Marguerite Bennett's Blog, page 199
November 11, 2016
the-movemnt:
Schools are six times more likely to suspend Black...
Schools are six times more likely to suspend Black girls than white girls.
Schools are three times more likely to suspend Black boys than white boys.
There are more security officers than counselors in three of the five largest school districts in the U.S.The statistics won’t come as a shock to those aware of the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a series of policies and practices that push students, especially those most at-risk, from classrooms to the criminal justice system at a young age.
It’s time we change the conversation and the policy that leads to more incarceration, inequality and hopelessness for so many.
Join the Issue Time discussion on the school to prison pipeline.
Ask our experts a question by Wednesday 10/5 and follow @the-movemnt for the answers this Friday 10/7!
mushroomaximus:
spiroandthelacktones:
blazepress:
Family...
Family gathering.
MOOOOOM, AUNT CAROL IS HEEEEEERE
I love this because I actually have an aunt Carol
ifpaintingscouldtext:
Orazio Gentileschi | Judith and Her...
Orazio Gentileschi | Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes | 1624
flamethrowing-hurdy-gurdy:
neddythestylish:
memelordrevan:
rosslynpaladin:
iamthethunder:
s8yrbo...
“If autism isn’t caused by environmental factors and is natural why didn’t we ever see it in the past?”
We did, except it wasn’t called autism it was called “Little Jonathan is a r*tarded halfwit who bangs his head on things and can’t speak so we’re taking him into the middle of the cold dark forest and leaving him there to die.”
Or “little Jonathan doesn’t talk but does a good job herding the sheep, contributes to the community in his own way, and is, all around, a decent guy.” That happened a lot, too, especially before the 19th century.
Or, backing up FURTHER
and lots of people think this very likely,
“Oh little Sionnat has obviously been taken by the fairies and they’ve left us a Changeling Child who knows too much, and asks strange questions, and uses words she shouldn’t know, and watches everything with her big dark eyes, clearly a Fairy Child and not a Human Like Us.”
The Myth of the Changeling child, a human baby apparently replaced at a young age by a toddler who “suddenly” acts “strange and fey” is an almost textbook depiction of autistic children.
To this day, “autism warrior mommies” talk about autism “stealing” their “sweet normal child” and have this idea of “getting their real baby back” which (in the face of modern science) indicates how the human psyche actually does deal with finding out their kid acts unlike what they expected.
Given this evidence, and how common we now know autism actually is, the Changeling myth is almost definitely the result of people’s confusion at the development of autistic children.
Weirdly enough, that legend is now comforting to me.
I think it’s worth noting that many like me, who are diagnosed with ASD now, would probably have been seen as just a bit odd in centuries past. I’m only a little bit autistic; I can pass for neurotypical for short periods if I work really hard at it. I have a lack of talent in social situations, and I’m prone to sensory overload or you might notice me stimming.
But here’s the thing: life is louder, brighter and more intense and confusing than it has ever been. I live on the edge of London and I rarely go into the centre of town because it’s too overwhelming. If I went back in time and lived on a farm somewhere, would anyone even notice there was anything odd about me? No police sirens, no crowded streets that go on for miles and miles, no flickery electric lights. Working on a farm has a clear routine. I’d be a badass at spinning cloth or churning butter because I find endless repetition soothing rather than boring.
I’m not trying to romanticise the past because I know it was hard, dirty work with a constant risk of premature death. I don’t actually want to be a 16th century farmer! What I’m saying is that disability exists in the context of the environment. Our environment isn’t making people autistic in the sense of some chemical causing brain damage. But we have created a modern environment which is hostile to autistic people in many ways, which effectively makes us more disabled. When you make people more disabled, you start to see more people struggling, failing at school because they’re overwhelmed, freaking out at the sound of electric hand dryers and so on. And suddenly it looks like there’s millions more autistic people than existed before.
Re: the last reply, I wonder if this could account for people discovering they’re on the spectrum as adults. When I was a kid we had two channels on the tv and no one even imagined the internet would be a household thing someday. Life didn’t bombard me with one tenth of the artificial stimuli it does now.
November 10, 2016
mostlybenedict:
vannialeblohic:
“This is what happens when you...
“This is what happens when you read a book. You aren’t just reading it, you become a part of the book.”
Ok, this is just cool.
femmesorcery:
bloodyhellharry:
“Ah, to be young and feel...
“Ah, to be young and feel love’s keen sting”
Another one for Sparknotes
Draco and Pansy I am screaming
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