You look weird, you are stupid, why are you like that?What's wrong with you?You can not be friends with us and you are stupid are kids and adults with disabilities here everyday. Personally I think that is one of the biggest things wrong with our world. It is a shame that there are so few people that treat students with special needs how they should be treated. I have worked and volunteered in the special education field since I was ten years old. From my earliest childhood memories, Lake Michigan played a significant role in shaping my life trajectory. The splashes of water and crashing waves were the backdrops of my boundless excitement for swimming. As my love for swimming is still strong, it is what happened during those moments at the lake that left a mark on my life – the beginning of my journey of working with children with special needs. Water has brought some of the most meaningful experiences into my life, introducing me to water polo and opening doors to my career in special education. At just six years old, I was introduced to Hailey, a five-year-old girl with special needs. Developmentally, she was closer to three years old due to premature birth, Cerebral Palsy, and numerous learning disabilities. Her biggest dream at that time was to learn how to swim, and I had the privilege to become her swim instructor. Teaching Hailey how to swim taught me to be creative. I had to adapt my teaching to suit her needs, making sure that every step of the process was straightforward and accessible to her. One of the biggest challenges was to teach her to kick side-to-side instead of up-and-down motion due to her limited leg mobility. When she swam independently for the first time, it was one of the happiest moments for both of us. The profound impact I had on Hailey ignited a drive within me to pursue a career in special education. As I was able to show Hailey that her presence mattered it gave her a sense of confidence in herself knowing that she was able to achieve what she dreamed of despite her disability. Throughout my time in highschool I got the privilege of working in the special education department as a peer leader. My senior year I was assigned to work with a girl who has dwarfism, many intellectual disabilities and is also nonverbal. Oftentimes she felt discouraged and like no one wanted to be around her or that she couldn't do things because she didn't know how to express herself. She would tell us these things on her talking device. As I worked with her I realized that as someone who wants to be in this field and genuinely cares for people with disabilities it was my job to bring her a sense of her own presence. For me, bringing someone to their own presence means valuing the individual’s identity, abilities, and potential, despite challenges they face due to their disability. It’s about helping them live in a way that honors who they are and supports their growth, dignity, and sense of self-worth. To do this it is all about inclusion, perseverance, encouragement and reassurement/praise . The prompt asks me how I will do this, but I have already done it for one student so that is why I am going to tell the story of how I did it because that is what I am going to continue to do as I become a special education teacher. Now all students are not the same but this is one way that I have shown a student their presence that includes all four things “ inclusion, perseverance , encouragement and reassurement/praise. Reagan's favorite thing to do is walk, no matter where we are all she will want to walk and walk and walk. Her goal was to go to state for walking the 100m for Special Olympics Illinois. Everytime we would be at track practice the only thing she would click on her talker was “no” or “I can't do it”. Even though she kept saying those things over and over and over I would keep repeating “ you can do it”,over and over and over. After a while she stopped saying those things on her talker and persisted to go to track practice without the negative comments. When we would practice there would be tons of times where she would lose balance, due to her having dwarfism, and she would fall and start to cry. When that happened I would run over to her and tell her that it is okay to fall but we have to get up and keep going. During this I also had more of her teammates come over and finish the practice race with her so she felt included. She then began to get up all on her own when she would fall. She persevered and did not give up and ultimately it led her to go to regionals and win 1st place and then qualify for Special Olympics state. After winning regionals she found her presence. She wore her medal that she got everyday to school and showed it off to everyone. After she won that medal she called me over to come accept the medal with her and for the first time she said “thank you,Lyss” and that's how I knew I had helped her find her presence. Helping kids with disabilities is not an easy thing to do, there are setbacks, failures,hardships, challenges both physically and mentally but the reward is unmatched. Helping a student find their presence is what God called me to do. He gave me strength, patience, humility, a kind heart and a drive to help people. Since he has given me all these things I know I have to put them to use to help those who get called stupid, worthless or get made fun of because of their disability. In Psalm 16:11 it says “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” I have found peace and joy in life knowing that I am connected to the Lord and he has called me to show resilience, encouragement, inclusion and reassurance to these students in order for them to find their presence. There is no greater reward than seeing the expression on a student's face when they realize their true presence despite their disability. That is what the Lord called me to do and that is what I am going to continue to do giving all the Glory to him for he has called me to show these students their presence.