When I got up earlier than usual this morning to write posts for steemit, I was confronted by today’s controversial and polarising comment by infamous Australian politician Pauline Hanson (see below).
Now, usually, being that she heads her own small political party I don’t concern myself too much with her comments, because her vote (and the votes of her party) do not have a huge influence in the Senate, but today her comments just hit way too close to home for me to remain silent.
Ms Hanson, who has declared at various times and for various reasons that I will not discuss here (you’re all familiar with Google) that Asians and Muslims are not welcome in our beautiful country, made a statement about children with Autism and education.
I haven’t been on steemit long, so it’s probably news to most that I have 12 beautiful grand children. For reasons unknown (genetics, who knows we don’t) each of my children, has at least one child in their family with Austism.
So when Ms Hanson declared in her speech to the Senate, that children with Autism should be removed from classrooms across Australia, because they were holding back neuro typical children (children not on the Austism spectrum), by monopolising the time of teachers, I almost choked on my morning coffee.
Now this is a highly complex and controversial issue, and due to our personal involvement with a sample of 12 both neruo typical and autistic children, our family is in a unique position to see both sides of the issue.
When I arrived on steemit just a week ago I was introduced by my daughter @krystle and she proudly states in her profile ‘autism mum’ and why wouldn’t she! She and @ausbitbank are the parents of 2 of my beautiful grand children and they are both severely affected by Autism, to the point that it is unsafe and inappropriate for them to attend a regular school. (Only a photo of 1 because it's almost impossible to get them standing still together, no favouritism!)
So they attend a school where they get a student/teacher/carer ratio that is necessary for their level of Autism, that has special facilities to ensure their ongoing education, needs, health and safety.
However, @mumofmany and my son (not on steemit, yet) also have children on the Austism spectrum, that are considered ‘high functioning’ and they do attend regular schools.
Just so we are clear on my position, I think that in a regular school is exactly where they should be. It’s not like they will leave school and go live on another planet away from the neuro typical kids, why socially disadvantage them as well. Don’t they have enough to deal with!
I make that statement with this caveat!
This should be in conjunction with the assessment by each child’s paediatrician, occupational therapist, speech therapist etc relative to that individual child’s needs and the resources and staff available at the relevant school.
As parents and grandparents we can rightly be highly emotional about what we think is best for our beautiful ones, but we have to ameliorate that with objective advice. Not easy at all… 
Some of the experiences that my grand children have been exposed to being integrated into regular schools have not been pleasant (see photo above, some of my 12 grand children). Some of these are the result of poor understanding of Autism by teaching and support staff. On other occasions, it is the result of the critical lack of funding for schools, teachers and support staff.
Either way I believe this is not acceptable and must be addressed!
I'm very new here so I don't know who will read this and what your thoughts may be, but at least I'm hoping to provoke some discussion in the steemit community in Australia and hopefully beyond...
The rate of Autism is climbing dramatically worldwide, if you don’t know someone affected now, chances are you will in the next few years.
Thank you for sticking with me to the end and if you have ideas, suggestions, revelations, I'd love to hear them. Have a great day
Well, I have an extremely low opinion of Ms Hanson to begin with so I won't say anything.
One of my kids is adhd with "flavours" of autism (psychologist's description XD) and is otherwise somewhere in the "high functioning above average intelligence" part of your pretty rainbow. We homeschool though, and hearing about the lack of resources in schools to support kids who need just that extra little bit of support makes me cranky (and let's not get started on how schools are funded).
And then when people go ahead and say stuff like they should be removed from normal schools because they're "holding back" the nypical kids well. I think it just shows how much they know.
Yep I here ya! I had to do deep breathing for quite a while before starting to type. You must have your hands full with the home schooling, kudos to you. Hope it all goes well moving forward.
Hi @aussiesteem and thank you for this post. I live in the UK and have a son who has Asperger's.
This sort of comment by Pauline Hanson shows a complete lack of understanding of what Autism is and how wide a range of conditions it covers.
My son has severe social anxiety and lack of organisational skills but he did attend 'normal' schools. He coped by developing strategies to get himself through the day. His infant school was in our village so he knew a lot of the children from playing with them from an early age and through kindergarten. On the move to Secondary school, a lot of his friends moved up with him so he had them to use as an 'anchor' to make the transition easier. The main problems really began when he left school and had to try to make his own way in the adult world.
There does seem to be much more of an awareness of Autism in schools now. Whereas a child would be seen as a 'problem' child or an 'underachiever' a number of years ago, today they are more likely to be given the help they need. But, as you say, the lack of funding is a crucial factor in holding back children with Autism and similar conditions.
Exactly! If they don't have the social connections and interactions with other children and the wider community made during those first 12 years of their education (again with the caveat for those that can tolerate integration and it is safe for them to do so). Then it is all the more difficult to acclimate to social situations later in life. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Let's hope funding world wide improves...
Fingers crossed!
Thank you so much...
Well said, I may have my own little post on this issue later today!!!
Pauline Hanson is a dipshit. No doubt there.
I do believe she has good intentions on this one though -the fact that the words came out of Old Please Explains gob certainly made sure she'd come in for a good round of bashing.
Now i would normally be the last to defend someone with views such as hers but i do think that what she was trying to get across was that kids with developmental issues will take up more resources in a class room than one that is steaming along. I dont think shes calling for segregation- more that shes saying that extra or more specialised resources should be thrown in to help these kids. Definitely valid commentary in Gonski 2.0 week IMHO
Thanks for your comments. Yes I think if Ms Hanson had a new speech writer it certainly wouldn't hurt.
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Thanks guys much appreciated. Would love to see if @krystle, @ausbitbank, @mumofmany and I, and anyone else interested could start a project for information sharing for parents of diagnosed (and those seeking diagnosis of ASD) Autism Spectrum Disorder)), assuming that hasn't been done already and I'm so new I just didn't find my way to it. That would be typical of me... Let me know your thoughts?
Thank you for posting this.... without which I probably wouldn't have known about it. Often times it is easy to get bogged down in ones own political climate, and forget there are political troubles abroad too. Pauline Hanson sounds like an extremely distasteful person, and unfortunately right in line with the "ruling" class in the U.S.
In some ways I'm glad her comments don't make it to the UK, on the other hand I'm relieved that through the power of steemit more reasonable people will hear this kind of rhetoric and eventually public support will carry the day. Thanks so much for your comment and good luck in the UK too...
I simply can't figure out what's wrong with that woman! Every human is entitled for their own piece of sky. Every child is blessing, no matter if society doesn't recognise them as "high functioning", and what that term means for god sakes. We all have our little disabilities physical or mental, and all tend to pretend that we are "normal" to fit in. Baby girl on photo is more then beautiful!
Thanks so much for your comments. That beautiful little girl (and I declare my prejudice freely) is one of my 12 gorgeous grand children who is very high on the Autism spectrum and needs constant care as does her younger brother who is a very handsome young man. Just really hard to get him to hold still for a photo. However, my other Autism grand children do attend regular schools and they are caught in today's particular bun fight. Everyday is a fight for a person with a disability and it shouldn't be that way...let alone without politicians, government or sections of the community making it any more difficult
What a brilliant article. UPVOTED
Congrats
Thanks so much, appreciated!
Pluralism , empathy and love heals our world more than hate and cynicism
I agree. It would be so easy to get mad, but I personally try to stay calm and hope we can move to a more inclusive not exclusive society.
Amen to that, amen. You are perfectly correct. In fact am following you now in order to see and read more from you and thus send in my support. Lets stay in touch and , success to you.
Thanks so much, greatly appreciated.
You are welcome, pls feel free to check out my posts..Thanks
Great post. Hey @aussiesteem @mumofmany @ausbitbank @krystle, your ASD kids have everything they'll ever need: a loving family who know how to make money using the internet!
Thanks so much, greatly appreciated.
No worries, thank you!
I'm "high functioning" ASD too so your post hit home.
And doing a damn fine job of it too @bulleth
Thanks. It makes me who I am ... social ineptitude is a small (though tiresome) price to pay :)
Just ignore her, pity the media doesn't
Thanks! Pity the electorate doesn't ignore her too...
If she didn't get any coverage, then she would have a smaller following.
Can't believe Pauline Hanson is still around. That was a blast from the past.
Yep, just when you think its safe to get back in the water...