I am a parent and a professional Registered Early Childhood Educator and Resource Consultant who is raising 4 children, 2 who are in their twenties one having a Learning Disability and two under the age of 14 years old. I have many years advocating for my son so he received the support he needed in order to have a good life just like his siblings. One of my struggles is….
“Why some professionals working with people with disabilities still do not understand that everyone is an individual with individual needs?”
Read the thought provoking article below to show how perceptions matter and how each case can be so very different.
While traveling in Tennessee with her husband a few years back, Megan Orr Burnside saw a scene at a gas station that made her uneasy, to say the least: a mother violently struggling to get her son, who appeared to be about 10, into the car. Not liking the looks of the situation, Megan reported the incident to the police. In a post to Facebook, Megan admitted to completely blaming the mom at first for whatever was going on and detailed just how much she regrets making that call now that a few years have gone by:
“He was screaming and she was so angry and frustrated. We watched her get him in the car and there was a lot of physical fighting in the car. It looked like she was hitting him as well, so we called the police. They came and we left. We then got a call and they told us that the boy was autistic and she really struggled with him, and she had even asked for the police’s help in the past to deal with him because he was very violent. They said they have been helping her and she’s doing the best she can.”
Sophia Tate I have to say, when I first read this article it was upsetting, but understanding. As a Resource Consultant who works with the population of people with developmental disabilities I am able to see both sides of the coin. Society tell us how important it is to report when we believe a child is being abused and this is what this person did, she was following the rules, as to approaching this family and asking if they need help this can be a very tricky situation. Our perceptions are so different and this is what we use to help us determine what needs to be done and then we take action. I do not believe that this woman purposely meant to cause harm to this family, she did the best she could with the information that she had. This situation can happen to anyone at anytime. Our Perceptions, assumptions, believes, bias, experience and knowledge can lead us to react in so many different ways, but at the end of the day we need to do what is best for the child. Sophia Tate RECE, Resource Consultant.