I've been doing some reading of comments on an article, and am appalled at how some people have responded to a situation. Here's the article link:
When a Teacher Called My Autistic Daughter 'Inappropriate' in Front of Her Class
To sum it up, a first grade classroom had a pet hedgehog, that died. A six-year-old girl, autistic to some degree, responded to this news by telling the class she'd had her own pet hedgehog, for more than three years, and it had died. Being six, she didn't word this as well as an older child might have done, and there was apparently some confusion on the part of the teacher about the pet. The teacher seemingly decided the child was claiming to have had a dead pet hedgehog at her house for over three years. Yeah, yeah, I know; what an idiot the teacher must be, right? Who would assume that's what a small child meant? This teacher, though, instead of just asking for clarification, told the child that wasn't "appropriate", and called her a liar, in front of the entire class.
Needless to say, the girl was very upset when she arrived home that day. She'd tried to connect wth he classmates, not an easy thing for a lot of children, and not easy for an autistic child at all, and her teacher responded by singling her out for verbal abuse, belittling her in front of her classmates. That's bad enough. When the parents emailed the teacher to find out more, the teacher doubled down on her stupidity, pretending that the other children were "put off" by the girl's statement, and acting as though there wasn't a problem with how she addressed the situation.
Now, anyone who's ever dealt with small children knows they say some pretty bizarre things at times. Children that age, autistic or not, don't see the world in the same way that wwe do as adults, or even the same as older children. To address a child that way, so the poor girl was repeating things at home like, “You’re inappropriate, you’re inappropriate. Stop making things up, stop making things up.”, and was crying for quite some time, is inexcusable. For an autistic child, it's beyond inexcusable.
Sensible people know this, and are rightly upset by such a story. What bothers me is the reactions of less-than-sensible people, who posted comments ranging from poorly informed to mildly biased to outright hateful and bigoted. All over, remember, a child of six. Some of the commenters tried to sound reasonable, and stated the girl perhaps didn't belong there, and would be better off in a school that met her needs. Nice way of saying, "Gt the freak out of the school." Some were far more direct, and stated that these "special" children didn't belong with "normal" children. A few even claimed that there is, get this, "no such thing as autism", claiming it's an "excuse for poor parenting", and/or a way for people to "fraudulently" collect benefits from the government. A handful attempted t blame "low teacher pay" for the issue. comments were made implying that anyone with such a diagnosis was somehow dangerous, or otherwise unsuitable to be around "regular people". Some even claimed autistic people are basically just sociopaths, with no feelings for anyone else.
Sickening, truly. The absolute contempt of some people for a child, or anyone, who simply doesn't communicate as easily, is just vile to me. Problem students abound these days, for a wide variety of reasons, but people want to attack kids who can't help having an issue? One, I kid you not, actually claimed that children like this girl put to much strain on classrooms, because, gee, they are trying to educate students who don't speak English. I mean, geenot so high functioning, , how dare she be in a classroom, taking time away from the children of illegals too lazy to learn the language of the country they attach to as leeches?? Yeah, I'm angry about this. Angry for this poor little girl, and for all others treated in such a fashion by overpaid idiots, who can't educate, but sure can encourage bullying and indoctrination. I can't help but recall a story from a few years back, of a teacher who literally stuffed a boy into a bag, and left him in the hallway.
God help these people, if I ever encounter such a thing.
I know people who are autistic. One is fairly mild, just some basic communication/social issues, and you likely wouldn't even notice. Sweet kid, caring, tries really hard, lovable, and better behaved than some "normal" kids I know. Another is not so high functioning, to a degree that care will always be needed. Even with that, though, this is a loving person, who clearly cares deeply for family members, and is quite sensitive. To hear people talk about people like these as they do in those comments is infuriating.
It's as though people have no actual concept of what autism actually is, and can't be bothered to learn. The "information age", supposedly, and so much wilful ignorance!! A few people even claimed there was 'no need" for anyone to read about such cases, and/or implied the parents were somehow wrong for calling attention to the issue. Yeah, right, because sweeping problems under the rug makes them go away..... All those years of people not talking about pedophiles openly didn't make that problem grow at all... Oh, wait!
So, yeah, ranting a bit, but this is a very real issue, and needs to be addressed. Hope you share your own opinions, and stories you have heard, or issues you've encountered, or a loved one has. And, yes, you can disagree, but be prepared for some feedback if you do.
I just can't tolerate bullies. As far as I am concerned, that teacher is one.
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