Home video introduces Joshua to classmates Home video introduces Joshua to classmates (September 05, 2003)

by Jeb Bing

P leasanton Middle School teachers and students watched a home-produced video this week with the star of the show sitting in the front row of teacher Jan Berry's sixth-grade class. He's Joshua Burger, 12, who has been handicapped since birth by Atelosteogenesis Syndrome Type 3, a rare and debilitating form of dwarfism. Told before his birth that Joshua would likely be stillborn with less than a day to live, his parents Margarita and Frank Burger of Vintage Hills refused to terminate the pregnancy. Today, Joshua is "just one of the kids" in a household with three other boys: Andrew, 17, a senior at Amador; Tim, 15, a sophomore; and Matthew, 7, who is in the second grade at Vintage Hills Elementary, where Joshua also went for the first through the fifth grades.

The Burgers made the video to explain to the other kids and faculty at PMS just how personable, smart and capable Joshua is despite his physical limitations that confine him to a special electric wheelchair that he powers around his neighborhood and now middle school. Thanks to the special education program in the Pleasanton School District, Joshua is accompanied by Patricia Poor, the aide employed by the district who has watched over Joshua since the first grade and is now with him at PMS, where she helps him as needed. Which isn't often, since Joshua's specially designed vehicle enables him to lie on his stomach and maneuver the joystick controls with his fully functional hands.

Frank Burger, a San Jose optometrist, points out that strangers are often uncomfortable in dealing with the handicapped, a concern Joshua had in moving to middle school. Although many of his fifth-grade friends from Vintage Hills are with him in Mrs. Berry's classroom, the campus has more than 1,000 students, most of them unfamiliar with Joshua's condition. The family produced the video to show Joshua at home, and includes mock interviews that give him a chance to explain his condition and capabilities. He tells classmates that there's no need to stare or gawk, that except for his physical limitations he's just like them, and he asks them all to stop and talk.

Joshua was born in 1991 at Washington Hospital in Fremont, and was rushed to Stanford Children's where he was in intensive care for six weeks. Although doctors were generally pessimistic, the Burgers saw their newborn son as a joy to hold and raise, and you can see the results of their absolute devotion and support of Joshua in his quick-witted intelligence and humor. The Pleasanton Rotary Club, seeing him at one of its athletic competitions for disabled individuals paid for the special wheelchair that has given Joshua more independence and self-confidence. Besides continuing in sports, he's joined the PMS band as a percussionist and frequently greets parishioners at Valley Community Church, which he and his family attend.

As for the future, Joshua is looking forward to seventh- and eighth-grade dances next year, and then to driving when he gets a license and to a possible career as a teacher. With such a passion for a full and active life, Joshua Burger is a source of inspiration for all of us.