Nick Sabo, a South River High School senior, recently received his yearbook order forms, including ballots to vote for senior superlatives, such as most popular or class clown.
He hardly recognized any of the nominees' names.
"He didn't know anybody, and it broke my heart," said his mother, Mary Ann Sabo, who lives in Edgewater. "I guess students are afraid."
Sabo was born with cerebral palsy, a brain injury that put him in a wheelchair, slurs his speech, and made him an outcast among his peers. He plans to major in criminal justice at Edinboro University in Erie, Pa., this fall, but didn't want to graduate this spring without knowing his classmates - or having them know him.
He hosted an assembly at the Edgewater school, dubbed a disabilities awareness presentation, on Wednesday to tell them that he likes girls and drinking mudslides, hopes to someday vacation in the Caribbean and can't wait for the prom May 31.
Using a series of slides and text displayed on a screen, Sabo, 21, said he hoped to convince his peers that he is as intelligent and full of life as they are, even if a personal aide must write down his answers to class assignments.
"In reality, we are all disabled in one way or another," Sabo told his classmates. "Some show it more than others."
Sabo is among the 8,509 students in Anne Arundel County schools who were getting special-education services in the 2006-2007 school year, according to the most recent state data available. South River High has 157 special-education students.
On Wednesday, Sabo shared the stage with Ryan Waddell, a 1994 graduate of Old Mill High School, who has Down syndrome. Waddell, 32, has worked at a movie theater and a Wal-Mart and is currently working in the warehouse at Under Armor in Baltimore. He credits his family and teachers with believing in his abilities and encouraging him to see beyond his limits and reach his goal of getting a job. He has many friends and lives with his parents in Federal Hill in Baltimore, said his mother, Julia Waddell.
"People call me the `mayor of Federal Hill,' so you can see my disability has not stopped me," Waddell said. "All I wanted was a chance to show what I could do."
Waddell was a classmate of Marc Procaccini, an administrator at South River who helped Sabo put the assembly together.
