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I Have Many Dreams - Alison Peck

Part 1: Introduction

Awards Breakfast Speech
Employment Pathways
by Alison Peck
© 2001, all rights reserved

Good morning! I hope everyone is enjoying their breakfast and having a good time so far. It is a pleasure to speak here today. It is also a break from school and my history class, which I hate very much!

I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Alison Peck and I am a student transitioning into employment. This [photo] is me when I was three years old. I was happy but I could not talk.

I am now a 19-year-old student at Hackettstown High School, and some say I have not stopped talking. I have Cerebral Palsy and I use a walker to get around school. I can also use crutches. I also have a hearing impairment. Some of the things that I like to do are watch Television, read books and go shopping. I like to shop for everything except clothes.

I am one of 10 children in the Peck family and this [photo] is a picture of my family and me on my adoption day.

I have many dreams. One dream is to have a house of my own or to live with someone. Second is to get married to the guy of my dreams. I think I will go to match makers. I would like to have a family, maybe four children. Last but not least, I want to get a job where I can help people and I would like to work in an office and I hope to go to college. Now that you know me better, I would like to tell you about my experience of growing up in the field of Special Education and what I have accomplished.

One of the first things that I remember accomplishing was competing in Special Olympics. As a 6th grader I received the Presidents Physical Fitness award. My adaptive physical education teacher called the state Department of education and asked if she could make changes to the physical fitness test so that I could try to pass the fitness test. They did not make changes in the standards however they made the changes that I needed. For example, instead of running outside in the uneven ground, I was able to run in the gym. I passed everything and President Bill Clinton signed my certificate of achievement.

[Photo] This is me at Special Olympic competition with my friend Tracy.

Another thing that I accomplished that was a big impact on my life was getting into the mainstream. Being mainstreamed means to be able to go to regular classrooms with my friends and it was very important to me to be mainstreamed. I was attending Allamuchy Elementary School and in a self-contained classroom. I was learning the same thing every year from first to third grades.

When I was starting the fifth grade I begged my mom and my case manager to let me go back to my hometown school in Independence to be mainstreamed for History and Science. I liked these subjects and I knew I could do it. They let me go, and it went so well that I wanted more challenges. So at the end of sixth grade I asked my case manager and mom if I could be mainstreamed for English and reading too. They let me do it on one agreement. The agreement was for me to stay in the special education department for mathematics but I would be mainstreamed for all my other courses. I was not completely happy, but it got me what I wanted.

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