As high schoolers, we’ve all anticipated driving. It satisfies our teenage drive for freedom. Of course, parents and teachers are wary of our driving skills; they know the worrisome statistics about drunk driving, distracted driving, and texting and driving.  As a society, we need to teach teenagers about responsible car use.  However, we must be careful not to offend those who are handicapped while we do so.

It is mandatory for all tenth graders in the state of Virginia to take the driver’s education course during health/physical education. Being a student in this class has opened my eyes to many aspects of driving, including the needed attention, multitasking, and vision skills. I’ve always been used to the notion of getting in a vehicle and turning a blind eye to the responsibility of driving. This course has taught me to be vary aware of my surroundings and to apply what I learn about my surroundings to my decision making. It has also taught me about the parts of a car and how it functions. Most importantly, it has taught me the risk of using a vehicle irresponsibly.

A crucial portion of this course is dedicated to the safe driving and statistics about teenage driving. Ultimately, a vehicle is a dangerous weapon when not used correctly because of the driver’s inability to focus and control the vehicle. Everything from drunk driving to texting while driving has been discussed in class.  Driver’s education teachers usually show the outcomes of these horrible decisions. From hearing the stories of survivors to police reports about graphic car crash scenes, these modes of teaching students the repercussions of bad driving habits is enough to get anybody’s attention.

The last couple of weeks, the morning announcements team has used a phrase that has caught the attention of many students.  I’ll try to paraphrase: “Want a new set of wheels?  Then don’t wear your seatbelt, get in a car crash, fly out the windshield, then you can be in a wheelchair.”  I take major offence to this, partly because it is very negative towards the disabled persons community.  It is, in other words, ableist.

Ableism is discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. Imagine being in a wheel chair yourself and hearing this phrase to start your day. Although it gets its point across, this phrase is inappropriate because it takes a very offensive take on the issue and is harmful to the growth the disabled community has made in ableism awareness.

While bringing awareness to a sad statistic, this phrase does a great disservice. For the record, wearing a seat belt is not the only cause of wheel chair reliance. This phrase ignores those who use a wheel chair because they’ve suffered from genetic diseases, wartime injuries, gun violence, and a host of many other factors that can be unknown to the eye.

I’m certain that the morning announcements team did not intentionally mean to offend the disabled community, but they cannot continue the use of this phrase. My advice for the morning announcements team is to go back to the drawing board and air an apology for those who were offended by the phrases, both disabled and abled.