Your columns often offend me on some level and yet I find myself in wholehearted agreement. It is delightful to be confronted by my own bias and encouraged to truly examine the sacred cows of my (our) generation.
I've recently decided I need a complete change and have enrolled in a Masters of Teaching. Your column serves as a reminder to Educators that children aren't their diagnosis. I hope when I receive my class roster and see an overwhelming amount of flags for various diagnosis and class room accommodations (which is pretty normal these days) I can see the kids for the future Jitterbug dancers they can become.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, Lyndi. The best I can hope for is that while I'm offensive, I'm also on the money much of the time!
Congratulations on your career change - after my industry started to collapse, I looked into becoming a teacher but didn't pursue it when I was informed I'd need to go get another degree, despite having a couple of them already (sounds like you were told the same thing). Please do be compassionate to any Aspy student you teach, but think twice about indulging them too much – the world isn't going to change for them, and they will have to leave your classroom and go out into it one day.
Firstly happy 100th edition, what a milestone. Secondly, amazing article - this one goes straight to the proverbial pool room. Thirdly, it's not just a one-way dialogue, I'm here listening too. See you soon! Xx
First, thanks very much for your ongoing support - hopefully I shall be able to reciprocate by offering some equivalent support for your own upcoming writerly triumph.
Second, thanks for your kind feedback, I really agonised over whether to write this one.
Third, it is mainly is a one-way dialogue, but you are one of the few people I've always allowed to get a few words in edgeways, first in meatspace and now in cyberspace!
Thanks for providing such thoughtful feedback, Tar, and congratulations on clocking up nearly two decades of marriage. It sounds as if we're basically on the same page – you can't will yourself into being non-autistic, but you can choose whether or not you want to make an effort to meet non-autistics halfway. As noted, while I now realise I'm almost certainly autistic it's still not a big part of my identity. But if it is the case that people with serious issues are being made to feel uncomfortable in the few spaces specifically designed to cater for them, that's very unfortunate. Thanks for the alerting me to the existence of Dr Greene - as the father of a teen girl and a tween boy, I suspect I could find his 'problem-solving approach' useful!
Hi Nigel,
Your columns often offend me on some level and yet I find myself in wholehearted agreement. It is delightful to be confronted by my own bias and encouraged to truly examine the sacred cows of my (our) generation.
I've recently decided I need a complete change and have enrolled in a Masters of Teaching. Your column serves as a reminder to Educators that children aren't their diagnosis. I hope when I receive my class roster and see an overwhelming amount of flags for various diagnosis and class room accommodations (which is pretty normal these days) I can see the kids for the future Jitterbug dancers they can become.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback, Lyndi. The best I can hope for is that while I'm offensive, I'm also on the money much of the time!
Congratulations on your career change - after my industry started to collapse, I looked into becoming a teacher but didn't pursue it when I was informed I'd need to go get another degree, despite having a couple of them already (sounds like you were told the same thing). Please do be compassionate to any Aspy student you teach, but think twice about indulging them too much – the world isn't going to change for them, and they will have to leave your classroom and go out into it one day.
Firstly happy 100th edition, what a milestone. Secondly, amazing article - this one goes straight to the proverbial pool room. Thirdly, it's not just a one-way dialogue, I'm here listening too. See you soon! Xx
First, thanks very much for your ongoing support - hopefully I shall be able to reciprocate by offering some equivalent support for your own upcoming writerly triumph.
Second, thanks for your kind feedback, I really agonised over whether to write this one.
Third, it is mainly is a one-way dialogue, but you are one of the few people I've always allowed to get a few words in edgeways, first in meatspace and now in cyberspace!
Thanks for providing such thoughtful feedback, Tar, and congratulations on clocking up nearly two decades of marriage. It sounds as if we're basically on the same page – you can't will yourself into being non-autistic, but you can choose whether or not you want to make an effort to meet non-autistics halfway. As noted, while I now realise I'm almost certainly autistic it's still not a big part of my identity. But if it is the case that people with serious issues are being made to feel uncomfortable in the few spaces specifically designed to cater for them, that's very unfortunate. Thanks for the alerting me to the existence of Dr Greene - as the father of a teen girl and a tween boy, I suspect I could find his 'problem-solving approach' useful!