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my fifth grade zoom class has rickrolled me every single day this week. every single day.

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Ableism is really silly. Like, humans’ whole deal is “we don’t have any specific adaptations in particular, we make prosthetics instead.” Like, cold environments? Skip waiting for an advantageous mutation, let’s make prosthetic fur—clothes. No hooves? Prosthetic hooves—shoes. No claws or beaks? Instead, we make all kinds of knives and tools. Can’t find a natural shelter? Build one. Arid climate? Irrigate it.

Everything that we call civilization is just humans making prosthetic adaptations instead of waiting around for mutations. We get some advantageous mutations too, but we’re so reliant on the artificial ones that all the wetware upgrades are hackish as fuck and often do things like kill you if you get a double dose of the gene. And then humans invent more artificial adaptations so it doesn’t actually have to kill you.

But then somewhere along the way we all decided that only some artificial adaptations were okay, and more unusual ones were bad? Which is kind of ridiculous. Especially with how far stuff has developed. We can make prosthetic insulin and other hormones, even. Prosthetic chemicals, and isn’t that amazing? But for some reason we think that having to rely on those kind is a sign of weakness or lesser worth than just having to rely on houses or shoes, or that it’s too much to make all the things compatible. That people with some kinds of tech dependence should just suck it up while others get what they need to go about their day with a relative lack of pain and hardship. And that just goes against everything our history as a species says we should do. And because it’s “more expensive”? We invented capitalism a lot later than we invented shoes or crutches or quinine, I’ll tell you that.

[teacher-wangji]

This is basically a post for people who think that the world is accessible for those who are disabled, although this is centred around those who use a wheelchair. 

And this doesn’t include when people park in disabled spaces without a badge, or question those who park in disabled spaces who don’t use a chair.

The first picture is of a disabled parking space, where the snow has been pushed into that space whilst people were clearing the car park. This also happens when snow ploughers push the snow to the side of the road and onto the pavement as it blocks the dipped down pavement where wheelchair users can get on/off of the pavement and most wheelchairs struggle to be able to push through the snow.

The second picture is of a lift/elevator in Boots a store in the UK, where there are baskets and cases in front of the lift, which block wheelchair users from using it and accessing other levels in the store.

The third picture is of a zebra crossing with a lowered pavement for wheelchair users, and there is an island in the middle with a normal height curb, which blocks wheelchair users, and it means they have to go around, along with having bollards near the entrance which don’t look wide enough to fit a wheelchair through.

The fourth picture is that of a ramp, which has a step in order to get onto the ramp. (I’m pretty sure they didn’t even try.)

The fifth picture is of a ramp with a tree in the middle, which doesn’t have enough room on either side for a wheelchair to get through.

The sixth picture is of a very very steep ramp, which even if you have someone pushing your chair you probably won’t be able to get up it!

The seventh picture is of a disabled parking space, which has a ramp leading to the entrance, which again has steps in order to access the ramp.

The eighth picture is of ‘disabled parking’, where non of the spaces have room to allow chairs to get out of the car, except at the back. They are just normal spaces where a blue sign has been placed in an attempt to make the parking ‘wheelchair accessible’.

The ninth picture is of a reception desk which is too high for wheelchair users to access, as they can’t be seen, due to the fact that they are smaller than the desk.

The final picture is of a ramp which only goes halfway up the curb, essentially meaning there is a step at the top of the ramp.

If anybody still thinks the world isn’t staked against those who are disabled, then I honestly worry about you.

[teacher-wangji]

I...I’m tired of caregiving. I had a good few days where I actually got to teach again. No kids screaming in pain and no parents cussing me out for sending their kid home early. No blood or stomach contents or gaping wounds or CPS calls. We talked about animal habitats and practiced core vocabulary words. It was nice.

But I have my more fragile students back and I gotta say, there’s a lot of anxiety with it. A lot of walking on egg shells and watching every move I make so that I don’t hurt them, and can’t get accused of hurting them. I feel like shit because it shouldn’t be about me, but fuck, I’m tired and just wanna teach.

#educhums #i teach middle school #i teach special education #medical caregiving #compassion fatigue

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I’ve stopped worrying about if I’m a “good teacher” or not. This school district is putting WAY too much against both my kids and myself, so no one’s gonna reach their max potential this year. But you know what? I’ve noticed that I actually am a better teacher now. There are less books and learning goals, but a lot more talking and playing and social skills and gross/fine motor practice. Healthy teachers make healthy classrooms, I think that’s all there is to it.

#educhums #i teach sped #i teach middle school #i teach special education

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I dunno who got all this for my classroom, but thank you so much!!!

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This week I’ve been in the classroom alone with 4 students with VERY high support needs. This is fucking illegal and it’s taking a toll on all of us.

Well Monday when I called the main office for help lifting kids onto the changing table (remember I work with middle schoolers, this is a task that’s impossible for one person), they just...never showed. I called throughout the day and they kept saying they’d send someone over, but 4 hours went by and no one showed up. I was finally able to get coverage for my room so I could hunt someone down to come help, but the whole situation was so wrong.

Yesterday the same shit was happening in the afternoon, except one of my girls was bawling because she was so uncomfortable. I called, I called, no one wanted to come down. So I just pulled the girl out into the hallway and sat with her while the whole school heard her cry.

Eventually the principal came up and was trying to be all cheerful and jokey and asked, “Missy, stop all that crying! What’s all that crying for?!” and I deadpanned, “She’s been sitting in her dirty diaper for half an hour now and she’s really uncomfortable.”

I pushed her wheelchair back into the bathroom so the principal could help lift. Of course she was still crying and was now punching and kicking at us (trauma response), and the principal tried his jokey invalidating bullshit again, only to be met with more punching. I ignored him, lowered myself to the girl’s eye contact level, and started speaking calmly to her. Told her what we were going to do, walked her through all the steps, and tried assuring her that we’ll get her needs met. Basically, what anyone who’s trauma informed would do (which is what every educator SHOULD BE, including that principal, but I digress). He just stood back silently while I changed her diaper and talked her through the process. I hope he felt really fucking awkward and useless at that moment.

So yeah. That’s my update. I’ll be in this room alone again today. Nothing has or will change. 

#educhums #special education #i teach middle school #disabilities #im so not doing well mentally #you know if i didnt come back here the kids would have to stay at home and theyd be safe #maybe im selfish for coming in #honestly i feel that way #if i am here they come to school in unsafe conditions #if i do not come in they dont get to come to school but they are safe at home

[teacher-wangji]

My job in a nutshell, I think the only thing that I don’t have on my plate is all those appointments.

Like I love my job, but damn, let’s stop pretending it’s the exact same thing as what a gen ed teacher has to do.

#i just found this so relatable #educhums #special education #multiple disabilities #yup #we do g tubes diapers gotta know medical history gotta do insurance paperwork #order our own materials like wipes bed pads all that

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August: Hey principals, just letting you know that my students have high support needs and our staffing seems really shaky this year, what with one of my assistants being a sub, and the other one about to go out on maternity leave. Last year I wasn’t able to take time off when I needed, so here are all the many, many support systems I’ve put in place so that both my students and myself can get what we need in a healthy environment. I still may need your help in some areas as the year moves forward.

September: Wow, we have a lot of behavior challenges on top of medical needs and it’s INTENSE. We need more support and solutions in my classroom in the form of proper staffing.

Later in September: This is unsafe and unsustainable. We only have two people in the room able to provide care for my kids, and I’m hardly able to teach. This can’t be legal, help us.

Early October: I’m visiting the nurse’s every day from injuries I get in class. My best assistant quit because she was in too much pain. I can’t be the only person in this whole district holding this classroom together, something’s going to snap soon and my only concern is keeping the kids safe when that happens. Help us. NOW.

Last Friday: I might have COVID. I can’t come in and we have no assistants. Are my kids okay? Do you guys have what you need? Remember all the tools and info sheets I gave you all in case something like this happened? No? You just told the families to keep their kids at home ciz no one could take care of them? ...Okay. At least they’re safe.

Today: Yes Ms. Vice Principal, I KNOW we’ll be out of legal compliance if the kids can’t come to school. But I’m struggling to breathe and am not well. No, I can’t teach no Zoom. Again, I’m not fucking well. No, I don’t have my COVID results back yet and it doesn’t matter because I’m both CONTAGIOUS and CAN’T BREATHE. I’M OUT SICK, ACCEPT IT. I did everything I could to make things okay, to keep things stable and safe in my classroom, but one person could have never been enough. Everything fell apart, but my kids are safe and okay, thus I am okay. I’ll help you work out the legalities of the situation as best as I can, but I’m taking multiple sick days and that’s final.

#educhums #special education #i teach sped #i teach middle school #COVID-19 #coronavirus #self contained #ableism

[teacher-wangji]

My assistant quit today due to unsafe working conditions and constant disrespect from admin. Tonight I'm showing what I think are COVID symptoms (I'm really hoping it's just dry air, but even if it's just a cold I can't go in), and my kids have really high support needs. If I can't go in tomorrow idk who will do diapering, lifting, and g tube. But dammit, I've been warning admin about this since august and made a big fat folder on how to support the kids if our staffing fell through. Sink or swim you ableist pieces of shit.

#education #i teach middle school #i teach sped #multiple disabilities #ableism #special education #This is your american education system hard at work

[teacher-wangji]

Lwj: [turns over in bed and accidentally knees Wwx]

Wwx: Aw you kneed me, Lan Zhan.

Lwj: I do need you, Wei Ying.

Wwx, voice cracking: Alright.

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Echo of you.  my fanart of the Untamed

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Story time:

In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.

Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.

What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.

The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.

So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.

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modern ABA therapists are like

"oh nooo ☹ we aren't trying to cure autism, we understand it's very important to some! We are just going to take away every interest a child has and give them back in small doses as rewards for communicating and acting in ways that are painful or uncomfortable when the alternative autistic ways were just fine! And then your child will lose the sense of identity one gains through their interests because they will either hide them or give up on having them. And they will grow up believing happiness & love is something you have to earn by hurting yourself rather than something a parent should automatically give to their child!"

And then top it off with "but we don't ever take away stimming so it's okay 🙂"

#...yup

[teacher-wangji]

Shit ABA therapists say

So much of this is appalling nonsense

“correct source of stimulus control” you mean he finally figured out what you wanted from him? Water, water park are completely accurate a plausible responses to that photo! How’s he supposed to know what you want? Has this child developed their knowledge about swimming pools through this? No, he clearly knows what one is and is able to talk about it (it’s wet, you go swimming in it, you need a bathing suit) he’s just finally figured out what you want. This is a WASTE OF TIME! 

challenging assumptions more like declaring random shit and claiming that anyone who disagrees is not using evidence

“core vocabulary” by the way, means words that aren’t nouns, basically. Words like stop and no, and, go/going, to, because, etc. This isn’t how the burden of evidence works! if you think autistic people develop language in a way that doesn’t involve core language, present your fucking evidence. Especially if you’re proposing teaching language (via AAC, ususally) by denying a child acess to key elements of language. What the fuck.

You shouldn’t need evidence that it “increases language exponentially” to realise that learning the most common words in the english language is important!

Not just arguing that trauma from ABA is rare, arguing that if it caused trauma, it wasn’t ABA, because it’s somehow impossible for ABA to cause trauma? This is patronising as shit, and please remember that there’s now a study showing that children exposed to ABA are traumatised by it.

“more importantly” it’s what parents want? No, the evidence base is much more important that what parents want. Not as important as considering the best interests of the child, but jesus

Kids learning things you’re not actually teaching them is not evidence ABA works

#...this is a speech/language skill #identifying specific vocab #not a behavior problem #it's just so unnnerving some of the shit that gets labeled a 'behavior' issue just cuz the kid is autistic #actually AT LEAST 80% of ABA issues are better addressed in other fields #head banging? could be sensory or emotional regulation #nonverbal? could be a speech/language or even ot issue #aba is fucking dog training usually

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yes!! yes!! and i'd love to say that there are aba therapists already out there trying to shift the whole field to this perspective...i just wish i knew them.

I wish there was a form of ABA therapy where the goal isn't to teach the autistic person to act """normal""" but instead embrace their autistic self and learn how to function in a neurotypical world.

You don't want to eat that food? It must taste terrible and have the yuckiest texture. But your vitamins are important. Here's a food similar to the one you liked before but with the same nutrients. We have plenty more. And there's always vitamins and supplements if needed.

You don't like the shower? How about a bath? Too hot? Too cold? Let's adjust the temperature together to your liking. We can use wipes too. There's always different ways to clean yourself.

Nonverbal? That's alright. There are many other ways to communicate. Let's work out a system. Writing, signing, text-to-speech, pictographs, yes/no gestures. Here is a sign or a tag you can carry on you that tells others how you talk. It'll be especially useful for emergencies.

Your stims? They're wonderful. Flap your hands! Hum along! Click your tongue! Jump up and down! Pick your favorite stim toy. Use it during quiet times of your routine, such as meetings.

Do you hurt yourself? I'm sorry. Please don't bang your head against the wall. What stim feeling are you looking for? Is it the pressure against your head that you like? Use this towel instead. Or message your temples. Whatever it is, you need a stim that heals you, not hurt.

Did you have a meltdown? Shutdown? That's okay. Those experiences are valid. I don't believe they're tantrums at all. I know you're going through a lot of pain. I'll make sure you're safe and comfortable. We'll use the communication system we worked on to make sure you can tell me how you feel and what you need.

Lights too bright? Sunglasses or hats. Bad smells? A mask could help, or a different smell. If you need to, we can walk out of the room. If they want excuses, we'll say you're not feeling well and need a place to recover. Bad food? You don't have to eat it. Bad noise? Headphones or an excuse to leave. There's no shame in leaving.

Little eye contact? Excessive eye contact? No eye contact? That's okay. It's not necessary. We'll learn better, more functional social rules that make sense and help you communicate, such as "thank you."

We won't punish you. We know and understand you operate differently. We won't yell at you. We won't suppress your stims. We won't hit you, restrain you (unless you're in immediate danger, I'm sorry if this happens). We won't force you to undergo painful sensory experiences. If we ever make you feel uncomfortable or scared, tell us. We'll listen.

You're not weird. You're different. It's alright. We won't change your routine. We won't change what you love. Your special interests. How you feel. How you think. We appreciate you and accept you. You're autistic and we'll help you learn how to function in a neurotypical world in your autistic ways.

(TL;DR good intervention therapies teach the child how to function while allowing them to be neurodivergent. Teach them skills and teach them to love themselves, dammit! Don't be mean, okay?)

I'm getting a lot of notes on this// thanks so much!!

[Edit 12/31/2019 (happy new year!)]

I've been reading the reblogs because tbh, I've never gotten a post this popular before so I'm very flattered// There's been mentions of institutions and therapists trying to integrate this and that makes me very happy and hopeful for the future! At the same, I can't deny myself feeling a little offended. As if people are trying to downplay the trauma ABA therapy causes. Of course, that can't be it but I still end up feeling that way.

Oh well. I hope this will be the norm someday.

#actually autistic #and a sped teacher #so it's like i WANNA vouch for the good individuals cuz i know theyre out there #but i still say im pretty anti aba until that major shift happens

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i’m tired and angry and i just wanna give a special fuck you to every teacher who implied that using “complex” language meant you were cheating or sucking up, when in fact that’s just how a lot of neurodivergent/autistic kids (and adults) naturally sound