Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities

ARTICLE FROM BREAKING GROUND

My name is Breka Moore, and I live in Milan, Tennessee. When I was in elementary school, I was put in special education classes because I had a learning disability. Ever since I was in school, I tried to avoid doing things like reading out loud because I didn’t want the other kids to make fun of me. Every day when I went to school, I wanted to cry because I didn’t want to be different. I wanted to be smart like my friends. As the years passed, I had to realize that I was different.

When I got to high school, I wanted to learn how I could make a difference in my life. I really didn’t understand what that meant until I attended the Tennessee Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) a year ago at Vanderbilt University. YLF is sponsored by the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities. At YLF, I learned that if I want to make a difference in my life, I can’t be afraid to speak out to let people know that no matter what kind of disability I have, I can overcome anything. I learned that no one should let a disability control one’s life. I took control of mine with the support and determination from the speakers, delegates, and the counselors at YLF.

While I was in high school, I always dreamed of getting a regular diploma, but the only thing that was holding me back was passing my language TCAP test. I was involved in many clubs and extracurricular activities, such as Drama, Color Guard, and the Dance line team, but I often had to sacrifice participating so I could attend tutoring after school. In some ways I was sad because I really wanted to do Drama, but I knew that my education came first. With all the tutoring and prayers from many people, my dream came true. I passed my TCAP test with a 94.

May 24th was the biggest day of my life. It was the day that I graduated from high school. As I sat through graduation, there was one more thing that I really wanted. It was to win the Student-Teacher Achievement and Recognition Award (S.T.A.R.) To apply, I

had to write about a teacher who had influenced me. I wrote about my special education teacher because she was always there to support me through the years. Hoping and believing in myself, I won the award. I am happy to say that I graduated from Milan

High School with the class of 2002 with an honors diploma.

Now I am attending Dyersburg State Community College and majoring in Early Childhood Education. I hope in the future that I will have the opportunity to speak to people and students about children with special needs.

I would like to thank the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, my family, friends, and the faculty and staff of the Milan Special School District for giving me the opportunity to reach my dreams and goals.

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