Meet Ella: A Girl Who's Not Letting Anything Get In Her Way

        There are some pretty amazing kids at Chisholm Trail, but Ella Slaughter really stands out. Ella is a 6th grader, who was born with only 20% vision in one eye. The other eye is completely blind.  While Ella's days may present different challenges than many of her peers, she is like any other 6th grade girl, only with a few more obstacles to overcome.
Ella is like any other 11 year old girl.  She has good days, bad days, loves, passions, and even an interest in boys. Along with being a normal middle school girl, though, Ella also has a few more obstacles in her day. For example, in addition to learning to read and write like all her peers, she also has to learn Braille to be able to overcome the challenges that come with her her blindness. "[School] is kind of hard because I have to learn Braille, so it’s kind of like I’m learning two languages at once." Braille is the written language for blind people, where the characters are a series of raised dots that people, like Ella, can feel with their fingertips. Ella has her Language Arts Springboard book in Braille, which is so big it is split into nine different books. Because of her vision issues, Ella is also worried about future roadblocks ahead. "Driving is something I’ve been thinking about," she told us, "because I think I won't be able to drive or anything like that."
Even through all of the struggles, Ella remains positive. "I think people like me because I'm never really sad. I'm always really happy. When other people are sad, I like to cheer them up,"  she explained. Ella, despite her differences, has always had a bubbly, joyful personality. She knows what it feels like to be picked on, so she doesn't let anyone else go through the same thing. "People have always teased me about my sight. It's kind of hard sometimes, but I've gotten used to it." In a sea of negatives, she always finds positives, and that's what makes her so special.
Ella is unique because she doesn't cower away from her blindness. Most people would use the disability as an excuse to get out of work, but Ella embraces the fact that she's different and she wants others to do the same. "People shouldn't worry about their differences," she told us, "they should just be themselves."