The following is a speech I gave to the faculty at West Middle School in Westminster, Maryland, in the spring of 2023.

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Good afternoon. My name is Jill Wagoner, and I’m the mother of a 7th-grade student here at West named Cooper Wagoner. By a raise of hands, how many of you know him? 

Like most adolescents, Cooper is a 13-year-old who loves sports (particularly basketball), eats more than one would imagine, often forgets to put on deodorant, thinks farts are hilarious, and says recess is his favorite “class.” Cooper, like any teenager, doesn’t want to feel different or excluded. Like most young people, he wants to be liked and fit in.

I’m here today to talk to you about inclusion, what it is, and what it looks like here at West Middle (at least in my experience).

Historically, and unfortunately still too often today, some people see students with disabilities as so very different from their neurotypical peers and as very similar to each other. But the reality is that they’re just students who have a range of strengths, interests, emotions, and dreams. And they are often much more capable than some people give them credit for.

I have a tremendous amount of gratitude and admiration for Mr. Carlow, Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. Emge, and Mrs. Bronson. They are all fantastic educators. But Cooper is not only their student. He’s Mrs. Landing’s scientist, Mrs. Hugh’s percussionist, Mr. Kirby’s thespian, and Mrs. Kellar’s athlete. He is not a student who spent two years here in a segregated classroom, and he is not a student who was merely allowed to “visit” some general education classes. In his two years at West Middle, Cooper has walked the halls with his peers, learned beside them in many spaces, played basketball with them, was recognized for being a conscientious student, break danced at each of the school dances, participated in minute-to-win it games during assembly and Flex, played in the student/faculty basketball game, and took the stage for Beauty and the Beast, Jr. 

When you create an environment where all students feel that they are an equal and valued part of the community, you allow a 13-year-old boy with Down syndrome to come home and not only say he’s auditioning for the musical but that he’s going for the lead. Like many students this year, Cooper didn’t get the role he wanted. That’s a pretty typical teen experience. 

BUT you all, by creating an environment of inclusion, fostered a young man who believed he had just as much right to try out for that lead as anyone else. You created a space where students celebrate the kid who takes two minutes to sink a basket. You’ve nurtured a community of students who see kids with disabilities as one of their own. THAT, my friends, is authentic belonging, and that is what inclusion is. And THIS is how we teach all young people that they have worth. THIS is how we show our neurotypical students how to treat their peers with disabilities now and in the future as adults. 

I am a person who believes that God made Cooper fearfully and wonderfully and sent him into this world to be one of our greatest teachers. As we move on next year to his home school, East Middle, I am grateful God brought Cooper to this place at this time because I believe his presence has made an impact. I’m grateful to everyone who has fostered an inclusive environment here. Cooper will leave West a smarter, more mature, more independent, and more confident young man. It is my sincere hope that the same is true for students like Cooper in the future. Keep up the good work. Thank you.