Betty Wright Swim Center

The pool at the Betty Wright Swim Center is warm and comforting. If you are one of those kids whom people laugh at (even the President made a feeble joke about you on the Tonight Show), if you are trying to regain movement after a stroke, or if you are looking for a peaceful place to wear your swimsuit and where no one judges you by your flab, wrinkles, and scars, you are especially welcome.

Some of their pupils will never learn to read. Some will never be able to live on their own. But the very patient instructors are undaunted. Enough of their students do learn to swim. When a beginning swimmer makes it from one end of the pool to the other, unaided, the emotion evoked in the observer is hard to describe. The observer thinks, if our special person can do this, maybe he or she can learn to do other things that normal people take for granted.

The Betty Wright Swim Center is a place of hope and quiet joy. We never miss an appointment. (The photos below were taken one year ago.)



© 2009 Stephen Yuen

Johnny Can't Read But He Can Graduate

At the open house the youngster’s teachers were effusive. “It’s a joy to have him in the class.” That’s what they say when a student beats low expectations. Yale and Stanford are not in his future, but we’re pleased because his future is much improved . He’s been in special education all his life, but he was able to pass half of California’s high school exit exam last year without accommodations. He says he wants to go to college, and we’ve started to look into programs designed for students with special needs.

Special education, by the way, is (another) government program that’s filled with perverse incentives. In the most recent article in its series, The Wall Street Journal covers the phenomenon of schools allowing special ed students to graduate without the requisite knowledge or skills. Parents are

disappointed not because their children are failing, but because they're passing without learning. These families complain that schools give their children an easy academic ride through regular-education classes, undermining a new era of higher expectations for the 14% of U.S. students who are in special education.

What’s not stated clearly in the article is that when a special ed student receives a regular diploma he no longer qualifies for government benefits. If our student were to fail the exit exam, he will receive a high school “certificate of attendance”, under which he can still qualify for benefits and go to college. But if he passes, he will be cut off, and we will have to bear the cost of his therapy and accommodations. We’ll support our student to fulfill his dream of graduating with the regular kids, but I can see why other parents would be conflicted with many thousands of dollars at stake.

© 2007 Stephen Yuen

Ms. B taught French to our older son as well.

[See here for a post on an earlier open house.]

Challengers Baseball

The lake at Berryessa Community Center

Yesterday’s little league Challengers baseball game was held at the Berryessa Community Center in Milpitas, just beyond the northeastern boundary of San Jose. The temperature soared into the 90’s, and many of the kids took the field in the second (and final) inning only after much cajoling. After he complained of over-heating, the catcher sat down and I took his place. The only protective gear I needed was suntan lotion, so I survived the experience.

In Challengers baseball no hitter ever strikes out, and parents of both teams cheer as runners round the bases. For these are special players: they have multiple sclerosis, Down’s syndrome, and other severe physical and mental disabilities. They endure challenges far more daunting than most of us will ever face in our lifetimes.

In this sport parental assistance is not only permitted but welcomed.

Every batter stands at the plate until he or she finally hits the underhand, soft-baseball pitch. On the rare occasions when the ball is fielded and actually makes it to first base, the runner is still safe and is assured of advancing on subsequent hits until reaching home. A pointless exercise, perhaps, from the perspective of the competitive and goal-oriented, but the kids enjoy it, and that’s enough reason to come every week. © 2004 Stephen Yuen

[A parent with "normal" kids has this perspective.]