“…We are posting another excerpt from our new book, My Slience Roars: A Memoir by Tina Jackson. In this excerpt, Tina describes learning to run with a leg brace as a child which led to a happy memory of inclusion in a new school.
Don’t forget, the book is available for sale on-line at Carmichael’s Books of Louisville, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. It can also be purchased at both Carmicael’s booksstores in Louisville.
Here is the excerpt:
In the summer after my third grade, my father moved the family to the farm in the country, away from everything I loved. The change from an urban school to a rural school was drastic for me. I rode a bus for over an hour to school and back. The classes were small. My classroom included fourth and fifth grades. I was able to make friends with the children who lived near our farm by socializing on the school bus every day.
On my first day at the little country school a boy asked me, “how fast can you run in that thing?” as he pointed at my leg brace. I looked at him and sneered, “you want to find out?” I was pleased that he acknowledged the brace and had questions about it, instead of just staring and ignoring me. I was also amused because he didn’t know I could go pretty fast in my own way.
Growing up with limited use of one side of my body, I had to be creative in doing everyday tasks such as dressing and chores like mowing the grass and laundering clothes on the old ringer washer and then hanging them on the clothesline with my one good hand. Putting hosiery and bras on presented special challenges.
But I am most proud of how I taught myself to run so I could keep up with my sisters and friends playing games. My leg brace came up to my knee which made it significantly more difficult to gain the balance and strength needed to do much more than walk. Living on a farm with a flat dirt road gave me the perfect place to practice. I’d walk as fast as I could from the house to the barn over and over.
Gradually, I developed a kind of half run and half trot. Because one leg was shorter than the other, it was hard to get a smooth run. So, I’d do my trot run between the barn and the house and I improved to the point where I was able to run laps around the football field in high school with my Physical Education class. My teacher wanted to give me a pass on running, but I was determined to try it. She let me be part of the basketball games during class as a ball jumper.
The boy and I did race that day in the fourth grade on the playground. And he did beat me. However, it was the inclusion the race signified that I was hoping to find at my new school.
(Pictured is Tina, the author, a woman with red hair and wearing glasses. She has on a dark sweatshirt with the words Radically Inclusive in white across the front.)
