An illegal Saturday post? On this blog. How out of the ordinary. Unless you count the numerous times I forget to upload on Friday, but we don’t count those right? Right?
Well I wanted to take this moment to talk a little bit about a lesson I did earlier this week. You see, with it being autism awareness month, and the kids using autism as an insult on a regular basis – which I will talk about more on Monday – I figured teaching them a little bit about what it is like to have autism and how different people with autism can be from one another. To do this I used a news video that was already aimed at teenagers (behind the news – it’s an Australian broadcasting company) about a young man with autism who is non-speaking.
First I had the kids discuss in pairs what they already knew about the subject. This had mixed success of course as some kids went into a discussion that seemed quite interesting while others were either lost or uninterested. But this discussion did show to be fruitful in every single classroom, with some coming up with more interesting thoughts than others. To quickly run you through some of the things the kids said – in no particular order:
- It’s where you stim
- Autism is when you can’t hear well
- Is that where you have to do the same thing repeatedly
- It’s hereditary
- It’s not contagious, right? (that one got laughed at a bit by classmates)
- It’s when you’re bad at talking
- They have one hobby they really like
- They have low intelligence
- Is that where they go “proceeds to make strange arm movements like someone with a muscle disease might do.”?
- Everyone has it in some form
- Is it the same as ADD?
- Some kids even wrote down the names of friends/classmates that they know have autism
What I found interesting is to see that some kids are really interested in the subject. Asking questions and asking for clarification on things and not afraid to say things that might be wrong. That’s the sort of classroom environment I strive to create. It’s great to me that the two kids in one of my classes that have an autism diagnosis were so open about it, it’s not something to be ashamed of at all and it’s great to see that they don’t feel like they have to be ashamed about it.
In another one of my classes is a kid who is currently going through it mentally – poor kid, I can relate and hope you get through things okay – and he told me he’s in the process of getting tested for autism. I told him that I found the label to be very helpful and that he’s welcome to join the club in hopes of being positive to him while not being overbearing. It’s great that kids are willing to confide in you and it’s tough to find a balance because you just want to give them a hug but that’s both inappropriate and also something that 14 year old me would not have wanted cause that’s weird. And rightfully so, of course, but my heart goes out to this kid and his struggles and I hope he finds his path soon.
After this class discussion I showed the aforementioned video and highlighted a few parts from it. For starters, the kid “appears less intelligent.” When I say that, I mean that due to his non-speaking and his muscle issues, you wouldn’t immediately presume competence – which is something that he brings up in the video as well – but he is just as smart as the kids I teach and having worked with these kids for a while, he’s probably smarter than most of them. He also talks about the difference between someone saying that he has autism or is autistic. I know from experience that some people really value how they’re spoken too, and I told my students that this is something they should pay attention to. I also told them that it can vary from person to person and that I personally am quite indifferent when it comes to this. Both ways can be used respectfully if you’d ask me, but it’s never a big deal to accommodate another person in what they wish.
Lastly, I thought it interesting to highlight the difference between this kid and me when it comes to appearance to outsiders. I shared that I have autism with my students at the start of the year and unsurprisingly a lot of them had since forgotten. This of course resulted in a fair few comments about how they couldn’t really see that I have autism which gave me the opportunity to explain what masking was. I then compared how I came across to this boy in the video while also highlighting that both of us – although very different – have the same form of autism, because it is a spectrum and everyone is unique. Hopefully some of it stuck with the kids, I know for a fact that I was never taught about these things and I also know that it’s not a big part of the modern curriculum. I have another coworker who is in the process of creating lessons about autism, ADD and ADHD, and I’d love to be a part of that process and create a more inclusive world. We do still get discriminated against quite a lot, although there are lots of other groups that need a lot more uplifting than the autistic community. Or is it the community with autism? Or is it just Abed from Community with autism. I think I’m losing track of where I was going with this. Thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 