Different? You Don't Have Our Vote
Published January 31, 2009 @ 12:15AM PT
Last May, then 5-year-old Alex Barton was voted out of his Florida kindergarten class by his classmates. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, first let the students say what they did not like about Alex after which whether or not he could stay in the classroom was put to a "Survivor-style" vote. The incident sparked national, and international, attention and Portillo was suspended for a year without pay. The January 29th TCPalm reports that, next Monday, Portillo will appeal her suspension at Fort Pierce City Hall:
Alex’s mother, Melissa Barton, said she planned to attend the hearing.
“(Portillo) should not be allowed to work with kids,” Barton said.
Barton has said she thought Portillo should be fired for what happened.
“She’s not the victim here, Alex is,” she said. “This is because of what she did to him. I trusted her to teach him and not abuse him.”
I can't help but agree with Melissa Barton and not only because I'm also the parent of a child on the autism spectrum and a teacher myself. It's one thing to address the individual issues of individual students, but having the rest of the class vote on, in essence, excluding one of their classmates is inexcusable for any teacher.
Too often, students on the autism spectrum---individuals on the autism spectrum---have been excluded and even isolated simply because they're "different."
AM 900 radio (Hamilton, Ontario) recently reported that the Salvation Army is planning to open a $2.2 million center for autistic adults in Hamilton next year, with construction to begin in the spring. Not much more is specified about what sort of facility this new center will be (residential? only for use in the day?) but it's good that what's being talked about are the needs of adults on the spectrum. Indeed,
Major Byron Jacobs notes that services for adults with autism are currently limited or non-existent, leaving them isolated from the community.
And that isolation, adrift and unmoored from the community one lives in---that's the fear behind the fear of having a child who's different, of being different. It's the fear that leads people to yearn to "fit in" and be "normal." As a parent, it can be painful to see your child excluded, or mocked, or bullied, just because he is who he is. Why not, then, seek to make a child as "undifferent" as possible, so he or she won't stand out, can fit in?
I've also been "different." I'm third-generation Chinese-American and while I grew up in a place that's more "diverse" than most---the Bay Area in Northern California---history, in the form of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1180-1943) and of the camps where the Japanese, including Japanese-Americans, were interned, was ever-present. In the 1940s, Yeh Yeh, my grandfather---his American name was Charlie Chew---bought a store from a Japanese man who needed to sell it quickly, as he'd been sent to the camps. That store, Tai Wah, was what enabled Yeh Yeh to send his five children to college and to live, indeed, the immigrant dream, as my dad likes to tell me.
"But what happened to the man who sold Yeh Yeh the store?" I once asked my dad.
After a pause, he said, "We don't know." And then, after another pause, my dad said something about how the fear had never left his family or him if what if the same thing happened to the Chinese as happened to the Japanese?
If we were marked out and sent away, isolated from the community, just because we looked---acted---were different?
Just as Alex Barton was.
Photo by wjklos.
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Comments (8)
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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End the Perpetuation of Pity
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End the Perpetuation of Pity
Quoting the blog post: "It's the fear that leads people to yearn to 'fit in' and be 'normal.' As a parent, it can be painful to see your child excluded, or mocked, or bullied, just because he is who he is. Why not, then, seek to make a child as 'undifferent' as possible, so he or she won't stand out, can fit in?"
I agree! I'm a teacher, and it seems when I'm helping my students with Autism with social skills instruction, that their "typical" peers often need it too!
While we want our students with Autism to learn how to have conversations, be polite, ask questions, etc., I think that all kids need to learn the social skills of being kind to others, treating people with respect, and valuing our differences.
I still feel so sorry for Alex and his family for their pain, and the other children in his class who did not learn kindness and respect that day.
Nicole Caldwell, M.Ed.
http://www.PositivelyAutism.com/
Free Autism Newsletter and Resources for Parents and Teachers
Posted by Nicole Caldwell on 01/31/2009 @ 05:50AM PT
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That case reminds me of a friend who was in a locked residental treatment center in texas. My state doesn't have locked residental placements so all the kids who are determined to need that type of facility are shipped out of state- usually to texas, utah, or washington- I live in illinois.
Anyway, when a new member of the "community" would come (ie: a new student/patient was admitted) they would be excluded from most activities and have to sleep in a room reserved for students in crisis until the group decided to "vote them in". If the fellow community members didn't want them to be a part of the community they would be voted out. I wouldn't be shocked if this was a common occurance in programs. Only difference is this teacher doesn't have the excuse of it being a formal "treatment" program.
Posted by Erin Monk on 01/31/2009 @ 06:15AM PT
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We must end discrimination toward Autistic people. For every one Alex you know about there are ten others you don't.
This is an indicator of what the wrong people in power can do in with the power.
We must send a message to the world that we will not tolerate discrimination!
Posted by M B on 01/31/2009 @ 07:28AM PT
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We'll be following what happened at the hearing on Monday---I just find the whole notion of "voting out" a student, of in effect setting students against a student, unfathomable.
Warmest wishes to Alex and your family.
Posted by Kristina Chew on 01/31/2009 @ 08:19AM PT
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Thank you, Kristina.
Posted by M B on 01/31/2009 @ 06:49PM PT
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That's an unbelievable story. I'm so nervous about finding a teaching job right now, that everytime I heard about a bad teacher (there's ALOT OF THEM, and this woman is exceptionally cruel), I get really angry at the whole education system.
On another note, my cousin Vincent and his fiance are expecting. They found out that Desiree (the mom) has Rh7 factor blood, and Vin is O+. Apparently, they're not compatible, but there is a series of injections that Desiree can go through. Vincent will be holding his breath until August (the due date), I'm sure.
Posted by Susan Mascolo on 02/01/2009 @ 05:18AM PT
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I still get angry when I think about this incident...I am also a teacher and I feel its MY JOB to look out for all my students, especially the ones who might be a little different. It is an amazing responsibility to educate other people's children and it requires a huge amount of love. I'm not saying it's easy, just that it cannot be done without love and the desire to nurture each child like he or she is your own.
Posted by Karen D on 02/01/2009 @ 04:19PM PT
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Even if the teacher was, as she claims, just trying to make Alex see how his behavior affected the other students that's no excuse. There are better ways of accomplishing this. I think her suspension should stand however I'm not for firing her outright, rather she needs to 1)admit what she did was wrong and apologize to Alex face to face in front of her classroom for what she did (so that her other students can learn about taking personal responsibility for their actions) and 2)undergo training on how to teach people with disabilities. Despite all the negativity, positive things can come out of this situation.
As a first year teacher I had a student with SEVERE ADHD in my class. I taught at a private school with NO support services available. I learned alot but I also, I know, made a lot of mistakes in teaching him that first year (his mother was a teacher at the school and, while a veteran teacher it was her first year at the school as well and she was a godsend in training me to work with him). As more students are mainstreamed into the general education classrooms, the need for proper training for the teachers who work with these students is a MUST.
As a parent of special needs kids and dealing with the issue of mainstreaming my 5 year old, I have to admit that, while I think she definitely needs those opportunities (and she can handle them with support), there is part of me that fears leaving the security and comfort of the special day class she's in.
Posted by Siliconmom . on 02/02/2009 @ 09:37AM PT
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