fitting in with other kids and dealing with her autistic brother, and then she meets a boy named Jason, who has a disability of his own.

Catherine doesn’t think her friends will accept her if they see her with Jason, so she will have to decide what is important in her life.

Choosing friends is is a decision we all have to make, sometimes several times throughout our lives.

While I was reading “Rules,” I also saw an article in another newspaper in the Lee Enterprises company.

The headline read: “Students take a stand on ‘R word.’”

High school students in Mason City, Iowa, produced a video explaining why the word “retard” can be offensive.

A student named Meredith Angell narrated the five-minute video. She is president of the school’s Best Buddies chapter. She said she wanted to do something to raise awareness about how language can hurt feelings and destroy confidence of those with special needs.

“I wanted to show that all kids are the same, that we have common interests,” she said.

Best Buddies brings together special needs students with students from the general student population. Teens forge friendships and build awareness of the challenges special needs students face.

Several Best Buddies students worked on the video, which calls on teachers, cheerleaders, the basketball team, administrators, music department — even the Academic Decathlon team — to show their support for banning the word when used in a disparaging way.

“They’re already starting to say, ‘Ban the R word’ when they hear it in the hallway,” Angell said of her fellow students.

When I was a boy, people with disabilities, such as my neighbor Bob, were called “retarded.”

That word is no longer acceptable.

Mason City special ed teacher Becky Kyhl praised the students on their initiative, which follows a national and international “R” word campaign.

“It’s a great extension of what is being done at those levels — and to have this being done locally, well, we are so proud of them.”

“I think more than anything, that this project is about creating awareness,” one of the Best Buddies video participants said. “We want to see these kids as equals, creating friendships — regardless of their needs or differences.”

That same theme comes through in “Rules.”

Whether someone has autism, needs a wheelchair, is developmentally disabled, is hearing or visually impaired or has some other disability, they all are people.

Their bodies are changing, they want to fit in, just like any middle school and high school student, such as Catherine.

In this area, Eastern Illinois Area Special Education works with about 5,500 “special needs’ school-age children in the eight-county area.

I encourage you to read “Rules.” Copies are available. If you don’t know where to get one, contact Anieta Trame at Mattoon Middle School, atrame@mattoon.k12.il.us.

There are two lines in “Rules” that I especially liked:

“Sometimes you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got,” which is one of Catherine’s rules.

And my favorite: “How can his outside look so normal and his inside be so broken? Like an apple, red perfect on the outside, but mushy brown at the first bite.”

Now that’s a description that could apply to a lot of us.

Source: http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2009/0...e827352757.txt

Cynthia Lord's Website: http://www.cynthialord.com/

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