Don’t Be Rude, Let’s Include! is about love and inclusion through enlightening/reinforcing the fact that the disabled are people too. Everyone has a purpose. Everyone is welcome. Everyone deserves love. Change your mood, don’t be rude, let’s include! This story shows the creative methods one could use to enlighten/reinforce life morals that are as basic as saying please and thank you to your children. Treating people with dignity and respect is a relevant life skill that needs to be used every chance we get. The author explains, “While playing dolls and action figures with my children, I noticed they were shunning the dolls and action figures that were missing one of or some combination of arms, hands, legs, or feet. I immediately recognized this as a teaching moment.” Inclusion and love for all. Everyone has a purpose. Everyone is welcome. Everyone deserves love.

About the Author

Tony L. Thomas is part of a Facebook Community Non-Profit group called BABU (Bridgeton Area Brothers United). His hobbies include chess, jigsaw puzzles, biking, hiking, and traveling. His special interest focuses on domestic violence advocacy. Mr. Thomas has two girls and two boys, as well as six grandchildren—three boys and three girls. Mr. Thomas has worked with the autistic, mentally disabled, and physically challenged for more than twenty years. The joy he gets from helping them develop was only rivaled by his own children’s development.