Teaching Special Education is the Path for Me - by Emily Jackson

Like so many, I was diagnosed with Turner syndrome (TS) before I was born. At the time, my parents were given what felt like horror stories as doctors prepared them for the worst-case scenarios. Some of those things, like my congenital heart condition and lymphedema, are still a part of my life, but many other things that my parents were being told to expect did not become things that I have at all.

I was lucky enough to always feel like a "normal" kid growing up, sure, I had always been short (at 22 years old and exactly 5 feet tall, I still am), but I understood that this was because I have Turner Syndrome and it really wasn't ever that big of a deal.

I grew up receiving growth hormone injections and eventually began to carefully balance that with hormone replacement medications (which I still take today) as I reached middle and high school. This was also the time when I was able to go to a weekend camp for teens and young adults with TS, and I met some of my best friends that I'm still connected with today.

With entering high school, of course, comes the necessity to start figuring out what you want your life to look like. Through a long process of thinking and talking with family members, I eventually decided to become a special education teacher. I had never seriously considered teaching before high school, but the more I actually learned about what being a teacher could look like, the more I was convinced that it was the path for me.

Something that I have periodically struggled with over the years was identifying the purpose in all of this. Why would God have made me the way He did? Why was I chosen to be one of the relatively few babies conceived with TS to actually get the chance to live life the way that I have?

As I have learned more and more about the disability community and teaching, I have come to believe in an answer to these questions. God made me the way He did so that I could humbly accept a role in serving and loving kids that aren't all that different from me. I never received special education services growing up, but I know that if the cards had fallen just a little differently, I very well could have needed the services I am being trained to provide for the next generation.

As I prepare to graduate from my university this spring (with honors, may I add), I know that I am stepping into a very broken system of public education. I also know that I am specifically choosing to work with some of the most challenging students who walk through the doors of our schools. However, as women with TS, we have never exactly been the type to back down from a challenge. I'm not expecting it to be easy, but I am so excited to get to use my story to connect with my future students. Even if you can't see it now, I believe that God has a purpose for everything He does, including the way He made you and I.