Do you ever find yourself staring at people that are different? You know...special needs people. Do you ever watch them to see how they move, talk, or interact with others? What do you notice?

Do you notice an unsteady gait? Slow eye hand coordination? Slurred or broken speech? Maybe they are more severe; they drool, have erratic tongue movements, or stiff and sporadic limb movements.

Perhaps they don't have speech. Perhaps they are not in control of their head and both hands just lay effortlessly in their laps and their head just leans to the side a bit.

Why do you think you look? Why do you think you try not to look. Were you told not to stare as a child? 

OF COURSE YOU WERE.

In that one lesson, you were given a morbid curiosity to do just the opposite. What were you not supposed to see? Why did our parents tell us that? Politeness? And with good intent.

Unfortunately, don't stare became don't look. So, we turned away. That small child in leg braces excited to see the new bikes at Kmart was now ignored by everyone who approached. But the little girl in the pink dress who gushed at the same bike was smiled at and adored. Why?

Because don't' stare meant pretend you don't see. Don't say anything. Turn away. 

Well, we're changing that today.

Never turn away.

Just say hi. Make eye contact. Smile.

Look at the smiles and inclusion on the faces in these pictures. Each is including the other in their happiness.

My brother, Joe is in his 50's. At 13, he told me, "I'm not retarded anymore." I said, "You're not? What are you then?"

And he replied, "Just regular."

That's Joe in the pictures; with his great nephew, 3 year-old, Auggie; with me and my best friend, Nancy, heading out on one of our many road trips; us again, heading to the airport in Des Moines; and us in a hot air balloon ride, only one of our many adventures. And lastly, down below...us heading to Vegas.

To Auggie, Joe is just is Uncle Joe. And he is just regular. To me he is just Joe, the best brother in the whole world and to Nancy, he is just Joe, her very good friend. But above all else, he's just regular.

Make everyone you meet just regular. Special needs or not. Treat them all the same.

After all, we are all just regular.