ADDY

My name is Addy and I’m going to be showing you around the world that my buddy Uno and I live in. It’s a world full of adventures and heroes and mountains and schools and rocketships and there’s this weird guinea pig guy that is just THE funniest thing and … I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? I do that a lot! My parents are always telling me to take a deep breath and to stop going off on so many tangents. They say it’s on account of my ADHD, which is short for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I can be a bit spontaneous, a bit rash and impulsive, a bit…

UNO

This is my best friend Uno.

He is sweet, loves books, and is THE smartest person I’ve ever met. When                      he’s thinking, you can practically imagine blueprints and maps appearing                    above his head, which comes in handy when we’re out on adventures t                        together. He is the detail-oriented, concrete thinker to my outside-of the                      box, zany and out-there thinking. My parents say he’s like a mini Sherlock                    Holmes, who was some guy from England or something. I don’t really                            know. English people sound so smart with their accents so it must be a                          good thing!

RJ/ ROLLY

RJ is a kid in my class who uses a wheelchair. He has something called “paraplegia”, which is really, really hard to spell. He is the “cool guy” in the group who uses his buff arms and his fancy wheelchair to transport me and the rest of my friends to any destination. His wheelchair has footstools for us and all of these cool gadgets attached to it, and between that and his impressive strength, he is the most physically-gifted person I’ve ever met.

MELODY

Melody is my friend who has low vision. She has this cool walking stick that doubles up as a wand, micro-phone and even as a sword. She’s the wise one in the group, who usually gives us insight on what’s going on and keeps us on-task. She has an AMAZING musical talent. Her voice has perfect pitch and tone and I’m frankly a little jealous of this. I like to sing too, and I’m getting better every day....despite what the howling cats in the neighborhood seem to think.

Seemore/Seymour

Seemore is my buddy who is hearing impaired. He has this ability to see                      better than anyone. I swear he can see out of the side of his head! He                          wears a hearing aid, carries a magnifying glass and mini telescope on his                  belt, and teaches sign language to us. Overall, he’s a bit nerdy, and                              sniffles a lot, but he is SO funny. He currently holds the world record for                        the number of times someone made me laugh so hard that I shot                                  chocolate milk out of my nose.

Tee

Hi! It’s nice to meet you! My name’s Tony, but my friends like to call me T (Tee). I love that name because it makes me think of golf, my favorite sport. You might notice that I make random movements and unusual noises sometimes. These movements and sounds are calls tics, and I have these tics because I have Tourette syndrome. People with Tourette’s have different tics, but the tics that I have are blinking my eyes, sniffling, and moving my lips. Because I twitch many times throughout the day, I sometimes get sore and have pain where I have been twitching and I sometimes feel embarrassed by my tics. But to me, ticking is as natural as scratching an itch – it’s just something that I have to do even though I don’t like to do it. Though, something cool about having Tourette syndrome is that sometimes my tics go away when I concentrate really hard. For example, whenever I play golf and I focus on my swing while hitting the ball, my tics disappear. Pretty neat, right? Ok, I better head to my golf lesson, but I’ll hopefully see you soon!!

Beat

Hey there! What’s up? I’m Beatrice, but I’m known to my friends as “Beat,” and that’s because I’ve got some rhythm flowing through me at all times! I love to make some sick s-s-s-s-ounds and bust a move whenever I get the chance! Sorry about that, I sometimes stutter a bit. When someone stutters, it means that they have a hard time saying certain sounds and sp-sp-sp-speaking. Sometimes our muscles get stuck on a s-s-sound and it takes a minute for our brains to tell our muscles to move onto the rest of the word. These sounds are called “disfluencies.” Actually, most p-p-p-people also have disfluencies in their speech- like do you ever say “um” or “like?” That’s actually a disfluency! So we’re just like everyone else, except we have s-s-s-some different disfluencies. We’re r-r-really unique too- you know only one percent of people in the whole world stutter? That means you’re currently talking to someone with one of the rarest characteristics ever!!! I know, I know, you’re gonna want an autograph real soon!!!

dberek

Hey all, my name is dberek! It’s pronounced “Derek”, I just write it that way because I always forget which way the lower case “d” faces. I blame it on my dyslexia!  Dyslexia is a learning difference. When someone has dyslexia is means that he/she may have more difficulty with reading, writing, spelling and/or sounding out words! But even though I struggle with words and forms of language, my teachers say that I am the best artist and the most creative kid in my class!! Scientists have actually identified that brains with Dyslexia, like mine, have the ability to see whole pictures quicker than brains without Dyslexia! HOW COOL! 

Lexxy

Hi everyone! My name is Lexxy and it’s nice to meet you. It’s Lexxy with two xxs, not just one. A lot of people spell it with only one x, but I spell it with two xxs, because it makes me feel special and unique and because my genes decided they liked the 21st c-some so much, they wanted an Xtra! So I have 47 instead of 46 chromosomes. That’s why my smile, eyes and ears look a bit different than yours. I also have a tough time remembering things at times and I have a hard time buttoning the small buttons on my coat. People also tell me that I’m unique because they think I’m one of the friendliest people they’ve ever met. They say that a lot of people with Down syndrome tend to be sweet, outgoing, friendly and wonderfully kind friends.  Oh, and wait till’ you taste my cooking!!

Venn

Oh, hi!! It’s so great to meet you!! My name is Venn. Have I seen you before? Actually, I don’t think so – I tend to have a pretty good memory. Like I can remember the capitals of every single state in the US, and I can remember why I earned every one of my ten gold stars at school. I love meeting new people and making new friends!!  My mom says I’m a really good friend because I remember so much about the people I meet. I think she said that because when we go to my aunt’s house for Thanksgiving, I always remember the names, birthdays and favorite colors of all of my aunts, uncles and cousins!! How did I get William’s syndrome, you ask? No, silly, I didn’t eat someone named William! But I can tell you all about it since I can remember everything my doctor told me about it! Apparently one of my chromosomes didn’t really like a part of what was inside of it, and decided it didn’t want it anymore. That makes sense- it’s like how I always pick out the tomatoes from my salad because I don’t like how they taste. My friends with Williams and I can sometimes have a hard time in school and can sometimes get very nervous. We try to play trivia games or take deep breaths when we get nervous to prevent ourselves from getting too tired and to make sure our hearts stay healthy! It looks like I have to run since my friend Jay wants to play a trivia game now, but I hope I get to see you again!! Have a wonderful day!