Four students presented speeches Wednesday on the disabilities they face and how they’ve learned to overcome them at a meeting of the Arc of Montgomery County, a nonprofit organization that provides support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Sophomore Katie Guarino, junior Geoffrey Mikol-Caldwell, senior Dylan Kuhnhenn and senior Nina Avila gave their speeches at the meeting.
“I talked about stereotypes, about how people expect me to be because of my disability,” said Guarino, who has cerebral palsy. “But I take AP and honors classes. I don’t let my disability get in the way of things like that.”
Guarino and the other students have been perfecting their speeches since December. The four students are members of the 19-member Montgomery Exceptional Speakers Bureau, a club that speech pathologist Lynn Chvotkin established this year for students.
“We hope that through publicity and word of mouth, other schools will be able to adopt similar programs,” Chvotkin said. “All of these students are so disciplined and intelligent, and even though we could only pick four, all students should get an opportunity to speak about their experiences.”
