aw-tiz-uhm. still a dirty word.

While I was subbing today, there was a student in a 3rd grade classroom who obviously had some developmental disorder. I wasn't sure if it was autism or something else. So I asked a teacher (not the teacher of that class) what condition the boy had. She wouldn't tell me. She said, "oh I can't divulge that...no".

Are you kidding me? I was under the assumption our society's been emerging from the dark ages regarding such matters. I mean, the student has been mainstreamed within the classroom...it's not like it's a big FUCKING secret. Besides, I'm a teacher. For my own benefit, I have the right to made aware of children with ALL issues should a situation arise. Oh - wait...I'm a substitute teacher. Right. Maybe that's what it was. So I just asked another teacher and she told me. Was that so FUCKING hard?

Autism, MS, Down Syndrome...whatever the case may be. It's this teacher's attitude (not sure if it was her's or something the school told her to say) that placed these disorders in the closet in the first place. You wanna talk about hot? Me? Fine. We won't talk about the retarded, mental student anymore who walks around yelling and screaming nonsensical gibberish while he's given breaks from the closet that he's normally hidden in.

Better? By the way - the kids...they loved me. Didn't want me to go. Guess it's that substitute charm I exude.