[Theodore R.]

It's refreshing to see people overcome the odds against them.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

What odds were against him? He has a physical disability, not a mental disability!

[COBOL2Java]

I love to read stories like this! For a brief time early in my career I worked in the Orthopedic Wing of a Special Education school. I saw kids like Damein, who had an indefatigable spirit inside what others percieved to be a "broken" body. Always made me pause when I was tempted to complain about my own life problems.

[wimpycat]

Half the time, I really don't think of myself as having a disability," Damein said.

That's understandable. If you're born that way, that's just the way you are--you're not used to any other way.

[T Minus Four]

Sounds like a great kid, but where are the parents? Did they dump on him?

[Mr. Bird]

as one of Tioga High School's valedictorians

Nice story, but how many valedictorians are there? We used to have just one. Is everyone on the football team a captain?

[HAL9000]

Great article from Louisiana.

Games Uniting Mind and Body Organization

Hey, that's GUMBO!

[RomanCatholicProlifer]

exactly, now if these cry babies and whiners who complain they cannot get a job would have this same attitude.

[boris]

"Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do," Says Disabled Valedictorian in Louisiana

I'll tell you what you can't do:

- Be a linebacker for an NFL football team.
- Be a performer in Cirque de Soliel.
- Invent the next dance craze. Hey Macarena!
- Become an astronaut, unless it is as 'cargo'.

That do for a start?

--Boris

[redheadtoo]

If Damein's parents had been told before birth that he would be disabled the medical establishment would have recommended his mother have an abortion. They would have argued that it would be wrong to bring a child into the world who was disabled.

This story shows us why God allows people to be born with disablities. They are here to be an inspiration to the rest of us.

I worked with the developmentally disabled for seventeen years. Many times, when I visited their work sites, I was told by their co-workers that they could not maintain a negative attitude when they saw the joy of the disabled person at being allowed the chance to work and be independent.