Miranda Christine Harpin

From a young age, I have recognized that one of my true passions is working towards
building a more unified world, one that is accepting of all its’ inhabitants. Driving this passion of
mine has always been my younger cousin, Joey, who was diagnosed with ASD, better known as
Autism Spectrum Disorder. Joey is low functioning on the ASD scale, meaning that he is unable
to communicate or perform many daily tasks that most people take for granted. Growing up as
Joey’s older cousin, I always felt a responsibility to ensure that he was protected from all the
negativity surrounding his diagnosis. Many people, unfortunately, see disorders as scary or
intimidating causing them to react in inappropriate ways, even if it is out of curiosity. Sometimes
people would come over to us and ask about his condition, while others would give degrading
stares or flashes of harsh judgement. It was these negative reactions to my cousin’s physical
appearance that shook me to my core, why were these people so unaccepting? I asked myself this
for quite awhile until I realized it was not their fault, they were lucky enough to not have to
worry about such a condition and thus, were uneducated.
Communication in civic life is of the upmost importance, without efficient civic life
communication we are unable to truly create a community that works as one, striving to make a
difference. It has been my personal goal for years now to educate others on the power of
inclusion, specifically with individuals who suffer from intellectual disabilities, like Joey.
I first volunteered for the Special Olympics when I was nine years old. Although that day
was 12 years ago, I vividly remember the feeling of awe I had as I looked out the car window to
see masses of people arriving to offer their time and volunteer in the frigid cold temperatures. To
say it was inspiring to see so many others volunteer to spend their day and work to give the
athletes a day to remember would be an understatement. At nine years old, I was not used to
seeing so many other individuals support and uplift those with intellectual disabilities. That day,
I walked around the various courses cheering on athletes from the sidelines, danced and took
photobooth pictures with athletes, assisted athletes in taking off their skis and snowshoes, and
applauded them at their awards ceremonies. The feeling I had on that day back in 2008 has stuck
with me ever since, acting as a guiding force behind my dedication to civic life and as a reminder
to continue to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
For the past 12 years, not only have I continued my volunteer efforts through the Special
Olympics by serving at various events, but I have also dedicated myself to educating others and
bringing to light the importance of inclusion. During my Junior year of high school, I became
involved with the Best Buddies club. Best Buddies is an organization whose mission is to put an
end to the social, physical and economic isolation of people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. I was eager to join and connect with others who were as passionate as me, but
unfortunately the club was not being run to its’ fullest potential at my school. After meeting with
various faculty advisors, I thought a new club was needed to truly promote inclusivity and
presented a strategically outlined plan for a new club that would allow for inclusion, diversity
and education. While the plan was rejected due to funding, I continued my efforts of educating
others, but did so through various social networks such as Instagram and Twitter. These efforts
included posts I created with the intention of informing others about the truth behind intellectual
disabilities and the stereotypes associated with them. During my brief stay with Best Buddies is
when I fully recognized the lack of education many people, specifically youth and young adults,
had regarding intellectual disabilities. I understood wholeheartedly how challenging, and even
intimidating it may be to try and communicate with an individual with an intellectual disability,
but also I knew that there was no excuse for the lack of inclusion and overall judgement cast
upon these students. Growing up with Joey, I was constantly gaining knowledge about not only
ASD, but other intellectual disabilities as well, learning how to effectively communicate. Of
course at times I messed up and struggled to understand how I could do better, but each day was
a new opportunity for me to try again and learn from my previous mistakes. At this point in High
School I was working as one of Joey’s PCAs, Personal Care Assistant, and had a great deal of
experience in working with intellectually disabled children and young adults. As part of my
strategic outline for the proposed club previously mentioned, I created an outline to assist
students in communicating with other students who suffered from such disabilities. I noticed a
trend among my peers was to treat these students as children, talking to them as if they were
toddlers. While this may be the best method of communication for some, it is not the case for
many. Within this outline I detailed how to approach a variety of complex and typical situations
a student may find themselves in. For example, I outlined how to approach a student when they
were experiencing a meltdown. In this case, each individual is different and it may be hard to
predict exactly what that student might do, however, it is important to hold steady a calm tone,
refrain from touching the student unless they are physically putting themselves or others at risk,
and to not bribe the student into transitioning to a different behavior. Although my proposed club
was not accepted, I diligently worked to educate my peers by sharing my personal insights as
well as the outline I had created.
Upon entering Bryant University as a full-time undergraduate student, I sought to bring
these efforts to my new home. In my sophomore year I applied and interviewed to be on a
committee for the Special Olympics Club at Bryant University, and was successful in acquiring
the position because of my previous efforts and actions. The first year of being a general member
was one of the most exciting for me. Surrounded by peers who had the same motives and
passions as did I, we were able to team together to create new campaigns and content that pushed
for and promoted change. On our official Instagram, we posted most of the content to our stories
section, highlighting current issues and how people could unify to create a spark for change
amongst us all.
Moving into my second year on the committee, I was Vice President of the club and was
ecstatic to take on more responsibility. I was informed that I had been selected for the position
while I was still abroad, giving me ample time to prepare for the new year ahead. One of my
points of focus this year was to explore different fundraising options that would simultaneously
educate our community and spread awareness of our mission and overall efforts. Working with
my committee, we devised new social media campaigns that educated our community on a
variety of broader topics that all were tied to inclusivity. With the help of the Marketing and
Promotional committee members, I presented the campaign ideas I had created abroad, and as a
team, we worked together to bring these to life. Utilizing new applications to create eye-catching
visuals that would capture the student body’s attention was a main tactic we used. One of our
biggest campaigns was centered around our kickoff day. For our club, kickoff is one of the most
important events we hold besides the actual Day of Games. On this day, our entire committee is
stationed in the center of the rotunda actively trying to recruit volunteers. This year we did things
a little bit differently, as I wanted to start campaigning for this event much earlier than we
typically did. The days leading up to the event I created ten different visuals to post with the
intentions of rallying the student body together in a fun and exciting way. A central focus of
these posts was to not only inform the student body of the opportunity to volunteer, but to
educate them on how important it is to be kind to everyone along with how powerful inclusion
can be. Our theme this year was Carnival, so the visuals created by myself and the other
committee members incorporated this into our promotional pieces. Throughout the semester, we
distributed other various campaigns across our social media and I brought the pieces to my
personal accounts too to ensure we were reaching as many individuals in our community as we
could. Through these efforts, we were able to noticeably advance in terms of fundraising for The
Special Olympics, but what was more important to me was education. I strongly believe that our
combined efforts assisted in bringing to light the issue of inclusivity, specifically on our campus.
Personally, I noticed a shift in behavior around campus. Part of my work abroad was creating a
timetable where we strategically decided when and what times to post and promote our
campaigns, making sure this was in effect before we launched our fundraisers. Constantly
checking our media data, I noticed that our campaigns were starting to reach more and more
individuals as well as an increase in shares of our posts. Many students on campus were posting
our campaigns to their personal accounts, thus making our reach that much more extensive.
Opening my social media to see the excess number of shares was truly a heartwarming feeling
for me. This showed myself and the rest of the committee that the work we put in did not go
unnoticed and it was creating a positive change in our community, spreading awareness about
our cause and reaching new individuals we hadn’t been able to reach before. The number of
volunteers that signed up for our Day of Games also hinted that our campaigns were working, as
we saw an immense increase in the outpour of support from our Bryant community.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic halted our efforts, and ultimately The Day of
Games had to be cancelled out of an abundance of caution. To say I was devastated to have the
games cancelled is an understatement, however, the club President and myself worked alongside
the Special Olympics Rhode Island core director to ensure we did something special for the
athletes and their families. Ultimately, we decided to hold a conference style call via zoom with
our committee members and athletes who were supposed to participate in the games. This call
was inspiring and not very many of us had clear eyes by the end of it. I was able to speak directly
to the athletes and learn their personal stories, actively listening to how The Special Olympics
has changed theirs and their families lives in such a positive way. These sentiments were
powerful and inspiring, reminding us all how truly important our work was.
Today, I am President of this club and more active and involved than I have ever been
before. This year has been filled with extreme levels of uncertainty, and I have been vigorously
working since this summer with members to create new and exciting ways where we can engage
and interact with the athletes. Quarantine provided me with time to not only reflect, but to act.
One specific issue that I have personally been trying to tackle is regarding the nonchalant usage
of “retard,” in people’s everyday vocabulary. Many people do not understand the degrading and
demeaning connotation that goes along with using that word and do not see an issue in using it
within their everyday lives. Personally, I correct anyone who chooses to use that word in front of
me, no matter what position they may hold or what relationship I have with them. On multiple
occasions I have been out, and overheard friends and peers use that word while in conversation
with others and at times, while in conversation with myself. I never dismiss these situations, and
have always followed up by asking, “what other word do you think you could use instead of the
R word?” At first, most are a bit taken back, possibly shocked that I had an issue with what they
were saying, but they usually proceed to come up with multiple words that could easily have
been used in replace. In many cases just like this, people do not make the connection of that
word with people who suffer from intellectual disabilities, genuinely not meaning to use it in a
derogatory way, but unfortunately that is how it is presented and interpreted by others. On my
personal social media pages I am active in trying to publish content that informs and educates
others on topics such as this, highlighting how it may not come across as demeaning to them but
to others it surely does and goes against the idea of inclusion. Paired with social media
campaigns, I am fighting to end the nonchalant usage of this word and continuing my efforts to
educate and raise awareness.
To me, communication in civic life should be a priority to everyone. Every individual
should feel a need to contribute in an effective way to their society and civic communication is
such an important aspect of that. I believe that everyone should feel safe in their community as
well as respected and heard. In a society where we are still fighting for equality across all boards,
it is more important than ever in my opinion to push forward with even stronger, more
intensified measures. As the late Ruth Bater Ginsberg once said about how she would like to be
remembered, “Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her
ability. And to help repair tears in society, to make things a little better through the use of
whatever ability she has… ‘Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve
done for which I was not paid”, I could not agree more. The work that I have done, and will
continue to do, has filled me with an abundance of happiness and gratitude. I feel grateful each
day to have the ability to help those in need, to work alongside peers and faculty who’s values
align with mine, and grateful for the change I have been able to create thus far in my journey.
My work does not end here as I plan to continue the fight for inclusivity for however long that
may take with my passion acting as a guiding force. In everything I do, I do with love and
respect, but this work will forever be dedicated to my Joe.