By Logan Houptley
Since third grade at Lower Nazareth Elementary School in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, I have known one of my best friends, Mikayla Resh. She has severe brain damage from birth along with many other disabilities that inhibit her to function “normally.” Because of her brain damage, Mikayla cannot walk or talk, or perform any activity around those two basic human abilities. I feel as though when I introduce Mikayla to friends or adults, they do not see how Mikayla can be a friend at first. I receive a lot of positive verbal responses whenever I tell our story, but I can always tell from nonverbal communication that they do not necessarily fully understand how a friendship can exist without having deep conversations, keeping secrets, or playing games; her abilities are often overlooked from people who are not exposed to someone with a disability in their lives. That is why I love sharing the message of acceptance and inclusion.
When my family moved into the Nazareth School District in 2004, I did not know anybody when I initially entered the classroom. Like any third grader, I wanted to make sure that I felt like I fit in with the crowd. For one of our units in the class, we had to write our own autobiographies up to that point of our lives. As a class, we all quickly realized that Mikayla could not write her own, so we decided to write and illustrate how we included her in the classroom and as a friend. Within two years, our paragraphs and illustrations were published into a book entitled “Our Friend Mikayla.” After the book was published, I co-founded Mikayla’s Voice in 2010 with the book as our strongest tool to explain the message of inclusion.
Being a 2016 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalist means the world to me. I have so much respect for what The NASCAR Foundation has done for children as a national organization, and to be a finalist for one of their most prestigious awards is very astonishing. It is truly an honor to even be mentioned in the same sentence as the other three finalists for this award. When I watched the other promotional videos of the finalists, I could not help but feel inspired. All of our stories of how we got involved within our communities are all very different from one another, but they all stem from deep roots of passion and compassion. To have been a part of Mikayla’s Voice since the very beginning and to see it grow so much in six short years is incredible. It is the friendships that develop that keep me inspired to continue to share the message of inclusion because having people’s abilities and disabilities feel valued and accepted is paramount in my life.
And that is the magic of Mikayla. She may have multiple significant physical disabilities, but that does not mean that she does not have any abilities at all. In my eyes, Mikayla’s most prevalent ability is the ability to bring people together. I have met so many extraordinary people that are just as passionate about inclusion because of her and children like her. I have learned to embrace our differences because that is what makes all of us who we are as individuals. I would have never had the opportunity to learn and grow if I did not have people like Mikayla in my life. Mikayla has enriched my life in so many ways, and that is something that I am so grateful for.
