Shooting messenger

ADDRESSING Jody Allen (TC, 1/7), referring to Senator Hanson’s comments re autistic children in mainstream education, I offer the following:

Firstly though, let’s acknowledge that the comments made by Senator Hanson were on behalf of teachers and parents who had contacted her, expressing their concerns regarding this very subject, so attending to this as Senator Hanson should, it was raised in parliament.

I re-played the video, read the Daily Telegraph of July 2, and I did not hear or read any comment that was disparaging or insensitive towards autistic children, and I would be surprised if I had.

Regrettably, it seems that any opportunity for a hate session is appealing to some, and I find this the saddest fact of the entire situation.

My interpretation of Senator Hanson’s question re autistic children was “would they have a better education if they were allocated a special class”. This was more than likely the same question raised by those teachers and parents who are not coping.

Jody Allen adds nothing to the “answer”, and actually describes Senator Hanson as “uneducated” and “bigoted” Others used words like “offensive”, “ignorant” and “appalling” etc.

This sort of condemnation against Senator Hanson achieves nothing, and enlightens no-one, especially when both sides of the story deserve consideration.

So instead of running for the dress scissors or carving knife to plunge in Senator Hanson’s back, why don’t those of you “in the ‘autistic educated field” enlighten Senator Hanson? You are going to achieve very little in your quest unless you now take this as an opportunity for discussion.

I suggest to Nicole Rogerson, CE of AAA, that instead of her rude and unnecessary comments, she puts some of her huff ‘n’ puff into arranging an information day for all those concerned and discuss both sides. — JUDITH JEFFERYS, Kearneys Spring