Throughout my life, I have dealt with people tormenting me and then getting away with it because of their disability. Why in the world is this so rampant? I, for one, don't think one's disability, no matter what it is, should protect them from punishment for wrongdoing of any kind. I include myself in this, since as you, my readers, know, I have autism. If I do something wrong, I expect my disability to have ZERO effect on the severity of the punishment, or on whether I am punished at all. So any parents of special-needs children out there reading this, take note: Having a disability DOES NOT make one any less guilty of the bad behavior; a disability IS NOT a get-out-of-jail-free card (after all, this is real life, not the Monopoly board game); having a disability DOES NOT exempt one from one of the basic principles of life: knowing right from wrong; having a disability SHOULD NOT lessen the severity of punishment or protect one from it. Bad behavior is bad behavior, with or without a disability.
Now, I know that some behavior can be attributed to a disability (such as cursing and other vulgarities from someone with Tourette's); but there is a fine line between attributing the behavior to the disability and using the disability as an excuse for not holding the misbehaving person accountable. All too often, that line is crossed.
So please, readers, if you have a special-needs child or children, let them know that if they do something wrong, their disability DOES NOT and WILL NOT change the fact that it's wrong. Examples include: hitting/kicking/pulling the hair of other children; snatching food, toys, or anything else from others; saying mean or disrespectful things to or about others (such as name-calling). An excuse of any kind is not a magic wand that can turn a wrong into a right. Life doesn't work that way.
So stop pretending that your child(ren) did nothing wrong because of a disability. It is not in their best interests; it is not in yours either. Punish them as severely as you would if they were typical.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Typical Ignorance about Atypical People
Throughout my life, I have dealt with people who are ignorant with regard to those of us who are on the spectrum. They make assumptions instead of even attempting to find out the facts. I will list a couple of examples.
When I was younger, I loved setting clocks in electronics stores. One store I will never go to again is RadioShack (not all stores, mind you, just one). That one is their location at Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, CA. They didn't ban me, I decided on my own not to go back there. Here's why. They (falsely) blamed me for "Everything going off" (their words, not mine) a previous time I went in the store. This accusation was 100% baseless. Not even a microscopic amount of truth. Man, these people made me so mad that as I walked out of the store I said a few choice words to them.
In my teenage years, at the gym my dad goes to, I saw that some flat-screen TVs on the floor with all the cross trainers, exercise bikes and treadmills had fuzzy or snowy picture quality. I was tightening the coaxial cables going from the wall to the sets, in an attempt to fix that. Oftentimes, it worked. The rest of the time, it had no effect. After I left the locker room, getting ready to go home, the man at the front desk said angrily, "I got a complaint that you were playing with the TVs!" I responded, "I wasn't playing with them, I was fixing them." He rejected my explanation. So I just shut him up by saying, "I won't do it again." He said, "All right." I compare this to being in a court of law and pleading no contest, in that I accepted the complaint, but did not explicitly admit guilt.
The two examples above are about how I wasn't harming anyone, just ignorant people digging for something that wasn't there. The second example, especially, shows how good intentions can easily be misinterpreted and blown completely out of proportion. If you or someone you know, on the spectrum or not, has had an experience like this, comment below!
When I was younger, I loved setting clocks in electronics stores. One store I will never go to again is RadioShack (not all stores, mind you, just one). That one is their location at Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, CA. They didn't ban me, I decided on my own not to go back there. Here's why. They (falsely) blamed me for "Everything going off" (their words, not mine) a previous time I went in the store. This accusation was 100% baseless. Not even a microscopic amount of truth. Man, these people made me so mad that as I walked out of the store I said a few choice words to them.
In my teenage years, at the gym my dad goes to, I saw that some flat-screen TVs on the floor with all the cross trainers, exercise bikes and treadmills had fuzzy or snowy picture quality. I was tightening the coaxial cables going from the wall to the sets, in an attempt to fix that. Oftentimes, it worked. The rest of the time, it had no effect. After I left the locker room, getting ready to go home, the man at the front desk said angrily, "I got a complaint that you were playing with the TVs!" I responded, "I wasn't playing with them, I was fixing them." He rejected my explanation. So I just shut him up by saying, "I won't do it again." He said, "All right." I compare this to being in a court of law and pleading no contest, in that I accepted the complaint, but did not explicitly admit guilt.
The two examples above are about how I wasn't harming anyone, just ignorant people digging for something that wasn't there. The second example, especially, shows how good intentions can easily be misinterpreted and blown completely out of proportion. If you or someone you know, on the spectrum or not, has had an experience like this, comment below!
Welcome
Welcome to my blog. To start off, I'll tell you a little about myself. I was born August 11, 1986, at 2:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time. When I was three and a half, I was diagnosed with autism. Among my interests: clocks, electronics, TV, and radio.
Things were hard for me as a child of the 1990s. Teachers didn't understand how to work with children like me. Because of this, I bounced from school to school throughout my elementary years.
Middle school wasn't much better. I had to deal with wannabe gangsters and I felt unsafe. By the time high school rolled around my parents and I (finally!) found the right school for me. I graduated in June of 2004.
In Fall of 2004 I started at a community college, I was mainstreamed (that is, I took classes with students without disabilities). About two and a half years later, I started at a groundbreaking two-year program through UCLA Extension known as the Pathway Program, a program that teaches independent living skills to college-aged young adults with disabilities; not just on the autism spectrum, but also Down's Syndrome, ADD, and ADHD, among others. I started in September of 2007 and graduated in June of 2009. Now I live on my own with roommates I was in the above-mentioned program with.
OK, enough about me. Comment below about your experience as a child with autism or with a child or children on the spectrum, and how things are for you today. And feel free to share youir interests as well.
Things were hard for me as a child of the 1990s. Teachers didn't understand how to work with children like me. Because of this, I bounced from school to school throughout my elementary years.
Middle school wasn't much better. I had to deal with wannabe gangsters and I felt unsafe. By the time high school rolled around my parents and I (finally!) found the right school for me. I graduated in June of 2004.
In Fall of 2004 I started at a community college, I was mainstreamed (that is, I took classes with students without disabilities). About two and a half years later, I started at a groundbreaking two-year program through UCLA Extension known as the Pathway Program, a program that teaches independent living skills to college-aged young adults with disabilities; not just on the autism spectrum, but also Down's Syndrome, ADD, and ADHD, among others. I started in September of 2007 and graduated in June of 2009. Now I live on my own with roommates I was in the above-mentioned program with.
OK, enough about me. Comment below about your experience as a child with autism or with a child or children on the spectrum, and how things are for you today. And feel free to share youir interests as well.
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