I was odd and a nerd ( geek, dork, spaz, weird, etc.) and a prime target for bullies. Gen-X
I was also gay when gay meant generically contemptable. As we were in grade school, few of us had figured out actual state of gayness.
You left out dweeb.
I forgot several of them. Yes. The etc. is doing some heavy lifting.
That’s how it is in ABA schools today, and the trauma from literally being abused is blamed on aUtIsM, and the abused kids are kept there because it’s supposed to “help” when it’s literally causing issues the kid never had before they were put in there. Then the kid ages out at 21 and moves into a group home connected to the same facility, instead of living an actual life. They could have had jobs, real friends, spouses, children, degrees, businesses, and lives, but now they wait to die in a cruel ‘Truman Show’ like reality where they’re gaslit into believing they’re living the best life possible. Yeah, a life where the best thing you’ve ever experienced, a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true, was eating a hot pocket.
Yeah I wonder why a seven year old who was shoved to the floor and sat on for looking at a clock was suicidal, must be the autism.
What are ABA schools?
Schools where kids are treated like the picture in this post and educated with YouTube videos and free printouts. Having a problem with anything gets the kids treated like this picture, and they’re gaslit into believing their feelings are non-issues that don’t matter.
The kids will deteriorate into zombies who don’t shower, because if they don’t like being dirty then they just need to get over it. They won’t wipe their ass anymore because wanting to wipe is just a spoiled attitude hissy fit tantrum and not wasting resources on non-issues is being good.
Everything other than being a zombie robot that does exactly what it’s told immediately results in being this picture. Everything they remotely feel positive towards is used as a “reinforcer”, literally a bribe, or is used to emotionally abuse them, which always results in them losing interest in whatever the thing is.
All schoolwork really is watching a YouTube video, answering questions and writing a summary of the video. Some subjects will be reading a book or passage, then answering questions and writing a summary.
Gym is a reward if the whole 12-person class is good which never happens because suddenly a Star Wars shirt is inappropriate to wear and everyone is punished because you specifically decided to wear an inappropriate shirt with a weapon on it. Everyone else is told to “thank their friend” and are conditioned into hating you for ruining everything. So gym class becomes health class where you watch a YouTube video on health, answer questions and write a summary. In between subjects, you read a book. You’re not allowed to talk to anyone or do anything other than read. If you’re on a page for longer than usual, you’ll end up like the picture above because you’re throwing a fit because you don’t like reading.
But why does the kid have physical coordination issues, trouble lifting anything over 10 pounds, zero healthy hygiene habits, and no hobbies or interests? Why would the kid never say anything if they need help or if something or someone is hurting them? Why does the kid never look at anyone’s face? Why can’t the kid concentrate on anything, even things they used to enjoy?
Because autism. And the ABA school is helping, so no you can’t go to another school. You’re only going to have violent meltdowns at worst and stare into space at best in a regular school where no one gets manhandled for holding in a sneeze. You only don’t like school because it isn’t playing video games all day, so you just need to get over it, spoiled.
I’ll be permanently mentally and physically stunted for the rest of my life, and that stupid puzzle piece will be blamed on it, while credited for every positive thing I ever accomplish. Fuck that puzzle piece. It’s not even a real disorder, it’s just an excuse to neglect and abuse a kid instead of putting effort into knowing them.
Not all ABA is bad. Some ABA centers work with kids and adults to help them build skills to get a job or study in school, instead of trying to remove “bad” behaviors.
But ABA schools are stupid and kids should be put in “normal” classrooms as much as possible.
ABA schools are still a thing??
Most likely. I was in one from 2005 to 2015 and watched kids deteriorate into violent monsters and mindless zombies. I honestly wish I was just euthanized, that’s less fucked up.
I’m sorry you and others had/have to go through that. It’s infuriating that anyone would do that.
Unfortunately autistic kids still today, because knowing that autism exists and is much more common than previously realised hasn’t really stopped anyone, but rather just gives ableists more opportunities to express their ableism.
My AUTISTIC MOM told me this. I understand what she means but like 😭
Had this convo with an older coworker and he said it was common for parents that couldn’t handle their kids ( meaning they didn’t parent) to get a doc to medicate them. He had a friend who would be energetic and funny first 2 hours, then go to the nurse and become a zombie for the rest of the day.
oh boy, manmade horrors well within my comprehension!
Pretty much the same energy when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that there were no homosexuals in Iran and was laughed at promptly after.
I don’t know if it is correct to describe a person as having Asperger syndrome today, but there was an incident I recall at my high school the year after I graduated (circa 2010). One of the students was very well known among the other students to have Asperger syndrome. The point of this story is that the well being of the student in question was dismissed by every school and district authority.
As the story goes, simply this teenager allegedly at random with zero provocation made a threat against a teacher. The threat in question was bomb related. Apparently this student was socializing with a group and someone believed to have heard a verbal threat uttered. Things got heated. The teacher in question was temporarily removed from classes for approximately a week following this incident. Students got upset and protested her removal (which made local televised news). A few days later the school district held a meeting (not sure if it was a regular board meeting since I recall other subjects being discussed). Many parents and students (myself included) attended. We all wanted to hear what the authorities in the district were doing to in response to the incident.
The story that got back to me (remember, I’m graduated, but still in contact with some underclass students) was that a student with a known Asperger syndrome diagnosis was in a crowd of other students, got possibly agitated and yelled someone things in response. Supposedly someone in the group claimed it was a bomb threat directed at teacher. One of the students I was friends with, said they were present and heard no such thing. No one knows precisely what a possible motive would have been to create a hoax involving a ASD student, but the hoax spread.
At the district meeting, the official stance was to do nothing and shame the public. No one seemed to care a teenager with neurodevelopmental condition was being accused of threatening the safety of a teacher. They claimed essentially it was mass hysteria (bear in mind this is how I describe it); no one made a threat nor did a hoax occur to get the student in trouble. Which seemed very weird since it was common knowledge among all the students at the meeting, that a hoax rumor had gone around. Someone said something. Whether or not this hoax was intentionally malicious is besides the point. A person on the autism spectrum was center of an alleged threat of violence on a high school campus. The district did not believe the hoax existed. On top of this, the district would not comment on the whereabouts of the teacher. They refused to acknowledge that a teacher had been absent in the days leading up to the meeting. Every student knew who it was.
Back to the point of my story: school and district authorities did not express interest in protecting the well being of a otherly-able (I hope this is a okay descriptor) student or the teacher. On top of this they didn’t seem to care about the safety of other students. There were parents voicing concerns over a hoax bomb threat. Shouldn’t someone at least look into the credibility of a threat of violence, even if it was teenagers misunderstanding what another teenager said?
I have no insight to how the ASD student (again, I hope that is the corrrct label here) was dealing with the situation or their parents/guardians.
I’m honestly not sure what the point of your story is, if anything, it was a surprisingly good result that the teacher was removed and the child wasn’t abused any further, and quite gross that the protest was against this happening. Sounds like you agree with the protestors and were not happy with that result and think the child should have been subjected to even more scrutiny? Which is an odd point to try and make around a group of autistic people talking about being abused by schools and other institutions.
Literally last month an autistic kid was arrested and suspended for a “bomb threat” AFTER all they found his bag was a stuffed toy.
Also
a otherly-able (I hope this is a okay descriptor)
No, it’s not ok. Disabled is the word you are looking for.
