David Brodbeck,
Professor
My name is Dave Brodbeck and I am a person with albinism. Oh yeah, I am also a father, a husband, a university professor and a pretty good cook. Anyway, as I am 49 years old things were different when I was young compared to now.
After my first week of school the principal asked my mother if she thought I might be better off in a 'special school'. My mother's one word answer, 'no' pretty much ended that conversation.
Meet David Broddeck
Early life
"When I got to university everything changed. It was like everyone had grown up."
I had some great teachers throughout elementary school and high school and I thank them. I also had some really horrible ones but I don't want to dwell on them. In high school I had some trouble, like I guess most people do, and I got bullied rather mercilessly. Generally, throughout my schooling, the schools did absolutely the bare minimum, or less, in response to bullying incidents.
When I got to university everything changed. It was like everyone had grown up. I had found my niche I guess. I ended up going to graduate school, meeting an amazing woman and eventually getting a job as a professor of psychology. Today I have a family, a job and a few great friends.
I look back now on the people who made fun of me and feel sort of sad for them. I wonder, had they known how much they were hurting me would they have done it anyway? The really cool thing is that most of the people who were nasty to me in high school later apologized. So, perhaps people can change.
Thankful
I could never have made it this far without my amazing parents and my brother and sister and without my amazing wife and kids.
