Sorry, I am crossposting this on all of my sites. I simply feel the issue is too important to ignore. Thanks!
You might remember earlier this year about the teacher from Port St. Lucie, FL who had her class vote on whether Alex Barton, a child with autism, could remain in her Kindergarten class. He was voted out, traumatized and refused to return to school. There was a great uproar and teacher Wendy Portillo was suspended without pay for a year with her tenure revoked.
The school board quietly reversed its decision this week..please read the rest here, and trust me, you need to read it.
Tina Cruz is a writer, wife and mother of three children, two who have high-functioning autism, one who has Asperger's tendencies. She advocates for autism awareness and education, as well as acceptance. She views autism as a growth process and the opportunity to connect parents for support as a privilege. She is the Special Needs Editor at typeamom LA Special Needs Kids Examiner at Examiner.com and her own site, Send Chocolate reflects her passion for her children and autism. Autism Sucks is her brainchild.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6c1221a9-fced-4876-976d-f8ed8bd3af6d)
This turns my stomach and I can't even begin to put into words how angry and disgusted this makes me. People suck.
ReplyDeleteThis is really sad. Can't tell by the article how this was implemented (the vote) was it the students who voted? Was it the parents? Either way this is very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteomg, this makes me SICK!!! i stumbled, twittered, facebooked, etc your examiner article. im going to link back to it on my blog tomorrow too AND write those Aholes in Florida a letter... thanks for drawing attention to this!!
ReplyDeleteJAY: It was the kids who voted, on behest of the teacher. I edited the article to reflect that, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteOh, that is so sad. I teach under-graduate teachers about inclusion and I have to fight against the attitude of at least 5-10% who believe that having a child with diverse needs in their classroom is "unfair" on them and the other students. Thankfully, once we have talked about rights, strategies and the benefits of diversity (and when most of their peers protest!) most of them at least stop openly believing this.
ReplyDeleteWe still have a way to go before we get the balance of resources, attitudes and support right.
Does bullying and discrimmination start with the school and community culture? Hmmmm
This is absolutely disgusting. I've made a career of advocating for my son's needs -- especially at school and things like this set us back to the dark ages when it comes to autism awareness.
ReplyDeleteI will also be sending this out to all my groups! So much for compassion and tolerance.