Ben's Experience

I have a very good friend named Ben. He has autism but is very high functioning. Ben has become like a brother to me over the years, so I knew I could sit down with him and discuss his feelings about inclusion. He didn't know exactly what the word meant but when I explained it to him, he made it very clear that he knew and could tell when he was being included. I asked him how it feels when he is being left out. Ben said "you know, sometimes I like to be by myself but sometimes it really makes me sad when people don't invite me to things because I wear hearing aids and sometimes clap really loud." Ben is very into sports (every sports team and different type of sport actually) and he gets VERY excited talking about them. He we on to tell about a time that the high school football coach at his high school invited him on the field and let him wear the coaches uniforms. He began clapping and talking extremely loud about this because it was something he is very passionate about. Even though this is not inclusion in the classroom, this is a great example of how inclusion in other areas affects people with disabilities.

This is me and my best friend/basically brother, Ben.