It's Time Our Schools Taught Students With Disabilities With The Same Respect As They Teach Other Students
If they claim to care then why is all of this happening?
The end of the school year is supposed to be a fun way for kids to kick off summer and celebrate their achievements throughout the year. However, it is not always that way for children who have special needs.
One of the big stories in the news was when a child with autism was given the "most annoying male" award by a teacher and another case where a student with autism got the award, signed by all his teachers, for "most likely to get lost in a crowd." With all of the things that these kids have accomplished this year, that is what the teacher focused on. It shows that the teacher doesn't see their abilities, but rather, their disabilities.
There was even a story where students with special needs were forced to leave their prom earlier than they had planned to. The king and queen hadn't even been crowned yet, and they weren't supposed to leave earlier than the time that they had planned to leave.
There was also the case where a student who has autism was wandering off school grounds causing him to be suspended and missing out on activities at the end of the year. It is not uncommon for people with autism to be wanderers and instead of the school taking the blame for it they decided to blame the child, saying he could do the picnic if he apologized for wandering off. That's basically saying that he has to apologize for having autism.
Those were the stories of the ones that made national headlines but here's some perspective on some other people who have experienced their own kids being discluded.
Here is my own story about being discluded. In eighth grade, my class group had a pizza party where students who didn't have a single missed assignment got to celebrate. The first time we did it, none of the kids in special ed got invited — even though I never missed a single assignment and was in two regular ed classes. It turned out the special ed teacher didn't even know about it. I ended up saying something about it because it wasn't right. I ended up getting to go to the second one but it never should have happened in the first place.
We were also the last people to get our books and the last to return them as well.
I also remember Girl Scouts, where I wasn't even present for many of the events (my mom had to work during a lot of those times, being a registered nurse) but no one even bothered to make sure that I was included. One night, the leader also told everyone that a meeting was canceled except for me, and my mom and I ended up waiting there an hour. We did not come back to that group.
My experiences, as well as the experiences of others, show that schools need to do better when it comes to inclusion.
While they claim to care about all students, but what about students that may have to learn differently? They have every right be treated like other students, They deserve to have a good experience at school. Why shouldn't they get the same opportunities as other kids? Why are they any different they are still children?
I am calling on schools to be better when it comes to children with disabilities. Educators that intentionally leave children out should face some consequences.
Schools need to stop thinking that children with disabilities aren't valuable. Stop leaving them out because you seem them as a risk rather than a child. Stop ignoring their abilities. Stop belittling, just stop. They are human beings with feelings and they deserve to be treated as such.
