Celebrity Parents Interview

A new interview with Clay was conducted by CelebrityParents.com.

Clay Aiken
Star Power Shines a Light on Special Needs Kids
By Leanza Cornett

Have you watched any television lately? Heard the radio? Seen a magazine? Well, in case you haven't, I'll tell you that there is one young man who is burning white-hot these days. He's an unlikely hero, a surprising icon in this age of flash and sex appeal. His voice is smooth and powerful and his persona aloof and at times even awkward. He is Clay Aiken and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him, which is an amazing feat since time is what Clay has the least to spare these days.

When I spoke to Clay, he was in the middle of his nationwide concert tour, The Joyful Noise Tour, and also promoting his book, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life (Random House, 2004), as well as his Christmas CD, Merry Christmas With Love. He's one busy guy, but he's also a guy with passion -- for his music, and for children, with and without disabilities.

His charity, the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, was formed by Diane Bubel, whose son was diagnosed with autism, and Clay, who has hands-on experience and education in special needs children. Their mission is to bridge the gap between young people with developmental disabilities and typically-developing children. The foundation helps to provide education and financial assistance, and works toward full inclusion for children with special needs. It is also dedicated to breaking stereotypes and barriers so that those with disabilities are recognized as fully functioning individuals. If you haven't heard of inclusion, or what is sometimes called collaborative education, Clay Aiken wants to make sure you are hearing of it now, and will help spread his message.

LC: What drew you to work with special needs children?

CA: When I was working at the YMCA, I met several children who needed special attention and the Y was not equipped to handle them. Kids were being turned away because there weren't enough volunteers to handle the special cases. Most of the kids being turned away were being turned away because there weren't enough volunteers to handle them, and no one who was specializing in special needs.

I started working at the Raleigh House, part time and there were three children who had severe autism. These are the children I fell in love with, and I stayed one year longer than I had intended.

LC: Did you meet resistance?

CA: Yes! The folks at the Y really didn't want to include kids with special needs. In fact, they passed out a form to parents, which allowed the Y to kick kids out if they couldn't be "handled" by the staff. Basically, it was a form telling parents that if there was a child who had special needs, then the Y reserved the right to boot that child out of a class.

LC: How did that make you feel?

CA: Sad -- and mad. I decided I would take on the cases that no one else wanted. There was one girl, Renee, who had a severe mental disability. No one wanted to work with her. She was a handful, to say the least. But I wanted to keep her in the mainstream of kids, and it was beneficial to her and to us, as well.

LC: Who taught you about "mainstreaming"or "inclusion”?

CA: I met and worked with an amazing woman named Tina Trent. She took over the class I'd been teaching and she really believed in including kids with disabilities into a typical classroom. I watched her teach and saw the results. Kids with disabilities model kids without disabilities. They learn social behaviors from other kids -- they learn what is and is not socially acceptable. Tina Trent taught me so much about inclusion.

LC: How are you using your fame to bring awareness to inclusion?

CA: Well I think the first thing that happened is while I was on American Idol, I mentioned I worked at the Y and they got a lot of attention because of it. Donations started coming in and I thought, 'Wow, I could really use this to generate the right kind of attention.' I'd also really love to get rid of the stigmas attached to disabilities. One big way to do that is to teach people to use the right terminology, and stop using words like 'retarded' when you're talking about something silly or stupid. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. People who know me know that's one thing I will not tolerate.

LC: What are some misconceptions about inclusion?

CA: Teachers who don't know better think that they have to slow down the teaching to accommodate the slowest learner. I totally disagree with that. Teachers and parents need to understand that they can speed up the teaching for the fastest learner and modify for each child. I saw first hand how inclusion helps everyone in the classroom. The special needs child learns social skills from the typical kids and the typical kids learn tolerance and respect from the ones in the classroom with disabilities.

LC: What advice would you give to parents who've just found out their child has a disability?

CA: I don't have any clue what I would tell parents. I'm not a parent myself and I don't pretend to know what it's like to be one, or to try and raise a child with or without disabilities. I would feel more comfortable with sharing ideas with principals, or educators. And in that case I would encourage them to think less of the disabilities a child may have and remember that a disability doesn't define the child. That's why inclusion is so important, so that a child feels like part of a social group, no matter what their special needs may be. I would also tell teachers to become equipped to handle all sorts of children, and to help parents understand as well. That's the next group to be conquered, I think, in terms of the philosophy of inclusion. Teachers are starting to get it, and schools are beginning to as well. Now we need to make sure that parents of children with or without disabilities understand what the benefits of inclusion are. They should know that their typical child's education or socialization is not being compromised if he or she is in a classroom with a child with disabilities.