Films like Crip Camp and CODA are excellent for exposing students to the disabled world.
A creative way to do this is through film. The students learned a lot and TACT will most likely have me back to teach again.Įducating people about disability doesn’t just have to just be in the school setting. I think part of this was because the students knew I was also autistic and that we were able to connect on another level with our shared experiences. I was told by many teachers there that they have never seen the students so engaged. Last Fall, I taught filmmaking at TACT (Teach Autism Community Trades). In Colorado, there are schools like TACT and the Temple Grandin School that are specifically focused on this goal for autistic people.
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We as society have been doing a good job of educating the disabled community so that they can reach their full potential, which should be the goal for all human beings. Because of this significant number, we need to be more open to teaching kids and young adults about disabilities as well as having fair representation that disabled people can go to school comfortably knowing that they will not be judged or bullied for being “different.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 4 adults in the United States have some sort of disability. This can be extremely dismissive and anxiety provoking because someone should never have to explain why or how they are disabled because of another person’s ignorance. People think they are complimenting me by saying, “you don’t look autistic” but the thing is, autism is a spectrum and doesn’t have a look. Going into school, whether it is for early or higher education, can be scary because people can be quick to judge. One of the biggest struggles for someone like myself who is autistic is that it is an invisible disability.
The majority of people that meet me can’t imagine that I have a disability. It is important to teach that there is a wide range of disabilities, and that not all disabilities are visible. Allowing the schools to create a community that is inclusive to everyone will ultimately create more acceptance and inclusivity for disabled children. This can be as simple as reading stories to young children that include characters who are disabled, to inviting people with various disabilities to volunteer directly in the classroom or have them read to the children during story hour. I believe that it would result in fewer instances of bullying towards disabled people in an academic setting. Looking back at my experience, I believe that if public and private schools beginning at the preschool level focused on the inclusion of the disabled community into their traditional curriculum, that disabled people would be more normalized. I feel for any other disabled person who has gone through something similar because we should never have to feel bad for being a disabled human being. It is illegal to not follow state accommodations, and I was honestly in shock that I would come across someone that would question me. We then reported it to my film school, and the teacher was fired. I went home in tears and called my parents about it. This humiliated me in front of a large classroom and made me feel awful as a human being. She looked at me and said, “you don’t honestly expect me to wear that, do you?” Then she laughed at me and looked at the classroom and said, “don’t you all think I speak loud enough?” The class then began to laugh with her.
But one semester, I went up to my new instructor showing her my accommodation paperwork, which included wearing a microphone for my CAPD. When I was pursuing higher education, it was going well, and most of my teachers were very accommodating and accepting of wearing a microphone that would allow me to process everything they were saying while I wore a headset. I didn’t want the school officials to intervene due to fear that the bullies would pick on me even more. I was scared to go to school because of the bullying, and I was also nervous to share it with my family or my teachers. The bullying began in preschool and continued throughout my entire education. This can be done through the academic setting as well as other creative avenues.Īs an autistic person with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), not only did I struggle academically in a traditional school setting, but socially too, as I was bullied for most of my life. Creating space to educate others on disability is imperative to making sure people have a better understanding of the disabled community. We have made great strides in improving disability education and inclusivity through K-12, but we still have a long way to go. In the world of education, we need to have more inclusion and representation in early and higher education.
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