Hateful

 Hateful

 

A couple of weeks ago a gunman was welcomed into a synagogue because he said he was homeless and hungry.  Instead of gratitude for kindness, he held the rabbi and members of the congregation hostage for eleven hours while he threatened their lives unless he got to intervene on behalf of his sister a convicted terrorist who is serving time in a U.S. prison.

A few months ago, a teenager stormed through his school and killed several students.  

Over the course of this past year, schools and houses of worship have suffered armed invaders, people have been abused and hurt because of the color of their skins, language has become increasingly uncivil and rude.

What does all this have to do with the education of children with special needs?-Plenty!

In every instance, the perpetrator of violence felt entitled to inflict that violence on people he saw as “less than”.   People with disabilities routinely experience this condescension and sometimes physical aggression.

We have come to use crude and ignorant language in every day discourse further demeaning our interactions with each other.  When we demean each other we set ourselves up to be hateful towards each other.  And in a very real way, give tacit approval to other forms of diminishing someone else.

Have you ever been to a restaurant with a person who uses a wheelchair for mobility?  Don’t be surprised if the server completely ignores the individual and speaks to the more physically able person as if the individual using the wheelchair could not speak for herself.  It is not unusual for the popular press to write about someone “confined” to a wheelchair as if the individual committed a crime and the person is confined to a prison.

It seems we make progress in our respect for others and then we start to move back the clock.  We define people with autism as “autistics”- as if that one trait defined a person who is also a boy, has blond hair, is great with technology and is one of the most organized people we know.  

Newspapers write about African-Americans needing additional help with paying rent as if there were no other Americans who needed help paying rent and as if ALL African-Americans needed help paying rent.

Maybe each of us has hate in our hearts towards some things or some people.  Maybe that’s true.  But it is not a trait we should need to show off.   Hateful towards others is not good.  Knock it off.