Teaching public speaking is often part of a junior high or senior high curriculum as well as a part of the college curriculum of many four-year public institutions whereby a student is expected to demonstrate performance skills to an audience. For the exceptional student with disabilities, this presents more than the usual anxieties that beset most students in typical oral communication classes. When those disabilities encompass both severe physical limitations and vocal mechanism problems, this presents an additional set of special challenges. The classroom situation described here took place in a required communication class where Oral Communication is a requirement for graduation. Because of this student's severe limitations with both restricted physical movements as well as vocal limitations, this student was given the opportunity to "opt out". He chose not to opt out; he did not want to be "different" from his peers. This is a true story of an exceptional student who arose to meet the challenge of wanting to be treated "just like everybody else". I believe it would be of benefit to any instructor, as well as any college student pursuing their teaching credentials, to read this story and regard the insights it contains.