special children

Everyday, on the bus, we get to experience commuting with special children. Special children as in children (and adults) that has special ... features and handicaps. Like, Down's syndrome and some degree of autism.

So anyway, I don't really know the details of what makes these children (adults) special. Only that I have been around them since I was a child. In fact, I never thought they were "special" until I went to high school. Back in my elementary school days, these special children (I think, ako din yata, kasama sa special children group) are part of our everyday lives that we actually play with them during lunch break, and the basic sign language were taught to us all. And even when I used to sing with the school choir, we were all required to memorize or learn the sign language for the gospel songs.

So 17 years after I left the special school I attended as a child, I was once again thrown into a "society" of special children. Although, the contact is limited to the line on the bus and the actual bus ride and it's not something unusual. To me, anyway.

So during these bus rides, I kind of dislike the japanese elders and other "normal" passengers that stares disapprovingly at them when these children couldn't help making a nuisance of themselves by singing loudly, suddenly bursting into an ear-splitting scream or laugh, stomping their feet, repeating a line over and over again, and other things that "normal" people find unusual. I remember when I was in 4th grade in school, when one of our special schoolmates were having a bad day and suddenly decided to strip off her clothing and run naked around the school playground, and the elderly teachers trailing behind her with a blanket to cover her when they caught up. This lady schoolmate was one of the elder students (I think these children kind of never graduates and kind of stays in school for the longest period of their life), around the age of 20s.

I admit, these children are quite annoying at times, but only when they are doing some annoying noise in different forms and sources.

From wikipedia: "Many of the common physical features of Down syndrome also appear in people with a standard set of chromosomes. They may include a single transverse palmar crease (a single instead of a double crease across one or both palms, also called the Simian crease), an almond shape to the eyes caused by an epicanthic fold of the eyelid, upslanting palpebral fissures (the separation between the upper and lower eyelids), shorter limbs, poor muscle tone, a larger than normal space between the big and second toes, and protruding tongue.........."

So one morning, at the office:

ako: Hey Jeff, yung single line pala sa palad, isang physical feature ng taong may Down's. May kakilala ka bang ganun sa office?

Jeff: ay ako.

ako: (speechless for a few seconds) special child ka pala.