Climbing on the soapbox for a moment

For those of you who read my blog, you know I rarely ever talk about news stories or who said what or did what in the topic of autism. With the exception of Ms. McCarthy, but we won't go there. I've had just about enough of these stories about our exceptional children being disregarded and tossed aside in the schools.

The most recent, a story of an elementary school leaving out the special needs students and special needs teachers in a year book. Okay, so maybe, just possibly, it was a mistake. Did it seriously take a nation of angry people to get you to realize it and fix it?

And how about this one, a special needs kindergartner was voted ( Survivor style) out of his classroom by his teacher and his peers. Little did the teacher know that the mother had sent her son to school with a digital recorder hidden in his clothes because he had been complaining about this teacher.

On a bulletin board I sometime visit, there was a post from an actual teacher complaining about a child who is special needs that had been crying in her classroom. So what did this teacher do? She put her out in the hallway and locked her classroom door because she didn't want to deal with it. You bet your ass I posted a comment.

This wonderful blogger here writes about her beautiful boy and her struggles with his school system. It just sickens me with what she has to deal with just to get her son included! And it's not just the school, it's the parents as well! How sad this should make all of us.

Why aren't our children treated like everyone else. No, they aren't like everyone else, but who is? I'm glad my son is different. I'm so happy that he's given me the chance to see this world in a whole other light that some aren't able to. And on the flip side, I get to experience a typical child too (God give me strength). Our children, our extraordinary children, have turned this world on it's toes. We, as parents, will not let them sit in the back of the classroom or worse yet, in another room, and not given the same opportunities to achieve and show the world what they are capable of. I can't speak for everyone, but damn it if my son doesn't surprise me with what he can do every day. I hope that never changes. I hope that every parent who has an extraordinary child allows their child to surprise them every day. Cherish those. Refuse to let anyone tell you different. They are in those tiny bodies just begging for someone to help let them out. It takes more than just the parents. It takes family, teachers, and the community. Remember the saying "It takes a village to raise a child", so include my child.

Okay, stepping down. I feel better.