– OPINION –
THROUGH THE LENS OF THE IGNORED
We don’t realize that individuals with special needs are still misunderstood and discriminated against BY JENNY CHIN
A
s the kids ran around the playground with jubilance, Ansley sat in the classroom, silently admiring them. He wanted to be included, and experience the fresh air alongside his classmates, yet Ansley’s mother instead wanted to protect him from any form of discrimination he might encounter. His mind was innocent and pure, but Ansley was bullied for his outward impressions, where his disabilities masked his inner self. A matter at hand that I believe needs to be addressed as soon as possible is our treatment of those with special needs. I’ll focus on both the broad category of special needs, and also one of the more common types out there: Autism. It’s difficult for us to imagine how a special needs student views the world. For Ansley Huynh, it’s also difficult to grasp how our fast-paced world functions. Ansley, a teen who was diagnosed with autism at age two, goes to FCSN every week for math and communication class. His mother, Christine Huynh, always follows him wherever he goes, silently
protecting him. When Ansley is in class, his mother has to also be there. “Ansley has a hard time paying attention to the task at hand...he is too busy talking to himself to pay attention to the question, and reciting the question does not result in comprehension,” Huynh said. “Furthermore, once he ‘understands’ the question, rather than true comprehension of the subject, he will try to pattern-match an answer based on how he previously solved a problem. This means that it may take a while for him to be able to answer a question, while obtaining no greater understanding of the concept behind the question.” Like many of the others, Ansley has been According to Medical News Today, autism is technically referred bullied before in school. “Kids take advantage of Ansley’s autism,” Huynh said. “There were to as an “Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Since autism is a spectrum kids that would try to take Ansley’s lunch mondisorder, “no two people with autism will have exactly the same ey, and since Ansley was kind, he just gave it symptoms”. Autistic people have “developmental disabilities to them.” that have been caused by a brain abnormality”, and are usually Since autistic teens like Ansley are usually characterized by their poor social skills, lack of empathy and strong unaware of their actions, they often don’t realize that they accidentally hurt someone else. detest of physical contact. When we see autistic people on the Huynh says that “usually if I explain to them streets, we may not straight up recognize whether or not they’re that Ansley is autistic, people tend to be undiagnosed with autism. This is where the problem kicks in. What if derstanding if just a little wary.” you didn’t know that the person you were talking to had autism? Kayla Glover is currently a paraeducator in the ACT program of Monta Vista. “I assist the Instinctively, you might form a negative impression, interpreting teacher as well as the students everyday in their lack of response as rudeness. In lieu of becoming upset, many ways,” Glover said. “During the school people should consider other possibilities, and try to recognize day I assist in lessons, help my students with how someone else’s world might be vastly different from ours. their coursework, and support different stuBreathe, and simply excuse the person, whether or not he or she dents in their elective classes.” For Glover, each day spent with the special education stumay have autism. After working with autistic teens for the past dents of Monta Vista deserves to be treasured. year, I can confidently say that the only difference between them She said that “they have the biggest hearts and and us is that they need more guidance, more warmth, and more [they] each have their own wonderful sense of attention from other people. Really, that’s it. humor. As soon as they walk in the door I know
WHAT IS AUTISM?
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