TW: for abelist language and students being ignorant about disabilities
And, on the topic of Autism, one of the essays I marked today....
So. Background. My advanced kids are currently reading 'Al Capone Does My Shirts', a book set on Alcatraz island in the 40's, featuring a fifteen year old autistic girl. She has severe sensory issues and her mother infantalises her (by having the family celebrate her 10th birthday every year for five years, and obviously telling people she's just tall for her age and refusing to accept that the girl is NOT TEN).
So, we've had a few discussions in class about autism, and the 'r' word (one student used it repeatedly in her essay about autism, AFTER being told why not to use it, so she obviously failed that essay) and how there are different types of autism and so on.
Today, I was marking this essay. The topic was along the lines of 'what do you think about the way her mother makes her celebrate her 10th every year, instead of allowing her to celebrate her real age?' and, well, for a start the damn thing was peppered with the word 'normal' along side 'make her act more', and 'other normal people' and so on.
And on top of that, she was advocating that the girl be 'educated properly to help her recover and be useful in society'. I mean, what?
And she mentioned this K-Drama she apparently watches, 'Good Doctor'. Apparently the 'Good Doctor' in question is autistic, but 'recovered' and 'got better' and became a famous doctor.
I seriously couldn't figure out what to be more aghast at, the language in the essay, the willful misunderstanding of what autism is despite a number of lessons about it from both myself and their Korean teacher, or the blasted 'Good Doctor' K-Drama.
I haven't looked it up yet, but I'm intrigued to know just what crap they're spewing on it, to be honest.
This is all a long winded way to say that sometimes my thirteen year old advanced students annoy the crap out of me.
