My Bio

My name is Jackson David. I was born in Leogane, Haiti. I’m the second child of the family and the only man. I was raised in a poor family where education was our only daily bread. My mom didn’t have a chance to go school because in early age she became the provider of a family of 9 kids, but she taught us that education was one of the ways to achieve the dreams and the surest one. Growing up, being the best one in my class was part of the steps towards my achieving my goal which was being a successful businessman.
As a kid, I’ve never dreamed of being a teacher. I’ve always thought that I was going to be a businessman because I grew in a business family. From elementary to High school, I developed a love for teaching by having group work with other students where I was always acting as teacher. The students used to call me "the Sub" because I would pray for the teacher not to come so I can teach the class. What caught my attention was whenever I was working with my classmates and I explained something that they did not understand before, I could see the smile in their face; the happiness of finally understand the subject. More often my classmates would tell me that I should be a teacher because they understand better when I explain them the lesson.
At age 17, I’ve directed my vision in business by having my own auto sale shop and that took my mind of teaching. Two years later, I was shot by a few individuals who wanted money from a family house that I was having fun with some friends. After that incident, I became disabled. Being disabled in Haiti is like being black in the 60s in the US. I couldn’t take care of the business anymore or keep going to school because the country itself was not accessible to people with disabilities. Therefore, I decided to come to the US since all my family was already living there.
When I first came to the US, I found that it is very different from Haiti in accessibility for people with disability, but not exactly what it should be or what I should expected from one of the greatest country. My first job was working with blind students as a teacher assistant at Lindsey Hopkins Working with the blinds taught me patience, love for teaching people that want to learn. From Lindsey, I got a Job at Center for Independent Living as a Disability Advocate. As an Advocate, I teach people with disability self-advocacy because most of them don’t know how to advocate for themselves. I love the joy and smile coming from my consumer when they finally learn to see themselves as a person, but not a disabled person. I enjoy when they come back and tell what are there new experiences when they know there rights, know how to build there self-esteem. After 2 years in the job, I decided to have a degree in Exceptional education. My biggest dream right now is going back to Haiti and opening a Center just like where I work at so I can teach the people with disability to live differently and independently.