Dehumanization Of Special Education Essay

Every day, there is someone with a disability suffering from acts of bullying and other forms of mistreatment. As if their disability was not hard enough, this inhumane behavior that they receive adds more to their burden, and affects their peace of mind - behavior that, were it not for a lack of proper understanding, could be prevented. Those who live on the spectrum are distinguishable by the difficulties they have partaking in social interaction and understanding both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication and many are prone to developing repetitive behaviors. Children with Down Syndrome, and other developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities are also poorly perceived, because they are different, many people do not understand …show more content…
I myself have witnessed the effects of this mistreatment firsthand from a personal perspective, as I am the only girl in a set of quadruplets, and two of my brothers are on the Autism Spectrum. Their names are Tyler and CJ; Tyler has Asperger’s and CJ has been diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. In the public school system, Tyler was bullied so harshly through both physical and verbal abuse that he had to be transferred to a private school for students with similar special education needs. CJ receives discrimination in public for the way he paces, talks to himself, and flaps his arms. Even when he has wanted to do a thing as simple as going to look at videogames with his brothers, he has received harsh glances and reproachful service from the employees for what they perceive to be rather disturbing behavior. My brothers, along with many other children undergoing similar situations, have suffered from terrible bouts of anxiety and depression as a result of this mistreatment. Not very many have stood up to represent them, and I consider this my personal duty and privilege: To fight for the ones who cannot fight for themselves, to stand for the will to understand, and to shout for those who are too afraid to