The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppresion

When my son was very young, around the age of 3, we transitioned him to the autistic preschool program at our zoned elementary school. The first thing I noticed was that all the self-contained classrooms were located in the very back corner of the school furthest away from the cafeteria, media center, bus loop and car rider area.

 My initial thoughts were how inconvenient this was for these students and their parents because, like my son, some of them were orthopedically impaired, wore braces, and that was a long walk for them to get anywhere. I felt the reason they were back there was to keep them hidden and separated and this, in my opinion was unfair and definitely diminished equity because the principal was not sensitive about the needs of these children. Therefore, as usual, I went to battle for my son and confronted the principal about my (our) concerns.  He conceded in letting the parents drop their children off at the back of school where the classrooms were located and agreed to consider relocating the classrooms the next school year to accommodate their needs.

I believe not only does the victim need to change and/or speak up about the injustice, but the offender must be willing to be open minded and really willing to listen to the concerns of those they have offended and attempt to put themselves in their shoes to truly understand other’s point of view in order to turn these types of incidents into opportunities for greater equity. Furthermore, in my experience, I have learned one will need to be ready to fight for that equity because often times I had to go to the next level i.e. a person’s boss, or that bosses boss in order to get what I needed. I have truly become the squeaky wheel advocate for my son in order to make sure he is treated equitable, especially within the school system.