In 8th grade my regular teacher was absent and we had a substitute who was a general education teacher. Within earshot of me and my classmates, my para said to her colleagues, "this is not for them", that a general education teacher is not for us. We needed a special education teacher. She never included us in the conversation, or more importantly, ask us how we felt about having a general education teacher as a sub before speaking up. Just because we didn't respond to her immediately doesn't mean we're OK with her speaking about us like that. If you still justify this because my para felt we didn't get the support mandated in our IEPs, please remember we did not choose to be in special ed. Our teachers and parents made these decisions behind our backs.
"Nothing about us, without us" means any conversation involving people with disabilities, should involve and consult people with disabilities. A conversation about a student's special education is no exception. And we know it's rude to talk about people who are present without involving them in the conversation.
Yet teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists and even parents do it all it all the time.
This is not the 1st time someone spoke about me as if I wasn't present. In 5th grade when I couldn't go on a trip due to not doing homework, there was no special ed classes I could go to. Not once did they involve me in the conversation.
But I would end up guilty of this behavior myself.
This happened before 8th grade. My middle school, although considered a "general education school", offered 12:1:4 classes. These student have "severe and multiple disabilities with limited language, academic and independent functioning." These students were doing kindergarten to 2nd grade work. At one point we were in the auditorium when this class sat in the row just in front of us. My classmate asked them multiplication problems which they could or could not answer, and then asked my para about them. My para said "they all have something wrong with them".
I never thought anything of it, that my para said these students have something wrong with them in front of them. For one I myself thought since these students have medical conditions and are not on the same level as us in academics, there was something wrong with them. And I also thought they wouldn't understand what was said about that.
What is interesting is that people, professionals and student teachers probably thought the same about us, that there was something wrong us. If someone said about my class "they all have something wrong with them" or "they are there because they have disabilities", I would feel insulted. Yet I was perpetuating the same attitude.
So teachers, if you are ever talking about a student's disability, always involve the student in the conversation. Create opportunities talk about the student's disability when the student is present. Always ask. You should ask the non verbal severely autistic child why she ran out of the room before asking someone else. Even if the child cannot respond, it's still important to ask the child first.
