I've been thinking about an incident which happened to me some time during the beginning of the school year.
At the beginning of this semester, I was placed at a locker by the attendance office. Several other people were placed there, too, including a boy who I soon discovered myself was a "special needs" student who looked like he was Native or a weird combination of Portugese and something else. Before I knew he had an illness, I thought he was strange... he kept snapping at everything, slammed lockers all the time... even followed me and called me names like "babe" and "honey", which made me want to beat the living shit out of him. I was starting to feel a lack of safety when I was around him. I considered moving to a different locker, which was around the time that I found out he had a mental condition, and thus, he wasn't really accountable for his behaviour.
I still moved to a new locker. I lied to the school and gave them a bullshit reason which I cannot recall right now, but it solved my problem. I never see the guy following me anymore, and when I see him, I ignore him. It may make me seem like a jackass, but what if someone kept following you and called you names that provided for really awkward situations? And, this may make me seem like an even bigger jackass, but what if he tried to hit me? I think I'd have the right to hit him back in defense. But anyway, this thought is leading to our subject of the day:
There have been schools set up exclusively for special needs students in the past few years. Not only has this prevented awkward interaction between mentally retarded and healthy teenagers, but it has allowed for such special needs students to get an education more specific to them. Kind of like what women's colleges like Brescia (Canadian university-level college in London, Ontario) do for women. So, my question is... how would you feel about a system that permanently separates special needs students from regular highschools and regular elementary schools?
And by the way, don't say I don't understand the consequences of using the word "retarded." It's a word that's medically valid. If you think I'm insensitive for it, I'll tell you in advance that my brother is mentally retarded with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism.
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12 years ago
4 comments:
I think the seperation is good. Because kids with retardation are obviously not as mentally developed as your average high school student. To send a child with a disability like that to a normal school is just denial. I know that may sound insensitive but its probably for the best. They could act disruptive, as the boy you encountered did. A school tailored to their needs would be more beneficial then smacking them in with a bunch of kids who they are not likely to interact with and in classes that they dont necessarily understand.
I think that all children should have the right to choose the school of their preference and in your situation your school should have had better care for the pupil who was bothering you. Disabled people are part of society so unless the person is actually dangerous I dont see a problem.
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