This blog today is kind of difficult to write. It is difficult because it has to do with a subject that is neither happy, positive nor upbeat. Today's blog is about negativity towards the special needs population.
To begin with, in a time when people claim to be "anti-bullying", kind and loving, all you have to do is open up any form of social media and know that what people claim and how they act are often times two very distinctly different things. Sadly, in this day and age, we are so submerged in the muck of negativity, we are growing immune to it and forgetting that if we don't stand up and say something, we are just as much a part of the problem as those spouting the ignorance are. One of my favorite quotes is: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Today, this quote could not have more meaning.
Now please don't get me wrong. I am not one of those who gets on social media and starts getting offended at every post I see. Honestly, I am the queen of scroll and ignore. Sometimes it is difficult but most of the time, I see ignorant, attention seeking trolls (not an insult but a term used for someone who gets on the internet and tries to be as obnoxious and insulting to anyone and everyone as possible) and I am so unimpressed, I wouldn't give their posts a second thought, let alone comment on it. Yesterday though, I was truly offended and I spoke up. Since my comments were met with disdain and personal insults, I am sure the attention seeking, internet troll in this guy far outweighed any true humanity he had.
So the story goes, a town just down the road has a Facebook page called the Complainers Club. It is basically a no holds barred page where no one is supposed to be banned and anything (yes absolutely anything) can be posted. I joined the page a while back because it is interesting to see how far people will actually go with that much leeway. I have been surprised though, there has been some fun banter, some hilarious posts and yes, some inappropriate and tasteless meme's, but for the most part, it has all been in good fun. Of course I am not on the page much so there could be a lot more that I don't see.
Last night I was scrolling and suddenly I saw a meme directed at special needs. The picture was not funny and in my humble opinion, the meme itself was degrading to any special needs child. How could someone see this as funny? How was it viewed acceptable by other human beings, that a grown adult would post something like this and others not only laugh at it, but also applaud it? Yes, that is where I drew the line and I did comment on how degrading it was. Of course I was met with, this page is for any and all memes and posts. Basically they were telling me to quit being offended. Hmmmm.....Well, it has always been my belief that the 1st Amendment was written with common sense in mind. In other words, just because you can say something doesn't always mean it is right, ethical or necessary to say it. When you resort to this kind of thing, it is pretty obvious that you have nothing intelligent to say and that your only purpose for posting is to be as degrading, inhumane and as much of a attention whore as possible. Well, this guy succeeded on all fronts.
I was respectful to him, although had he and I been face to face I might not have had the patience to hold my tongue as effectively as I did. But then again, I doubt he would have had the gumption to say the things he said to my face. The internet is a powerful fortress for those who are weak of character and big of mouth.
This gentleman then went on to tell me that he too had special needs family members and they thought it was funny. Really? Did they really think it was funny or are they just so used to being degraded by the likes of such a fellow that they don't know the difference? No, I think if he actually has special needs relatives, he is much different to them on the home front. My hope is that he is respectful, kind and caring because every special needs child deserves that. They have to take three extra hard steps for every easy step the rest of us take.
As a mom of a special needs child, I have watched my son fight his way through life and succeed. Every milestone and every moment has been not only something to rejoice over but also a miracle in its own right. When you have seen the pain, wiped away the tears and cheered him on through every surgery and still see such innocence and joy in him, it is more than I can do, to simply set back and watch someone/anyone degrade him or anyone else with special needs in any way.
I was also chastised for labeling my son as special needs. I was amused. It is not an insult to be "special" in any way. It is merely a fact. My sons needs are special just as are millions of others in the world, whether they are born with chronic issues, are on the spectrum, are blind, deaf, non-verbal, etc. It is not an insult to say someone is special needs. It is however an insult to degrade and dehumanize them for a laugh so someone can draw attention to themselves.
The really interesting thing about this whole disrespecting and degrading the special needs population is, that in David's entire life any disrespect he has received over his abilities has been by adults. Never has a child or one of his peers ever treated him negatively. In fact, David has always been treated with great respect and with great generosity and kindness from his fellow students and friends. They have been some of his biggest cheerleaders and have been great examples of how one human should treat another, regardless of their abilities. Perhaps it is because these kids have all grown up around David. Many have known him since he was 3 years old and they have watched him struggle, fight and ultimately succeed. They see the joy in him and most importantly they accept him for who he is. To them, David is David and they truly care about him.
So yeah, I spoke out. I said my piece and I walked away. There was absolutely no point in having a conversation about humanity with an unarmed man. When I left he was posting more and more degrading posts about people with down syndrome, autism and special needs of different kinds thinking he was getting to me. He wasn't. The fact was, he was showing how desperately he was vying for both attention and acceptance for his unacceptable behavior. All he ended up doing was proving how low his character truly was and how sad a human being he must be to get pleasure from being such a jack a** to others. My only hope is that if he truly does have special needs relatives, that people treat them with more respect and humanity than he treats others.
Soap Box off!
Until next time..........
No comments:
Post a Comment