#diaryofintrovert

[scriptgoyal]

[risingshiloh]

The Untold Story of My Special Child - Ate

January 27, the day Ate was born. She has an epileptic meningitis and her mental capacity is only around of a seven-year-old kid. And like any other special child, Ate has her own world too.

She laughed louder than anybody else; she cried louder than normal people would cry; she has her tantrums from time to time, and she can’t remember anything except for her daily routines - time to eat, time to watch tv, and time to sleep. What makes it harder on her situation is her “epilepsy moment”, cos we do not know when it attacks her. She has a maintenance for it but it doesn’t guarantee to work all the time.

For so many years, I’ve seen how my parents became very protective over her. She’s not allowed to go outside. She has no friends, she doesn’t have freedom like we do. She’s not allowed to go somewhere that would excite her. As a young child before, I was pretty sure that her life was not normal. I felt like she’s a prisoner and she never enjoyed that much.

That’s why during my First Year High School, I invited my friends at home. I allowed them to meet Ate for the first time. I wasn’t really sure if how my friends would react, but to my surprise, everything went well. They accepted Ate the way they accepted me. Of course, Ate became uncomfortable talking to my friends at first meet but eventually, she became fond of talking, laughing and playing with them too.

One night, during our Town Fiesta, my parents went somewhere and needed to stay in that place overnight. My other two older sisters were also not at home. So that means, Kuya, the rule-breaker, was in charge of the house.

With the naughty smile on his face, Kuya convinced us to go to Perya in the middle of the night to have some fun. And of course, I, myself was a rebellious kid too so, I completely agreed on his plans. Kuya, My Special Ate, Bunso, and I went out. We were so wild. We did all the “Bawal” that night. And we had fun!

We let Ate experienced all of what we experience too. We really gave her the spot to enjoy. Cos whenever we were outside, she’s always beside Mama and she’s not allowed to choose what she wants.

So in this quick moment of freedom, we allowed her to play dart games, shooting games and any other games she could play. We also let her experience the “caterpillar ride” alone. Because we didn’t have enough money to pay for tickets, we let Ate experienced it alone. Not that dangerous but it’s quite fast. And if Mama was there, we were very certain that she won’t allow it to happen.

With all honesty, we were all nervous watching her riding the “caterpillar”. I felt like it was the longest one minute ride I’ve witnessed. We were all crossing our fingers while whispering this words, “kaya nya yan. kaya nya yan.”

After one minute, the three of us shouted for joy. She did it! We were so happy to witness Ate finished the ride courageously. I also saw how she smile differently this time. May kilig at confidence. I knew she felt accomplished that night.

Our last itinerary, our favorite video games!! I love playing Super Mario, Pacman and Bubbles when I was young. At syempre, because it’s our freedom night, we also allowed Ate to play with us. I guided her playing the video games, and she was really shouting for joy! As in ang ingay namin sa loob ng video games area.

The three of us were laughing so hard after seeing Ate’s reaction. Little did we know, people around us were staring at us as well. However, we never cared at all. We were having fun, thus, their opinion, comments, or reactions, didn’t matter.

Then suddenly, “Blag! Blag! Blag! Blag!”, my Ate’s hand was hitting the computer uncontrollably, her head started turning. I hurriedly pat Kuya’s back, “Sinusumpong na si Ate.” Kuya and Bunso assisted Ate quickly as I went outside to asked for help.

Her epilepsy lasted for around 10 seconds, (I guess) then she fell asleep after. I was thankful that a kind tricycle driver helped us and brought us all home safe.

When we’re at home, Ate regained her strength and forgot everything what happened. She changed her clothes and went back to sleep again.

All of us our staring at her as we took a deep breath. Hooooooo.. What a relief! We made an agreement not to tell anyone what happened that night. Lagot kami kung nagkataon.

I must admit, what we did were too risky. We only wanted to have fun, and we failed to think of the danger it may bring.

But looking back those days, I believe it was never wrong at all. Because we allowed Ate to live and be happy, and not just merely exist.

Yes, she may act differently, she may have special needs but it doesn’t mean she has no place in this world. She deserves to live. She deserves to experience life like what normal people do.

In our eyes, she’s not normal. In her eyes, we’re not normal too. Actually, we are all not normal because God made us all special. It just happened that we forget about it and we blend on the normal standards of this world.

I just wished someday, we could all see how special people are so, we could treat everyone with equal importance, dignity and respect.

In that way, the world will become a better place.

--January 27,2021