What does Joshua have in common with an elephant?

The Elephant in the Room

“An elephant in the room" is a situation where something important is happening -- it's on everyone's mind and impossible to ignore -- like an elephant in the room. But nobody talks about the "elephant" because nobody knows what to do about it.

Joshua and the Elephant

To his classmates, Joshua is much like “an elephant in the room.” Every kid knows there is something very different about “Josh.” The reaction to Joshua’s behavior varies among classmates: a few are friendly and sympathetic; a few are indifferent; and many are outright hostile. But one fact rises above all else – all of Joshua’s classmates know he’s "different.” And they don’t know how to react to him and neither does his teacher.

Being treated like an "elephant in the room” is the most painful part of a Joshua's life with his neurological disorder. This is one of the major roadblocks for Joshua to live as normal a life as possible.

If families, classmates, and teachers only "understood" – if they only knew what was really going on in Josh’s mind; if they only knew that on the inside, Josh was just like any other kid – then the world of Joshua would change. His chances of growing up to become a happy, healthy, well adjusted human being and citizen would greatly increase.

The Joshua Center

And that’s a role of the Joshua Center – to educate, inform and provide tools to families and schools so they can understand and cope – so they can make things as normal as possible for Joshua and those like him - so there will be no more "elephants in the room."

To care for anyone else enough to make their problems one's own,
is ever the beginning of one's real ethical development. Felix Adler