The discrimination you hate but should really learn to appreciate

It’s back to school time which raises a lot of emotions as well as a lot of concerns. Rightfully so.. it’s a rough transition to go through.

As such, the media lights up and bloggers all start to sing in harmony about the troubles, struggles and issues pertaining to “back to school” time.

One such issue that I’ve been hearing a lot about is discrimination… not that some children discriminate against other children but that of the schools or teachers themselves.

The Problem

What we find is that a lot of schools or day care providers are unwilling to even accept children with special needs, or if they do, they do not treat those children fairly. They don’t provide them the leniency they require or the special attention they need.

In some cases, the children aren’t cared for properly nor treated properly either.

Welcomed Discrimination

It’s rather painful to accept but honestly, I’d rather that children were not accepted into schools or day cares if those people are not trained, not equipped or otherwise unable to treat those children properly.

When I read about the nine year old that was locked in a room and then hand cuffed by police while at day care, I stop and wonder… could it have turned out very differently? Not better… but differently? Think about this:

If the day care provider had refused to take the child in the first place, would there have been a news story about discrimination against Autism?

Perspective Discrimination

I read all the time about Canada refusing to let in children that have Autism, sometimes the whole family is denied. That is so very wrong. It angers me.

But it’s not that they are turning them away that makes me upset. It’s that Canada recognizes it’s own inability to care for any more children than it already has and is doing nothing about it.

In fact, Canada is unable to care for the number of children it already has… current wait lists are proof enough of that.

But now, when people try to bring their children into the country, they’re turned away because the government deems them a burden on an already failing system.

And it is. It’s failing. It’s not keeping up with demands.

And it knows it. It turns away children because of it.

And it’s doing nothing about it.

The schools are trying, but the funding isn’t there. The police are trying, but the funding isn’t there.

There is discrimination but it’s not by the teachers, or the day care providers, or the schools or the police… it’s by a system that knows that it isn’t doing a good enough job and yet does nothing about it.

Conclusion

So when a child is turned away… don’t get mad at them. They’re doing their best with what they have and they know that if they do take your child, your child won’t receive the service that they need and then that will be what gets into the news.

When that teacher or day care or school fails that child, there will be hell to pay and it won’t be the government that takes it, it’ll be them. Despite there attempts at doing their best and getting themselves in over their heads… they’ll falter because they don’t know any better, or don’t have the resources, or the training or man power… a child will get hurt, or lost or put into hand cuffs…. and they’ll be dragged through the coals for it.

It’s either that…  or discriminate against Autism.

I’ll pass on the hand cuffs… I’ll take the discrimination.