Student Reporter News: Katie Bannister

On Monday, December 7^th, students from grades K-8 visited with a very special speaker, Katie Bannister, a disabled quadriplegic with an amazing zest for life.  She shared stories of her life before the accident and how she navigates through her daily life now.  You can find her inspirational story on her website access4all.com.  Here are some of the 7^th graders’ reflections.

Katie taught me:
-  Talking to people with disabilities makes them feel more normal

-  That she likes herself the way she is now

-  She can feel left out at times

-  The best way to find your spouse is to be best friends first

-  She likes to write poems and sing

-  Instead of the career in theater she wished for when she was younger, she uses her voice to make

   the world better for people with disabilities

-  She was Ms. Wheelchair Missouri!

-  When she gets angry, she writes her feelings into poems and in her journal

-  Very positive even though she has disabilities.  Super spunky and fun.

-  She doesn’t want to be treated like an alien—people with disabilities are still human.

... It was interesting to see how someone paralyzed from the chest down could be the most optimistic person I'll ever know...It was an amazing experience.--7^th grader Alex R.

Katie...is disabled because of a car crash that gave her a spinal cord injury.  She told us about how the accident changed her life for the better by separating her fake friends from her real ones...--7^th grader Lisa W.

...Not only did she talk about the car accident that caused her disability, but how she overcame her fears about what she could still do or couldn’t do any longer...She showed us some of her tools that she strapped to her arms to apply lipstick, write, and pick up things...Although she has many attendants, she told us that her husband Steve is the one that she can count on the most...-- 8th grader Kaitlyn W