The new autism insult I'm hearing from students in schools
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Small community. Believe it or not, most people are pretty good at detecting someone with a mental disability. Those of us with more severe issues look and act just slightly different than the norm, and we really can't help it. Plus, I am easy to spot just about everywhere I go. In every city and town I've lived so far, many people have told me that I don't act like and look nothing like the locals.
Let me put it this way. I think most people have a good enough idea of what someone with Down Syndrome looks like. A person can have those facial features without actually having Down Syndrome, and that in itself usually hints at some sort of mental dysfunction.
Well there's certainly nothing wrong with your writing/language. You seem very intelligent.
Nonetheless, who cares what anyone thinks! Go out, do shopping whatever you need to do. Let them talk. Carry on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgbwc
I have never heard it used. I teach middle elementary.
Well there's certainly nothing wrong with your writing/language. You seem very intelligent.
Nonetheless, who cares what anyone thinks! Go out, do shopping whatever you need to do. Let them talk. Carry on.
Yes, I do whatever I need to do. But I'm not sure if what I said was as much about what anyone else thinks as their actions and words such as snickering, or like the OP mentions, the autism insult.
There have been a few characters on TV lately who are deemed "autistic." Sometimes, the program handles the issues sensitively, such as on Sesame Street and other times, the autistic behavior is portrayed derisively in comedic pieces or to showcase "the other" in a dramatic series. Children are picking up on the term without fully understanding the meaning.
It bothers me that kids find this to be funny, clever, or a good strategy on handling a conflict. Not to mention that it doesn't even make any sense given those with autism often have higher IQs.
It bothers me that kids find this to be funny, clever, or a good strategy on handling a conflict. Not to mention that it doesn't even make any sense given those with autism often have higher IQs.
Aspergers is now lumped in with Autism, so high functioning people with social communication and interaction weakness are on the spectrum beside low functioning people who have ritualistic-repetitive behaviour, and severe social communication and interaction impairment. Social interaction deficit is the common characteristic, but intellectual functioning is all over the map.
Children have always made fun of things they don't understand. It's the responsibility of adults to neutralize the behavior.
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