.MTQ5MA.MTQ5MA

',) . t THE ATL.3-~-=1'. ! CONSTITIJTION, Friday, Jun~ 2_1, _1_269 Celestine Si°bley Sh.a ron Finds a Friend The near-misses in life are probably the m ost terrifying thing about it. If you hadn't been at a particular place at a p articular time what might have happened .to rm? If a certain person hadn't seen you and spoken to you at a sp ;re ::r,::vJ. l, \'\;here would you be now? I've had the happenstance a spects " i1c ii ·rlty ·mind a great deal the last few days because of a report which a young writer ·named Edward Downs Jr. made on the case of a· little Negro girl named Sharon. Sharon -is almost 13 years old and she lives " . . . Everybody took it for in that area west of the Atlanta stadium called Mechanicsville. Life isn't easy for most people granted that S h a ron was in ental-4t Mechanicsville and it doesn't seem possible ly retarded. Her efforts at talk that it could be r emotely co:mfor.table for were gibberish. She clearly did Sharon and her family. There are about 20 of not understand what was said to them - 16 children at last count - living in a three and a half room house. Her father, unedher ... Then Sharon found a ucated and untrained for any kind of work, . l" . f n.enc . had a poor-paying job until ,r ecently but it fizzled ouf and according to the last report he that at some point in the little girl's life before was on the street looking aga in. she reached her 13th birthday but you don't None of this looks pa rticularly jolly for a litkn ow how confusing and bewildf? ring life can tle girl ·but on top of tha t everybody took it for get for 20 people i n furee and a half room s. granted tha t Sharon was m entally r etarded. When the scramble fur food is fren zied and Her efforts at talk were gibberish. She clearly there's not enough of anything to go around didn't understand what was said to her. The you might stop paying attention to other trouregular escape from an overcrowded and imbles. poverished home, public school was closed · to her. Sharon has a: lot of-c atch~ng up to do and it Then Sharon found a friend. isn't going to be easy iior a time. But things Mrs. Bernice Miller, mother of three and a re looking up. She is getting special a.ttention former school traffic policewoman, visited at the Milton Avenue $.chool, where they conSharon's hom e as a pa rt of her job as an E co- centrate on work with metarded children. She ~ QlJpprl11Dity snvice aide. has speech lessons , am@11g othe rs, and can now "The little girl's face a ttracted her . She could m ake herself unde rstood! !better. see something was wrong and, wittLJ.he..se.em.-. i,!:!gi boundless optimism of EOA__wqrkers, s he " Sharon still lives alt the crowded Mecha n"1na e up her mind to- gersnaron some exper t ics ville address ," Mr. fill.o wns wrote in his rebelp. por t. " But now nearly :ve ry day she is at the Sum-Mee (Summerville..fflecha nicsville) Center The fi rst thing was a psychological test and the n she took Sha ron to the Butler Health Cenparticipa ting in dancing, d rawing and eleme nter for a physical examination a nd then, Io and ta ry wri ting. Now, too, the gentle black face behpld, they found the trouble. tha t was once ignored bm.eaks into a jolly smile . ShaFOn was not m entally re tarded but prac- when observed." __ ·t ically stone deaf. - - - - - -- - _Ma kes it -s-ca rywlferF y ou tnink tha t if EcoIt seems inconceivable that pa rents or nom ic Opportu nity didn'l ~exfs t, if Mrs. Miller friends wouldn't ha ve caught a handicap like hadn't been there . .. doa m't it? a ! �