It’s not often nowadays that we see blatant displays of discrimination for those with special needs. It’s an unfortunate reality that things still happen, but thankfully, the public conscience is at a place where anything discriminatory against those with special needs isn’t tolerated.
A recent story based in Utah shows us that the fight for people’s inclusion isn’t totally over.
Jordyn Poll lives in Utah and was going through her little sister’s recently released yearbook photos. Looking through your family’s yearbook is usually a fun, if a tad embarrassing, experience. As Jordyn soon realized, it was a lot more unfortunate than that.
Jordyn’s sister, Morgyn Arnold, has Down syndrome.
When she came home on her last day of school with her yearbook, she was downcast and clearly upset, prompting the look into her yearbook. As Jordyn looked through, she realized why her sister was so upset – she hadn’t been included in any of the cheerleading team photos even though she was the team manager.
Morgyn was an important part of the team and helped a lot.
While she wasn’t a flyer or base, she was the team manager! Whether it was attending practices, helping with routines, or even performing at their home games, nobody would ever think that she wasn’t intimately involved with the team.
There were two photos taken of the team.
One of the photos included Morgyn sitting in the middle of the group, happy as can be with a huge grin on her face. The other photo didn’t have her in it. When the school yearbook went to put the photos in the sports section, they had decided to go with the photo which didn’t include her.
When the school was confronted about the incident, they said it was a mistake.
Even more, they released a formal statement on Facebook.
“We are deeply saddened by the mistake that was made,” the school said in a statement on Facebook. “We are continuing to look at what has occurred and why it occurred. Apologies have been made to the family and we sincerely apologize to others impacted by this error. We will continue to address it with the parents of the student. We will continue to look at our processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
Jordyn and her family don’t think that the photo was intended to be hurtful, either.
From all the interactions she had seen, everyone clearly loved Morgyn and would never have chosen to hurt her intentionally. What’s more, Morgyn has taken it all in stride. She was obviously upset when it all happened, but she is an incredibly forgiving person.
“Morgyn could have chosen to be angry or upset, but instead she chose to be understanding, and forgiving,” Poll said. “Those girls on the team are her friends, and they’ve been incredibly supportive through all of this.”
When situations are handled with grace and forgiveness, it goes a long way in making things better!
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