Believe it or not, I used to be a nice person. I smiled a lot, chatted up random strangers in line in the grocery store, held the door for people, all that stuff. And really, I still do all those things, but I don’t do it with the same bright-eyed optimism I used to. Now I do it because the world is a really dark place, one where I have to fight for my autistic daughter on a daily basis–and her NT sister, if I’m being honest–and I refuse to let shit like THIS get me down:
Teacher Grabs Mic from Autistic Child During School Play
I would love to say that this stuff doesn’t happen anymore, that it’s an isolated incident now that so much progress and awareness have been raised. But I’d be lying. This is par for the course, and it’s happening in school systems across the country. Even worse, it happened with the parents standing right in the room.
The school system has rallied around her, of course, protecting their own and saying it was all a big misunderstanding. Yeah. Have any of you EVER worked in a room with sound equipment? Has anyone EVER grabbed the microphone and left with it, leaving behind the mic stand, the amplifiers, the power still turned on? Was that her personal microphone and she wanted to make sure nothing happened to it?
No. She didn’t leave the room, she returned to the spot where she’d been before the play was over. And presumably since this is a play with first and second grade kids, they rehearsed before the actual day of the event, meaning she knew that three kids standing in line meant there were to be three speakers. Except she decided to make there only be two speakers and one sobbing boy who didn’t understand why his moment was ripped away.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who’ve jumped up to armchair quarterback the situation–okay, yeah, kind of like I’m doing–and they’re on the teacher’s side. They claim she had every right to end the play, they claim she couldn’t see him standing there waiting to speak, they claim she never would have done such a thing with other parents in the room if it was malicious…
Except it was. At the very least she’s guilty of not caring when the boy burst into tears. That would have been the moment to rush back with the microphone, apologize, and announce, “We have one final word before you go…” and let the child say his line. That should have also been followed up with an immediate apology to his parents, who were standing right there when this all happened. Instead, she left without another look back and the school system is speaking on her behalf. If she’s truly innocent of any ill-will, why hasn’t SHE made an announcement? Why hasn’t SHE explained that she feels just terrible for what she did to a six-year-old?
Because she doesn’t feel terrible. That’s why. If you’d like to leave your thoughts for the school system on this video, here’s a link to communicate.
Autism By Hand 