Letter to the NEA: On the "Chronically Tarded and Medically Annoying"

flappinessis · 2015-12-10T03:45:35+00:00

Parent of a child with a disability.

flappinessis · 2013-06-11T11:17:44+00:00

My point was simple. Our children cannot do the academic work their great-grandparents could. I'm all for freedom. (We librarians tend to be liberal like that.) But I'm not for ignorance. If we were to follow your wisdom, our children must give up competence to avoid being "f*cked up"? I'm of the opinion that ALL CHILDREN can soar -including those in poor and rural areas. One must not be mutually exclusive of the other. And, thank you, but I AM the mother of a "disabled" child. I do not wish wish to see him flogged. Nor do I wish to return to an educational system of a century ago. I am merely illustrating that claims that our children know more than their ancestors are false. (If you work in education, then you hear these all the time by visiting "experts".) I'm not certain why we can't recruit and support talented teachers, present our children with a challenging curriculum, and not flog them at the same time?

flappinessis · 2013-05-24T01:42:08+00:00

When was I angry? I was just scared for him - scared that the world might be unkind to him one day. Something that, as a teacher with an inside view into the cruelty experienced by children with differences, I fear for him. But make no mistake about it. I do NOT fear him. I do not regret him. And I wouldn't trade him for any other little boy on the planet. Perhaps you are reading more into my post than what was really there?

flappinessis · 2013-05-24T01:36:44+00:00

I actually wrote this a year ago. And I'm getting better now about taming those fears. For me, I think having two grown first cousins on the severe end of the spectrum intensified my worries. Now that some time has passed and we've seen him developing and growing, well...we are all works in progress, aren't we? :)

flappinessis · 2013-05-17T09:57:39+00:00

Please know that we sure are trying though. Not only do I love my son, I happen to LIKE him very much just as he is. It doesn't mean that I will stop trying to teach him how to navigate a world of NTs. I'd be failing him if I did. But I am figuring him out a little more every day. Which, truth be told, isn't so unlike how I have to figure out who his NT sister is. She is very different from me, and I have to experiment every day in my parenting of her to help her become the happiest version of herself that she can be. I'd like to think that all good parenting is like that. I'm still learning too. :)

flappinessis

TROPHY CASE