Vive la difference

We should embrace those with special needs, not segregate them

IWANTED to write this as soon as I saw the headlines, but I needed to take a breath and gather my thoughts because it would have just been a s*** rant.

And you don’t wanna see that.

So ICYMI, Senator Pauline Hanson took the floor in the Senate, and this time her aim was focused on kids with additional needs. I am not going to talk about Pauline and the stuff she said, because that has been well and truly covered.

She is seriously one of the most uneducated and bigoted politicians we have ever had. We know that. If I have to take a positive out of a negative (and boy, is it a negative) it is that people are talking about autism in the school system.

I am a parent of a child with autism. My child is in the mainstream school system, in a public school. There are another couple of kids in his class who are on the spectrum. The other kids know them, know what they are like, can spot their triggers.

They have learned to deal with it and help them and the teacher. Because you know what – that is life. There is always going to be someone different, someone who looks different or acts different. University and the workplace all have people who are different. And shouldn’t we learn to embrace that from an early age rather than segregate and create a “separate class’’ of people?

If kids are segregated into a “special class” in schools, then how on earth are they going to learn to live in the real world? How will they cope when they leave school?

And look at the other side of the coin. How will kids who don’t have autism or other learning disabilities learn about dealing with those who are different?

Just remember, there is a great chance that there is a child on the spectrum right now, somewhere in the world, who might find that cure for cancer. Or who will create clean and cheap power for the world. They think differently, outside the square.

Remember Einstein? Experts believe he was on the spectrum. Same with Mozart, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. We think that the government needs to concentrate on spending money on training teachers to be better equipped to teach children with different disabilities so these children can be in a proper classroom environment.

Funding is also needed to employ additional trained aides so that teachers have help in the classroom so that kids with disabilities can get one on one support if needed.