In "Tuesdays with Morrie," the main protagonist - Morrie - was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease; a disease which melts away the body, and controls voluntary movement due to the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. He says that he was not ashamed of dying. Morrie understood that he did not give himself this disease. He does not wail away his life. Instead he chooses to embrace his illness by teaching a former student a valuable life lesson. I also chose to write about shame because it is what I can relate to the most. Of course, I do not have a disease; it is more of a condition. This condition nobody had except me. When I was starting grade-school I communicated with teachers like normal. When I spoke my teachers knew there was something missing. When I went to school the next day my teacher took me into a special room, the speech lab. I do not remember that much. All I remember is that I was asked to say certain sentences that were written on a black board. I was doing this for about two weeks. My mother took me to the doctor and the same thing happened. They did a series of tests on me to find what my problem was. We went back and fourth to the doctors office for two to three months. I remember seeing the doctor speaking to my mother. Later that day when we were going home my mother had me saying words I had trouble pronouncing. Those were words with an "R" and an "S" sound, i.e;star, rabbit etc. A couple of months went by and it was back to the doctors. At the age of six, I was diagnosed with dysarthria I still have trouble saying it. Dysarthria is a speech impediment in which speech is slurred and slowed due to the weakness of the tongue. I would say certain words with an extra letter. For example, I would say ''cheer e leader'' instead of cheerleader. I did not know I had this condition. I would be outside playing handball with my friends like a ''normal'' six year old. I put quotation marks around normal because that is what I think society teaches children. To set aside those who are different. People categorize others who have disabilities as ''special''. Just because people see that one person is different than they are gives them the right to label them? They say ''oh they are not as smart as me,'' so they set them aside. I was in special education classes up until junior high. This bothered me because I knew that I was like everybody else. I just had a s