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Micah Fialka-Feldman addresses attendees at a diversity conference in Ferndale. He was the first student with a cognitive impairment fully included in general classes in the Berkley district.Student with disabilities blazes trail
Huntington Woods man is charter member of OU program for those with cognitive impairments.
"I just want people to see I'm a good leader," says Micah Fialka-Feldman.
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HUNTINGTON WOODS -- Micah Fialka-Feldman cannot read or write, but ask him about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict or his conversations with his state representative, and he speaks with the authority of first-hand experience.
Fialka-Feldman, 20, with the help of his sister, Emma, and the rest of his family, has become a pioneer in Metro Detroit special education. From a young age, Micah Fialka-Feldman has been the first student with a cognitive impairment fully included in normal classes in the Berkley School District.
Now, he's one of the charter students in Oakland University's Transition Program for students with cognitive impairments. The program is operated by Rochester Community Schools. He takes classes in political science, volunteers at the children's center and helps with the campus Hillel Jewish group. He also addresses diversity conferences and panels like one sponsored last week by the National Conference for Community and Justice in Ferndale.
"I just want people to see I'm a good leader who wanted to change people's minds and the system," Micah Fialka-Feldman said. "And that I'm a cool kid."
Jean-Anne Miller, the university's director for the center of student activities, said Fialka-Feldman reaches out to help others understand him. "Micah's a pretty confident young person, he's not shy," she said.
His family has lent plenty of support as well -- much of it to help navigate their own relationship with Micah Fialka-Feldman, who despite his impediments has an acute sense of self-worth.
"When I was in first grade, I told my parents I wanted to walk through the same door as the other kids," he said.
That was the start of an effort by his family to make his experience a model for others.
His sister, Emma, 16, is a leader of two Metro Detroit Sibshops, a safe space for brothers and sisters of people with mental disabilities, which includes more than 200 small groups in eight nations. She's recently been published in "The Sibling Slam Book," edited by Sibshops founder Don Meyer, and has circulated a letter to Berkley teachers this fall deploring use of the word "retard."
"I've learned the power of talking and the power of listening," Emma Fialka-Feldman said of her efforts. "I would still be a tolerant and respectful person, but without my brother, I wouldn't look at a person in special education the same way. I know there's a story behind them."
Simply, she's learned to understand her brother for who he is.
"I've grown to know him as my big brother," she said. "Some days, I love Micah and stand around and laugh with him, and some days, I don't like him so much and wonder what he's doing in my face."
Micah Fialka-Feldman's story, like many young adults', has been one of setting out goals and accomplishing them.
He earned the respect of his high school peers by working hard and running hard, too, earning a varsity letter in cross country his senior year at Berkley High in 2003. Then, he began using the SMART bus system by himself to get to Oakland University's Rochester Hills campus from Huntington Woods after high school, and now he's thinking about staying on-campus full time.
Before each academic year, he sits down with the teacher or professor to outline goals, aware that he cannot master material at the same speed as his peers. Also, because he has a limited vocabulary, he uses the Screen Read program to read him text and Dragon Speak, which writes what he speaks. He is an expert PowerPoint slide show user and supplements his words with pictures during presentations.
Micah Fialka-Feldman left Berkley High in 2003 with a certificate of attendance; his diploma is being held until he completes more classes at Oakland University through the Rochester schools program.
He is chairman of the national Kids as Self-Advocates task force and a member of its board.
The group often holds video conferences and meets twice a year to plan grassroots outreach for children and families living with disabilities. He's also campaigned for state Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale, and serves as a camp counselor at Camp Tamarack in northern Michigan, where he helps with drama drills.
Micah Fialka-Feldman's father, Rich Feldman, a United Auto Workers employee, said his success has been a two-way proposition.
"It wasn't just Micah overcoming his limitations and learning society would be secure for him, but the community coming to change and including him," he said.
"It takes a lot of work," said Micah's mother, social worker Janice Fialka, about providing inclusive education. "You have to have great expectations and believe education is a lifelong process."
You can reach Douglass Dowty at (248) 647-8605 or ddowty@detnews.com.
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