Episode 223: Inclusive education – with LeDerick Horne, dyslexic poet and advocate

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with LeDerick Horne. Diagnosed with a learning disability in the third grade, LeDerick is a dynamic spoken word poet, a respected author, and a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. LeDerick uses his gift for spoken word poetry to open doors to discussions on equal opportunity, self determination and hope for individuals with disabilities.

He’s delivered impactful workshops and keynote speeches and performed at prestigious venues, such as the White House and the United Nations. His work addresses the challenges of all disabilities, uniting the efforts of diverse groups to achieve substantive systemic change. LeDerick, welcome to the podcast.

LeDerick Horne: Carolyn, hello! Thank you for having me.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, I’m so happy to have you here today and really excited to hear more about your own story and all of the great work and advocacy that, that you do in this area.

So I guess starting out, how did you first discover that you have a learning disability?

LeDerick Horne: So, It became pretty apparent from the moment that I got into school. You know, got to the first grade and couldn’t do the work that everybody else could do. And I ended up repeating the first grade. And then by the third grade, I was referred to be placed in the special education. And the first evaluation that I had done, the label I was actually given was that I was neurologically impaired, which, I believe it’s just sort of like this catch all for neurodivergence that was probably very popular in New Jersey where I’m from when I was going through school. It was also a label that was, I think, pretty generously given to boys, in particular, boys of color at the time.

And so they realized something was going on kind of early on. And I think that I’m in a way very fortunate because of that, because I meet a lot of folks who, you know, don’t get diagnosed until, you know, later on in life. But it was, it was really around the third grade.

And I spent my entire time through school from that point on in special education, and was fortunate that in college — I decided I had this crazy idea I was going to go to college — and got to be connected to a great disability support program at my local county college. And the 2nd, the, like, the 2nd time I had an evaluation done, like, outside of the school setting was actually at that college. And it was then that you know, the, the neuropsych came back and they were like, you know, you’re dyslexic, you know, you can, you can, you can wave the dyslexia flag very proudly.

But yeah, that was kind of the, the journey of, of kind of getting the labels.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. You got a very general and sort of extremely limiting and stigmatizing label for pretty much all of your primary and secondary school. And it wasn’t until college that you really got more clarity on what was going on, and it sounds like had the opportunity to get more specific support for that so that you could really start to thrive in an educational setting.

LeDerick Horne: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it was one of the things that made school so challenging for me. You know, and I, you know, and I’ll, I’ll, I’ll be very transparent with you and your audience. By the time I got to high school, I was showing signs of having mental health challenges. I was wrestling with extreme levels of depression. I was, you know, even at a point kind of towards my time in high school where I was contemplating suicide. And I think so much of it came from the lack of awareness, the lack of clarity, and what I did know about who I was and how my mind worked was really oriented in sort of a negative direction. You know, I was, I was, I was wrestling with just extreme levels of shame.

And then when I combine that with the sort of the cliff of graduation and not knowing what was going to happen next afterwards for folks like me, because what I most strongly identified with was being a person who was in special education. And there were just, there weren’t any, any real narratives of success stories of folks who were going through special ed and then coming out and having amazing lives, at least none that I really connected with at the time. And so it was, it was just a frightening, frightening experience.

And, and yeah, I mean, the, for the most part, my school experience was around them sort of dumbing down the work. And it was only when I got to college where they were like, you know, you’re going to go to class with everybody else. You know, no more self contained classes. No more, you know, separate math classes where everybody in there is on an IEP. You’re going to go to class with everybody else. And so it was the 1st time I was really introduced to accommodations and having, you know, real meaningful support and, and having that within a, a truly inclusive educational setting. And the high expectations, the emphasis on self awareness you know, that knowledge of self peace and then utilizing supports. It, it just, it opened up learning for me.

It made it, and I, you know, in my, in my talks and my presentations, I talk about how I think for so much of my life, I was expending so much of my emotional energy, just trying to pass for normal. And then when I got to college and really early on, first week of class, you know, someone sat me down and read through all of my old documentation, going back from when I was nine years old in the third grade, all the way up until my last evaluation that had happened in high school. And just explained to me what it meant to be LD.

From there on, the game became around, you know, spending my energy just trying to figure out how best I learn, what did I need to do to take in information to perform at my absolute best within a classroom setting and then also to perform my best out in the larger world.

Carolyn Kiel: What inspired you or motivated you to decide to go to college after having such, I imagine, a really awful sounding experience in primary and secondary school? What was it that said, like, no, there’s, there’s more. I want to continue my education, but I want to do something, you know, different from the experience that I’ve had so far.

LeDerick Horne: That’s a great question. You know, yeah, because the stats, the stats for folks who have learned disabilities to decide, you know, even step foot on a college campus, like 10 percent of us even step foot. And then it’s an even, you know, much smaller percentage of us that actually end up graduating with degrees. So, I mean, I’ll, I’ll be honest and it, it’s, it’s not, it’s not the kind of direction I want this generation to have or the motivation I want this generation to have, as far as deciding to go after any sort of higher education. But for me, for me, it just felt like if I didn’t get a degree, if I didn’t keep pushing myself, life was going to destroy me. You know? And I think that that was informed by friends and classmates who were already dropping out of school, who were getting pregnant, you know, when they were still teenagers, you know, who are getting high and, and, you know, and, and I could tell that they were not going to end up in a direction where I, I wanted to live my life.

And, and I remember even getting into that county college and talking to my counselor and telling her, like, you know, like, I, I kind of felt like this was it. Like, I was betting. I was, it was, I was all in, you know, like putting my life on the line. She said, yeah, you know, but like, if you ended up like not going to college and like, ended up like pushing a broom, it would be like Good Will Hunting. You’d be doing like math problems, right? Like in the hallway. Right? So but I, but it just, it felt like it was, yeah, like the system was going to destroy me if I, if I didn’t do it.

And so I, I devoted probably an extreme level of dedication to my, my college education, where I just really, really focused on going to school. I did have a part time job. I worked retail throughout, throughout college. And then as I became more comfortable as a student, I, you know, I had a social life. But, you know, it was my primary focus and I worked really, really hard, really, really hard.

But it was, yeah, it was this not wanting to be destroyed. And then it was also a leap of faith. You know, I just had a lot of faith that I was going to be able to figure it out. And I’m fortunate that both my parents have college degrees. You know, I think my mother would tell you and my father, if he was still with us, would probably say they weren’t necessarily the best students. But, they had an expectation that I was going to go on and I was going to live a great life and be able to contribute to this world. And I believed that. And so yeah, so I tried the, I did the difficult thing, which was to, to go to college.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And how was the college experience different from all of your K through 12 schooling? Like, were there certain supports that you got or that helped you thrive? Or was it just just so different that it just worked better for the way that you learn?

LeDerick Horne: It was night and day. Night and day, you know, night and day. I, I’m, I’m fortunate that like, although the school district that I went to, you know, they didn’t really embrace inclusion, you know, as I understand it now. Again, there was like this culture where we didn’t really talk about disability, but I also had amazing teachers, amazing coaches. I was a student athlete. I ran track and cross country. I had amazing coaches. And so being just, you know, being surrounded by positive people who have your best interest, you know, I think it went a, it went a long way.

And that continued, you know, when I was in college, I was fortunate that I kind of just figured out that like, you had to have mentors. You know? And, and I’ve, I’ve also, I, in my life, I wear a bunch of different hats. I have a bunch of different interests. And so I, I had constantly like, you know, I was seeking out mentors to support me as an artist, mentors to support me as a student. So that was, you know, that those, those sort of positive adult role models were always sort of present.

But academically, it was, it was just so different, you know? One was like, I remember, so I’m a part of this. I was a part of this disability support program called Project Connections at Middlesex County College. Now that that program no longer exists, but it was a state funded program that provided really wraparound supports. And so one of the, the first sort of points of contact that I had with them was a summer orientation before my first semester. And it was about three days, and in my mind it felt like a full week, but it was because it was such a transformative experience. But I remember like in day one, we started talking about disability. And we’re talking about it with the staff, right. And, talking about neurodiversity with each other. You know, my, brand new freshman. And, and just them dedicating time to just talking about how the college experience was going to kind of be different for us versus everybody else.

And then, you know, and then just beginning to be introduced to the level of support. So, I remember one of the things that just really stood out was, you know, and I graduated from high school in 1996. So we had personal computers, but this is definitely before the mobile age. But they had a technology lab, an adaptive technology lab. And so it was a room where, you know, if you had a visual impairment, you could have books enlarged. It was early versions of, of speech to text and text to speech, right? And and back then the sort of processing power that was needed to run those programs, you would have to basically dedicate an entire machine, an entire desktop to it. Right? But they, they, and it was part of the program. Within the 1st year, they made us use every single piece of equipment.

But I just, yeah, I remember going through that orientation and just being convinced, like, there’s nothing I can’t learn now, right? Like, they’ve gotten, they’ve got everything here that’s going to unlock and help me to sort of very strategically go around my, my challenges.

Yeah. And then, you know, they also, they introduced us to like, I had, I had maybe in very limited ways started using audio books. But back then it was Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and they’re now Learning Ally. And so they, they introduced us to that. And I remember my first college level course, or one of my first ones was, no probably my first one was psychology and getting, you know, a box with all these tapes, you know, literal tapes, you know, for the, for the textbook for me to, for me to listen to.

But yeah, I mean, it, it just, yeah, it was a world of difference. It was a world of difference. And it was, it was again, so much of an emphasis on self advocacy, on self determination, and, yeah, and making sure that we altered the environment so that it played more to, to our strengths and not to our challenges.

Carolyn Kiel: And now reflecting on all of those sort of early versions of accommodations or alternate technologies, but so many of those things have evolved into things that everybody uses every day, like captioning and audio books. And, you know, it’s not just limited to people who have disabilities. It’s, it’s just something that really helps, can help almost anyone or just sort of enriches everyone’s experience. So it’s interesting to hear about those early iterations and that you got exposure to those.

LeDerick Horne: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it’s, it’s the power of universal design, right? inclusion when it’s done well, right? I mean, like, everybody needs help, right? Like, everybody needs help. And, and I would also say that the line that we draw around, you know, who, who’s neurodivergent and who isn’t is, is relatively arbitrary, right? You know, all human ability sort of expresses itself on, on spectrums. And so there are plenty of folks who may not have a label or may have never been diagnosed, but you’re going to need supports in some kind of way. And so you know, I, I, I think in a lot of our schools that are most successful in supporting students with, with disabilities is, you know, they, they’re embedding that stuff and making it available to all their students, you know?

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, one of the many things that you do professionally now is that you are a poet. Like how did you first discover that you were really passionate about being a poet and writing poetry?

LeDerick Horne: I give a lot of credit to my mother, to my mother. So my, in my family, my mother and father had a really extensive record collection and it was primarily my dad’s records and I actually inherited them. I, I got a bunch of crates sitting here right now and it’s my, you know, my dad’s records. But my mother was a fan of the group, The Last Poets, which was a real revolutionary poetry group in Harlem, New York. I believe their first album came out in 1965. I could be wrong about that, but I believe it was self titled 1965. And and I remember growing up as a kid and my mother playing me that album.

And I think that I have always been a person who has enjoyed language. And so, I remember walking around with a recorder as a little kid and just recording jingles and bits of dialogue from plays and movies and things along that lines and, you know, memorizing that stuff. And, but I, yeah, I think I was always sort of set up to, to really want to embrace poetry.

And then I, I remember, Like one of the things that happened was, the very first season of the Simpsons and I’ve, I’ve told this story before the, but the, the, the Simpsons, their Halloween special, there was a reenactment of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” where Bart was the raven, right? And I remember sitting at home, and it was James Earl Jones narrating. So it was that beautiful voice, right? And I remember sitting at home and watching that and being like, what is this? And then, you know, going back to my teacher, Miss Yates, and, and saying, Hey, I saw this thing on TV, you know, the Raven, what is it? She said, Oh, that was Poe. And she took me down to our library, you know, in our school and got me a collection of his poems and short stories. And, and even now I have a, I have a raven tattoo on my, on my, on my shoulder. So it was, it was some of those sort of early interactions.

And and then when I got to college, I had a counselor, great, great counselor that told me to stop worrying about the spelling and just write. And that also that, the experience of going through special ed, I’m in there with like primarily Black and brown boys, everybody wants to be an MC, a lot of my friends were rappers, you know, they were MCs. And I think that many of them could even see that I had the potential to be a writer, even before I could see it. But it was something about being in that college realizing, like, I didn’t have to worry about spelling, you know, we were going to deal with the spelling later on and just get the ideas out.

And so it was like, at that time that I really started writing and then, found my first open mics and I just connected with an amazing group of artists. It was, it was a really supportive community. And at one point I, I used to run three open mics throughout central New Jersey.

And yeah, and it just kind of has kept going, you know, from there, but yeah, I have, I have two collections of my poetry that are on all the music services. So if you just tap my name in iTunes or Spotify, I have two albums that folks can, can check out if they want to hear some of the poetry.

Carolyn Kiel: And what kind of topics do you write poetry about?

LeDerick Horne: Yeah, right? So like, I, I, you know, I, I hold space. I think, you know, if people want to write about like flowers and, you know, love and that kind of stuff, like that’s great. But again, you know, crediting my mother and that, that early exposure to The Last Poets, I think so much of their poetry was about using the art as a form of social justice work. And it really solidified to me that the, the artists, the poet that our work really should be connected to a larger political good, that it should have a connection to righting wrongs and transforming society so that it can be a more equitable, more supportive place for all of us. And I carried that kind of throughout my entire childhood. Even the music that, you know, like popular music that I enjoy listening to, if it doesn’t really connect to a struggle for a greater good, it doesn’t really, really connect with me. Right?

You know, like, and so, when I was in college, those early poems were reflection of the journey that I was on. It was me wrestling with the identity of being a, a Black man, of being a person who was neurodivergent and really figuring out, like, what that meant and what it meant within the larger world.

And then particularly once I, once I got out of college, I graduated with a degree actually in mathematics from New Jersey City University. But, like, right out of college, I started working with the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of Special Education, doing work around helping young people with a variety of disabilities build their self advocacy skills, their leadership skills. And then it was like, I, I’m going to use my gifts in service of that work, right?

And so it has been pretty consistent throughout my career that those issues around identity, around building a more inclusive society that I’ve, I’ve always used the poetry in, in service of that, of that work.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And you’re also a huge advocate for people with disabilities and it sounds like your poetry and the connection to other issues in society and social justice is really sort of like all, like it all comes together and it all intersects with each other. So yeah, tell me about the kind of advocacy that you do for people with disabilities.

LeDerick Horne: So I I think where it, it sort of shows up in a few different ways. One is the, I have a speaking and consultant business where we go and oftentimes I’m asked to take part in, like in service days, teacher trainings.

I just was on a plane yesterday. I was in the school district of South Milwaukee in Wisconsin for 2 days, and, you know, they’re gearing up for the school year. And so it was, our keynote to the entire staff at this school district 1 day. And then the 2nd day we did 3 and a half hours where I was giving them ideas, like around how to empower, improve the outcomes of their students with disabilities, as well as their, their students of color. So, you know, giving giving educators practical tools, right?

And and I think one of the things that I try to do, and I believe I do well is, you know, digging through research and journals and and taking information that is not always presented in a palatable way in a way that, like, many educators are going to be able to find really, really useful in a hands on way and presenting that information. So it’s, it’s that work.

And then also, I, I’ve, I’ve had the distinct pleasure throughout my career of serving on nonprofit boards. And so currently I’m the board chair for nonprofit organization called All In for Inclusive Education. And I would encourage your audience members to take a look at our website to search All In for Inclusive Education. But we provide professional development training support for educators for school administrators so that they can build, you know, inclusive schools. And yeah, so I’ve been, I’ve served in that, in that role for for several years now. And yeah, so that’s, that’s part of the work that I do.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And I think that’s great, just giving those sort of like tangible action items and ideas and, and involving educators in the solutions for making education more truly inclusive in, in like every potential way. I think that’s really, really powerful.

LeDerick Horne: Yeah, and if I could also add, I mean, and it’s also, I get the pleasure of also working directly with students, you know. So that’s where I kind of began. And and I’m fortunate it’s, it’s a lesser piece of what I, I get asked to do now, but like, I have a contract with the Delaware Department of Education, and we’re working in a middle school, two middle schools and a, and a high school in the state now, and working with a group of young people, family members and school staff doing that work in conjunction with, with James Madison University. And so, yeah, being able to, you know, work with a group of young folks all year long, and we’re having conversations about accepting your disability and talking to folks about your disability. Yeah. Yeah. So I can keep going, but yeah. Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome to be able to have those conversations. And yeah, it’s just so different from, you know, when I was in school in the eighties and nineties and, and as you were saying in your own experience where really disability was not something that was talked about in any kind of open way for most people, I would think. So it’s exciting to have those conversations now.

LeDerick Horne: Yeah, absolutely.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, and you referred to this a little bit when you were telling your own story and I expect it’s probably unfortunately still a lot of the case today is that, you know, there’s a lot of intersection between, you know, special education and disability and segregated education. And as you said, you were in classes in these general special ed classes with mostly Black and brown boys. And I’m just wondering how you speak about those issues where, like, clearly, you know, clearly, it’s not a coincidence that it’s that way. Because as we know, learning disability is spread out evenly across the whole population.

So I’m curious about what, what are some of the issues that you talk about with educators or other people around those intersections?

LeDerick Horne: Well, I weave it into all the work. And I, I think of it very much in line with the, the advocacy work is that I’m co host of the Black and Dyslexic Podcast. And so after everyone’s listened to all of your episodes, if they want to jump over and take a listen to the Black and Dyslexic Podcast. And that was a, an initiative that really began with my friend Winifred A. Winston. And Winifred is a dyslexia advocate in Baltimore. She does amazing work and she really saw the need to be able to have very pointed conversations to the Black community about neurodiversity, particularly the dyslexic ADHD experience.

And particularly having that focus on the podcast, and I, you know, and I’ve, I’ve done work really, really kind of, you know, 2020 was such a pivotal year, you know? And the lynching of George Floyd and, you know, and, and, you know, we were just hit with story after story and it really caused me and I, and I know it also caused a lot of individuals and organizations to really question what they were doing for Black folks within this disability space. And and I had always known about, and, and, you know, gone to conferences related to disproportionality, but I really had to just question, like, what was my work doing specifically for the Black community? And so the Black and Dyslexic Podcast was something that I really wanted to do that was in line with that.

And if you listen to the podcast, you’ll hear like, one of my favorite interviews with Dr. Julie Washington, who’s a literacy researcher, literacy expert. I remember one of the things that she said to us, and it’s, it’s something that, you know, it’s always sort of felt true to me, but she just did a great job of giving it words is how the, the label of, like, if you look kind of on paper, dyslexia actually sort of shows up as being a very white and wealthy diagnosis, right? There are relatively few Black and brown folks who get this sort of label, almost a label of privilege of being labeled with dyslexia and ADHD. You know, and this is some of the sort of awareness that I try to bring to educators. I work with diagnosticians, is that, you know, unfortunately due oftentimes to the biases that we have as individuals, the biases that are built into some of the tools that we use, you know, when it comes to diagnosis, or giving folks a label, unfortunately, Black and brown folks, we tend to get these labels that lead to us being placed in the most restrictive settings. Labels like “emotionally disturbed.” You know, of having behavioral disabilities, you know, even intellectual and developmental disabilities, which are in many cases, not appropriate. You know? And, so much of that is sort of informed, I think, by a district’s need, whether it’s, and oftentimes it’s not directly spoken, but it’s a sort of understanding that, like, I got to get this Black kid or this brown kid out of my classroom. Right, you know?

And I know for me, you know, like, well, folks will kind of ask, like, what do I think made a difference as far as me being able to get through school and go as far as I did? And I can point to, you know, like, I’m, I can point to interventions and things that I know from research that had an impact on me doing well. But I can also tell you that part of the reason why was because I was a quiet kid. Right? I internalized a lot of that shame, where my classmates would have fights or throw chairs or do things along those lines. And so, you know, like if you’re getting to a point where, you know, you’re acting out because you’re treated poorly, and that’s what human beings do when they’re not treated well. Right? You know, but if you’re in a space that is only looking at your behavior and only looking at the color of your skin, or maybe even, you know, if you come from an economic background, that’s challenging, right? Like there’s, it just becomes a new form of a line that we use to segregate folks.

And I think it’s, it’s always been in the history of education and both the civil rights and disability rights movement. There’s been this tension between the desegregation of schools along racial lines. And then the way that disability can be used to to re -segregate our schools. And so it’s something that, you know, that, that all, all of us need to be aware of, and we really need to look, look to.

I believe in inclusive ed. I think that we should all be in spaces together that they’re, I mean every kind of label you can think of, every set of challenge you can think of, there’s someone somewhere out here in the world who has figured out how to support a person with those challenges, with their peers. And where I’m from in, in New Jersey, we have an unfortunate long legacy of just building separate schools, of sending folks into into separate and segregated settings. And, and there’s no real strong data that that’s, that that’s going to help anyone. Where the data really firmly lies is around inclusive education. It’s us stretching and, and investing in the knowledge of our educators, building empathy within them, within the general, you know, the student population, understanding about what disability is, but then, you know, giving folks the tools that they need to be able to address all those, those, those differences, you know, which again are just a natural part of what it is to be a human being.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. I think a lot of people who really aren’t that familiar with what inclusive education looks like just assume that it means that everybody just gets like, put into the same classroom with, like, no supports. And then you get, you know, 1 teacher trying to teach 40 kids and nobody has their needs met or anything. So I think you talking about really those specific tools and resources, and I think a lot of times that’s what, you know, school systems are really struggling with is so many times they’re under resourced or they just don’t know what’s needed.

So I think it’s really powerful to be able to talk through like, this is what inclusive education really looks like, and this is why it’s so important.

LeDerick Horne: And, and oftentimes it’s not, you know, it doesn’t have to be, it’s not like super expensive. I mean, like, we have to think about things like scheduling and setting up a class schedule that allows for students to get supports in in the natural flow of their day. But it’s also setting up schedules that allow for, and this is a big one, it’s collaboration, right? Giving staff, faculty and staff an opportunity to collaborate with each other.

And then it’s, and then it’s attacking, you know, in a very assertive way, sort of cultural beliefs about how education should function, you know, getting rid of this idea that, you know, they’re “my kids and your kids,” right? Because like a lot of things, a lot of schools will just do like team teaching. And that’s a piece of the puzzle. But just because you’ve got like 2 educators in the room, you know, you see it all the time where it’s sort of this idea that like, okay. You know, we’re in the room together, but you’re gonna take your kids and I’m going to take my kids and we’re going to do kind of different stuff in this same room. And that’s just segregation by a different name.

You know, it’s, teachers working with each other and really learning how to collaborate, not only in that, in, in rooms. But, yeah. You know, inclusion is something that you measure at a school level, not a room level. You know, we need to transform the way in which the entire school works.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely.

LeDerick Horne: And again, I, I’m, I’m glad to be on this, I’m very proud to be on this board. And there, you know, we have technicians that are a lot better skilled at this stuff even than I am that I, that I am always happy to connect people with.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, it’s, it sounds like there’s a really a lot of great work going on in New Jersey with a lot of people really dedicated to to promoting inclusive education and making that happen across the whole state. It’s really great.

LeDerick Horne: But it’s needed, right? We’re actually one of the least inclusive states in America. Right? So, our organization, it began under the name of the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Ed, and we very recently have rebranded. And when we do work nationally, we’re All In for Inclusive Education.

But, yeah, we’ve been doing this work for 25 years. And then, you know, in the districts in which we work, we were able to really see measurable change. But no, it’s, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s needed, you know, it’s really needed.

Carolyn Kiel: So yeah, Lederick, thank you so much for talking about the work that you do and sharing your own story on my show.

How can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about the work that you do?

LeDerick Horne: Oh, go to the website. So it’s just lederick.com. So that’s L E D E R I C K dot com. LeDerick dot com. And so the website’s there. I’m also on Instagram and Facebook and X. And then I have a YouTube channel. So if you again, just put my put my name into YouTube, it’ll, it’ll come up and they’ll see a bunch of clips of me there.

I’ll also, to your audience, I very recently released a video course. So it’s six different sessions, a total of five hours of content designed for educators and family members so that they can really empower young folks with disabilities who they, who they support and love. And so if you go to the website, you’ll see a a link to that right up at the top.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay. Awesome. Yeah. I’ll put a link to your website in the show notes so that people can go there and find, you know, your work, your socials, your video course, and, and all the resources that you have there. Wow. Thanks.

LeDerick, it’s been great talking with you. As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything that they can help or support you with?

LeDerick Horne: Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t we, why don’t we try a poem? We’ll try a quick poem to close out. Okay. It’s a poem that I actually wrote, it was sort of inspired by my grandmother who is now 98 years old. I have both of my grandmothers, one’s 98 and the other is 93 years old. And, yeah, so, When my grandparents were courting, my grandfather would, wrote poetry. And so I lifted the title of this poem. The first line is called the, the first and rarest gift. And that’s from a poem my grandfather wrote for my grandmother. And so this poem is more generally a celebration of, of family. So.

“The first and rarest gift is love.

It is a light. A kiss. Commitment. Promises whispered. A touch gentle.

We are, because those before us dared to love, to step forward together, out from Pharaoh’s land into a future unknown. We are that future.

Within each of us, there is a promised land.

Our bones are made strong by our grandparents’ belief. Our skin still carries the warmth of a sun-filled sky.

It’s been a roundabout way. At times the road was hard, but somehow we found a path.

We always had enough.

And we still fly. We still fabulous.

We still shine like grandmother’s smile.

Still shine like candy paint on summer’s day.

Still shine like the gold of wedding rings. Still shine like the love that pulled us through.

A cloud by day, fire by night.

Even with a mask on you can see our light. Even at a distance we stay in touch.

Through post, we share our prosperity.

Through the phone, we answer a call for support.

Through screens, we meet newborn sweet babies.

The dream was tested but not deferred.

Our turntable might wobble, but our music kept playing. Through it all, our hearts kept dancing.

And we still fly. We still fabulous.

We, the twist, the braid, the wavy straight fade. We, the caged bird song, phenomenal, beloved, the ones who still speak of rivers.

We, the dark brown, light tone, cocoa-sweet descendants of tears and triumph.

We, the gamblers, penny stake players, two dollar birdies, hustle and the joy.

We, the workers, the hands made rough from plow to factory, from blackboard to emergency room, from office space to hair salon.

We, the draped up and dripped out, riding slow, deuces out. We, the voices seeking grace, praying for mercy, lifted in praise and song.

We are that song, that poetry, the lyric living, humanity’s rhythm, a people dipped in the blues.

We are family. Yes, yes, y’all. We are family.

In my grandmother’s house, there is love. The first and rarest gift. That love lives in each of us. It is our inheritance, our light. It is the connection that connects us all.”

All right.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow.

LeDerick Horne: We’ll do one more. One more quick. Very quick. Okay. So, If you go on my YouTube channel, one of the videos you’ll see is a documentary short five minutes long that I narrated back when we were celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. And so it documents just sort of the impact of the creation of special education and the, the push to create more inclusive schools. But at the end of it, I, I have this poem and it’s also on my second album. So this is An American Idea.

“It’s an American idea. Today’s child will be tomorrow’s citizen. Education shapes our expression of liberty and separate? Well, that has never been equal. We are the students of a new day.

Brave scholars who claim desk and classroom, book and school until the self evident truths expressed through our victories gave this nation’s first declaration renewed life.

Each mind is beautiful. Strength has many forms and we are all able.”

All right.

Carolyn Kiel: Powerful. Oh, these are lovely. Thank you so much for sharing your poetry with me and my listeners. Yeah. Wow. That’s so powerful. And I love how it just connects all of the things that we’ve been talking about and, and all of the parts of your advocacy.

So yeah, thank you so much. Yeah. LeDerick, it’s been great talking with you today. Thanks again.

LeDerick Horne: Thank you so much.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at Beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.