#also 'those kids' are our schools disabled students

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

By Hayley Gleeson

There wasn't a dramatic "lightning bolt" moment when Colin Kinner realised he needed to roll up his sleeves and start tackling what he'd come to see as a pernicious problem: the largely unchecked spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Australian schools.

What spurred him to act, in the end, was the growing pile of evidence that COVID was a serious health threat, and his concern that school communities seemed to be shrugging their shoulders at it.

He was tired of hearing about schools allowing teachers to come to work while COVID positive. Of sick children being permitted to stay in class and infecting others. Of schools asking parents not to tell them if their child had COVID, but routinely sending home letters about head lice or chickenpox. Of teachers and kids catching the virus and not recovering.

"As a parent, I want my son to be safe at school, so that was a key part of my motivation to do this," says Mr Kinner, the Brisbane creator of COVID Safety for Schools, a free online course that aims to correct misinformation and teach school staff and parents how to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. "But also, having spoken to lots of other parents and teachers, it's clear that most schools are lacking an understanding of some of the absolute basics of COVID. And in the fifth year of the pandemic, I find that very troubling."

Every week in Australia too many students and teachers are catching COVID at school, Mr Kinner says, resulting in disrupted learning, teacher shortages, increased transmission in the broader community and disabling chronic illnesses like long COVID. It's hardly surprising: a packed classroom can be the perfect place for an airborne virus to thrive, with one US study finding more than 70 per cent of COVID transmission in homes began with an infected school-age child.

Schools aren't necessarily at fault: in most states they've been starved of good public health guidance, Mr Kinner says — they've been told "they can treat it like any other respiratory illness, so that's exactly what they're doing".

Step one: correct misinformation A science and technology communicator and startup mentor, Mr Kinner's solution was to assemble a team — some of Australia's leading experts in public health, medicine and engineering — who could explain in simple video tutorials the health risks of COVID, the science of how it spreads, and strategies schools can use to keep staff and students well. The ultimate goal of COVID Safety for Schools, he says, is to change minds and behaviour and, since it launched in February, 600 participants have signed up, about half parents and half teachers.

But perhaps its greatest challenge is engaging people in the first place, particularly those who believe COVID is harmless or no longer worth taking precautions against.

For the past couple of years Australians have been encouraged to keep calm and carry on as if the virus is in the rear view mirror, even as it continues sickening and killing people, albeit in smaller numbers than years gone by. News reports often downplay its severity, if they cover it at all, while political leaders, public health officials and doctors have claimed it is no cause for concern, especially in children, and that catching it is not just inevitable, but necessary.

But mounting evidence shows the opposite. Even in vaccinated people and those who suffer "mild" infections, COVID can trigger a range of health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological conditions and immune dysfunction. Then there's long COVID, a debilitating multi-organ illness that has upended the lives of hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, many of whom do not fully recover.

"COVID is like an accelerator for all the other diseases that we hate — it's actually an aging accelerant as well," Professor Jeremy Nicholson explains in one of the course videos. "And we don't want that for our kids or anybody else."

Simple steps can stop COVID spreading Once apprised of the health risks, course participants are taught about evidence-based tools schools can use to reduce viral transmission. These are not outlandish or burdensome interventions, but common sense steps like encouraging teachers and students to stay home if they're sick; improving indoor air quality with ventilation and filtration — with air conditioning systems, air purifiers and good old-fashioned open windows; and promoting mask wearing particularly in high-risk settings like crowded indoor gatherings or bus trips.

Of course, some education departments already require schools to take similar measures. In Victoria, for instance, all public schools must "maximise" external ventilation, ensure air purifiers are used, encourage good personal hygiene and make face masks available for those who want to wear them. But that doesn't mean schools actually follow the guidelines or use the tools at their disposal (in 2021 the government delivered tens of thousands of air purifiers to schools across the state, but many are no longer used and some have since been listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace).

The federal president of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, says any initiative that educates people about COVID and what schools can do to prevent infections is "welcome". Teachers who have to take sick leave because they've caught COVID or developed long COVID are an additional burden on schools, many of which are struggling with the "chronic" national teacher shortage, she says. Then there's the disruption to learning: "A contagious disease can very quickly … take out significant numbers of students. And fundamentally, we want kids to be engaged, we want them to be well, we want them to be learning."

Improving the situation, though, requires stronger leadership from education departments, Ms Haythorpe says. "Current government approaches to limiting COVID infection, repeat infection and long COVID demonstrates a lack of concern for the health and wellbeing of students, teachers and broader school communities," the AEU wrote in its submission to Australia's parliamentary inquiry into long COVID. Mitigation measures in many public schools are not adequate, it said, "and a lack of capital investment … since 2017 means that conditions are often cramped with inadequate air flow".

'Long COVID basically ended my career' For Amanda Sharpe, these problems are personal. Before she developed long COVID after catching the virus from her children in 2022, Ms Sharpe taught advanced maths at a high school in Bundaberg, Queensland. She used to spend full days on her feet, relishing the buzz of helping her students solve complex equations, preparing them for careers in fields like medicine and aerospace engineering.

Now, just sitting upright for a short spell or reading a simple news story can quickly worsen her symptoms and wipe her out for days. "Long COVID basically ended my career and I doubt that I'll ever be able to return," she says. "Unless there is an actual cure, I think that will be it for me."

It's bewildering that schools aren't taking stronger action to protect their staff and students from COVID, says Ms Sharpe, who tells her story in the COVID Safety for Schools course. A major issue is that many people still think of COVID as a respiratory illness, she says — they don't realise it can also attack the vascular system, damaging blood vessels and increasing the risk of clotting abnormalities, stroke and heart disease.

She also wishes more people knew that the virus can cause brain changes and cognitive impairment: one study, for instance, found people who recovered from "mild" COVID infections had lost the equivalent of three IQ points.

"With the maths I teach, you really can't afford to have your IQ drop," Ms Sharpe says. "I just don't understand why schools aren't implementing simple measures like improving indoor air quality — especially private schools, where academic results link directly with enrolments and success."

In response to previous disease outbreaks like Spanish flu and tuberculosis, schools moved lessons outdoors — sometimes in freezing winter temperatures — to stop children from getting sick, she says. "But we don't want to have classroom windows open in Queensland? It just seems insane to me."

What about WHS laws? It may also be unlawful. Australians may have been led to believe that public health orders in force until 2022 were the key reason employers, including schools, had to take steps to protect staff from COVID, says Michael Tooma, a partner at the law firm Hamilton Locke. But schools have always had to comply with workplace health and safety laws — "there has always been a duty of care", he says. "COVID presents a risk to health and safety and, like any other risk, it needs to be managed with proactive policies and procedures that try to eliminate the risk or reduce it as far as reasonably practicable."

At the very least, Mr Tooma says, schools should be excluding people with COVID from the workplace, improving ventilation in classrooms and auditoriums and maintaining sensible cleaning and hygiene regimes.

Schools that fail to meet their WHS legal obligations may be reported to and investigated by state regulators, which can issue improvement notices and in some cases bring prosecutions for serious breaches of the relevant legislation.

Still, Mr Tooma says he's not aware of any schools being prosecuted for COVID-related breaches and in general, regulators tend to focus on industries that have higher risks of serious physical harm and death, as well as "campaign" issues like mental health. "Regulator activity tends to follow public interest and so as public interest in COVID and COVID safety has waned, so has regulatory activity around it, in my experience."

Mr Kinner suspects it's probably going to take successful litigation for schools to start taking COVID more seriously. He points to a UK case in which 120 teachers with long COVID are suing the Department of Education for allegedly failing to protect them at the height of the pandemic. Those involved say they were not given good enough guidance for managing the risks the virus posed, with data showing teachers suffered high rates of infection and long COVID.

"I think it's only a matter of time before we see similar legal action in Australia," Mr Kinner says. "It could be from teachers, it could be from families who caught COVID because it came into their household via the school. I think it's inevitable."

In the meantime, he will keep trying to get COVID Safety for Schools in front of as many teachers, parents and principals as he can — even if it takes a while, even if they don't want to hear its message.

"I've been very surprised at how school leaders don't act when they're presented with this information, even people who go through the course and understand — or should understand — that this is a virus we should be taking very seriously," Mr Kinner says. "Because facts remain facts. Even if you don't like them, even if they make you feel uncomfortable, they're still facts."

[ghostespresso]

wild thought what if people were actually paid to do their jobs instead of expecting them to do everything out of the kindness of their hearts? what then?

[spooksforsammy]

I want some things to be clear.

Your not better for being gifted/ high IQ. You receive more respect then those with intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and/or low IQ. You shouldn’t. Your not better then them. Gifted students are the RUDEST to those with ID or learning disabilities or anything else. The rudest to those in special education.

If your gifted get your head out your ass. You think your better for not being in special education, (many schools include gifted as SpEd) and there’s nothing wrong with needing the extra help. I’ve seen it with my own two (one hehe :>) eye. Gifted kids are rude to those who need extra help, ive seen it happen to myself and others. Stop that shit.

If your gifted and go onto people spaces who talk about being the opposite of you. Don’t make it about you. We have our space to talk about the problems related to being gifted, stay there. We have our space and they have theirs. You don’t need to turn a space not about you into yours. You job when hearing stories from those with ID, LD or anything else isn’t to make it about being gifted, it’s to listen, accept, change and spread their words. If people who struggle to pass schools for whatever reason decide to speak up on that, don’t say you also have it hard with your advance classes.

And most importantly. You are not the least common group in disabilities related spaces. Don’t act like you are. More people talk about being gifted and disabled then they talk about learning disorders or ID. You’ll be shocked how many know about gifted and how many know and ID (a hint: not many people know about ID even if they know about gifted).

Thank you :)

[sweatermuppet]

What is it like being trans in New Hampshire? I'm trans in Maine and generally consider NH the black sheep of New England when it comes to queer politics. Some of my trans friends consider it a no-stop zone on our roadtrips.

uh it's pretty fine for me. i get kinda sad when people say NH isnt trans friendly (a sentiment ive seen a lot lately). i had an openly transitioning teacher in high school. i had many gay teachers in high school. i was one of the first kids to transition openly at my school & there were a lot of struggles but it was also 6+ years ago & mostly teachers were under-educated & didn't know how to protect me. i got in a fight & suspended over a kid who was transphobic toward me, but i was allowed to use the boy's bathroom & locker room & all of my core teachers were pretty good about using my name & pronouns

i have multiple trans friends, just locally, & know other trans people a little further out in NH from following them on IG. some pretty decent art scenes in various towns & those are LGBT-dense. one of my trans friends started estrogen yesterday (prescription thru informed consent). i will say in my experience, NH healthcare is lacking for transsexuals—it's been easier for me to go thru Massachusetts or NH planned parenthoods, but ive been able to receive treatment fairly easily (cost being one of the only major negative factors)

as for people, a lot of folks kind of don't care? there are of course republicans & conservatives & a disheartening amount of libertarians, but in my day to day, it's mostly "live free or die" & if you're not hurting anyone, it's not too big of a deal. some of the republicans in my life (like friends' dads) have the attitude of "well i don't get it" but they still call me silas & are generally alright with me, aren't hostile towards me

i see trans flags pretty often. i saw a bumper sticker last month that was the shape of NH completely colored in with the trans flag. there are a bunch of coffee shops & bookstores & artsy places nearby i can think of that employ trans people, house trans art, etc

recently, anti-trans & anti-LGBT bills have been introduced & passed in NH. two passed last month, which can be read about here. i saw some pretty disgusting sentiments shared about those bills on twitter when they were introduced. those make it harder to exist here, but it's not impossible & it does not immediately make all residents hostile toward transsexuals. i don't want people to abandon NH because they think it's too far gone or too hopeless. trans people will always exist in every state & every country & every corner, no matter how hostile those places become

people here love me, regardless of how political parties view me. people here fight for me. there are trans people & Black people & disabled people here who are more vulnerable than me who i want to stay & fight for & protect. if you'd like to learn more about diversity in NH & how to protect various human rights, here are some orgs i am familiar with:

NH PANTHERS (anti-racism advocacy & education)

Queer-Lective (art, education, & connection)

Black Lives Matter NH

GLSEN NH (LGBT resources & education for schools/teachers/students)

Reproductive Freedom Fund of NH (abortion fund, sex ed, LGBT advocacy)

603 Equality (LGBT advocacy & education)

Lovering Health Center (reproductive care, LGBT education, gender affirming care for NH, MA, & ME)

Black Heritage Trail of NH (Black history)

ACLUNH (civil liberties + human rights)

[bardraelyn]

Were the Fallen cast out because they were illiterate?

Ok, big angry thinky meta below. Something just clicked in my head this afternoon, and I had to have a bit of a rant about it.

It was the word "ineffable" that triggered it.

I was thinking about how most demons can’t spell—canonically. It’s not just Shax. The guidebook on angels that Furfur carried has a ton of errors, both in the actual text and in the handwritten annotations. And if they can't spell, it seems likely they also can’t read well, either. Furfur sure struggled with it, and he’s usually on tasks that require a ton of paperwork.

Angels, on the other hand, don't seem to have that problem—the ones that are still in Heaven, that is. (Also, neither does Crowley, but we'll come back to that.)

So, what, did God make a bunch of angels with reading, writing, and/or language difficulties, who presumably had trouble with written directions, and then cast them out of Heaven because they couldn’t understand Her plan?

“Nope, too many questions. Out you go!”

God's great big plan is supposed to be ineffable, right? As in, “too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words”?

Well, who the fuck told everyone it was? The Metatron? The so-called “Voice of God” who is, as we’ve all seen, rather a bit of an asshole?

And are we to take that literally, as in unable to be expressed in any words at all (written or spoken), or is the implication that it simply can't be codified into written language?

If it was the Metatron who called it God's plan ineffable, did he say that because he didn’t want to bother explaining parts of it to a bunch of struggling angels?

"Oh, you can't read it because it's ineffable! It can't really be put into words, so that's the closest approximation of what you're meant to know. Just do your best, and stop asking so many questions!"

Or did he decide it was ineffable because he couldn’t understand it?

He was so condescending toward Muriel about reading a book. Is he masking a disability (and barely hiding some jealous rage) with that holier/smarter-than-thou facade? Is that why he called them "dim"?

He's clearly a bully, which strongly suggests he's insecure, so what are the odds that he's been hiding the written directives from God and started giving "Her" orders verbally instead (declaring himself the "Voice of God" in the process) in order to hide his literacy issues from the other Archangels?

Has he been making up the rules all along? Are the Heavenly Host and their Opposition fucking up God’s actual plan for the universe without even knowing it because the Metatron can’t fucking read?

Did God cast out the Fallen angels, or did the Metatron cast them out to feel better about himself?

Are the legions of Hell mostly made up of illiterate angels, mixed with a few other angels who hung out with them and perhaps even tried to help those who were struggling (just like the big ol’ softy that Crowley happens to be would have done, once he realized the unfairness of their position)?

And what about that Rebellion?

Did Lucifer take advantage of the struggling angels, or was he acting on their behalf, like a parent who takes on the school board when the principal and teachers won't abide by the special needs students' individual education plans*?

If it's the latter, where is/was God in this system?

__________

* Probably took advantage, let's be real. Hell is not a nice place. But maybe he's just a very overwhelmed, frustrated, and rather crappy parental figure who had a breakdown and left the kids to run amok, and they all went Lord of the Flies on him. Who knows? We really have only Crowley's word and the fight with Adam to base our deductions on.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Can you talk a little bit about how you became a paleontologist? (like school and stuff).

I went to college wanting to major in paleontology and everybody told me I could major in geology but that being a paleontologist just really wasn't possible.

I did major in geology/archaeology combo major (offered at my college, it's actually a BA, not a BS, which was disappointing), but it's not paleontology and i've been out of school for a awhile and i'm just really discouraged.

ugh welcome to my life. the reason my story is complicated is because of crap like that.

so, I'm going to get very, very, very real here. that means I'm going to reveal some personal details about myself. I'm okay with it. I want to share this. Content Warnings for Parental Abuse, Mental Illness, Physical Disability, and Trauma. Phew. Here we go.

first thing we have to acknowledge: I grew up poor. my mom was a stay at home mom because of mental illness (majorly agoraphobic and huge social anxiety, plus largely untreated OCD). my dad rarely held on a job for very long because of severe untreated ADHD. my parents' primary concern, at all times, was that their six kids (my mom loves kids) would have gainful, steady employment. they are communists, and it was always about how we can't help others effectively if we're not secure in the rest of our lives.

I wanted to be a paleontologist from the moment I could have such a want. But my parents never, never, thought that was a good idea. They wanted me to be a scientist, because they could see my potential, but they didn't think being a paleontologist was a safe career. And, to be fair, they had a point. But I didn't want to be anything else. In fact, the very idea would make me start sobbing. So while I was little, they didn't really do anything about it. Occasionally they planted seeds of "you might not be a paleontologist", but it never went well.

fast forward to me going to college. now they were serious. we were constantly fighting over whether I should be a paleontologist or a medical researcher (MDPhD. you know, the insane degree that insane people get.) (I'm insane, but not that way). because they were paying for, well, some of it (I got a lot of scholarships, b''h), and I was in general dependant on them like most college students are, they picked my classes. I was forced to major in biology (though I probably would have picked that anyway), and I never took any geology classes (well, I took half of one, but had to drop it because of my stupid premed classes).

I got to do paleontology research, but it was kind of in secret - I technically had two different research jobs, one in evolutionary biology, one in paleontology. I took tons of medical related classes, and was forced to take the MCAT twice. I wasn't good at it. Memorizing things isn't my forte, I'm much better at problem solving and finding/evaluating information. I also just wasn't interested in it - I can remember countless dinosaur genera, but ask me to remember really specific medical details and my mind draws a blank.

I did not do well on the MCAT, but I was still forced to apply to MDPhD programs. I also applied to evolutionary biology and paleontology PhD programs on my own. But paleontology is extremely competitive, and I didn't hear back from any of those. I also didn't get anywhere with any of those medical programs. In fact, I ended up getting accepted to a grad program for evolutionary developmental biology, because that was the only thing that had an opening. Rather than go home and be forced to apply to medical school again, I took the out.

I was miserable. But I tried to convince myself it was better this way. That I would have gainful employment, and be able to do science. Meanwhile, I was running this blog, building a community, and constantly thinking about paleontology instead of my actual thesis. Even though paleontology doesn't require field work, I'd convinced myself I could never do it because field work is inaccessible to me - I have had chronically dislocated knees since I was 16, and a few different physical conditions that make me exceptionally heat sensitive. I couldn't do field work, so I couldn't be a paleontologist. I also am fat, because of those disabilities, and there just aren't a lot of fat AFAB paleontologists, so I thought I wouldn't be able to get far for that reason.

But I couldn't finish that PhD. I didn't care enough about it, and I was constantly hitting roadblocks. I wanted the focus to be more evolution based, my advisor told me no. I wanted to pursue a specific question, my advisor advised against it. My wasps kept dying, and I didn't know why. I couldn't get my assays to work. My advisor was always focused on his other students and never me. It was a nightmare. All the while, my blog was exploding in popularity, and I was even going to paleontology conferences on my own dollar and networking there, presenting research about using the internet as an educational tool. And I felt at home. I was with *my people*.

Then the pandemic happened. I was already estranged from my parents for other reasons, that I'd rather not get into (no, it's not cause I'm queer). Everyone was frustrated with my lack of progress at my first program. My spouse, the infinite well of support that he is (url @plokool), gave me the push I needed to drop out with a master's degree (which I had earned at that point). I then was seriously considering becoming a rabbi, because I didn't think I could hack being a scientist at all after that experience.

But, everything felt wrong when I wasn't engaged with paleo. ADAD had gone on hiatus because my artists were persuing other opportunities (and I'm so proud of them!). I just felt empty and lost without paleontology in my life. So I went to the virtual SVP that was being held in 2020, since it was cheaper than usual and online.

And I met my current advisor. We clicked *right* away. We had the same questions about bird evolution and talked for hours. He encouraged me to apply, so I did - just for paleontology programs. I knew if I didn't do paleo, there wasn't a point. Nothing else would hold my interest enough for me to get a doctoral degree. I also talked to the wonderful friends I had made here on Palaeoblr, ones who were also actually pursuing paleo, and they promised me I could do it - that they believed in me. The one thing no one but my spouse had ever really indicated to me. It gave me the push I needed, and when I was accepted to this program, I took it. It also helped that I finally had working ADHD medication, for the first time in my life.

Even though it meant moving from Chicago - nice, at least sometimes chilly Chicago, my home for my whole life - to fucking southern new mexico. I am so hot. All the time now. My feet never return to their proper color. But it was worth the risk.

But I'm not doing field work! I've had to take a lot of remedial geology classes, but all my work has been computer and lab based. And I've done so much already! I've published a new bird, I've done excellent in my classes and teaching, and I'm currently compiling my own database of Paleogene bird fossils. Last year was a little rough because of trauma things, and the gd-damned adderall shortage, but I'm moving forward. I am hoping to go into museum work, because I love museums, and I believe in them and their ability to educate people (I also want to help the museum field decolonize itself, but that's a different discussion.) I've even made a design for an evolution of dinosaurs exhibit that my professor wants me to make into a real thing someday.

So... yeah. I became a paleontologist by being the world's most stubborn mother fucker alive. I decided I wanted to be as a kid, and I never could let it go, even when it would have been better for me to. But I'm glad I didn't, because now I'm here, and I'm doing well. When i can focus, at any rate. Because I'm only at peace when I'm around dinosaurs.

(P.S. I've even repaired my relationship with my parents, and they support me as a paleontologist now! just took 30 years for them to realize they couldn't fight me on this, I guess... or they're old and tired of fighting. one of the two.)

[queen-esther]

Hi i’m sorry if this is weird but can you talk more about what’s making you leave teaching? I’m in the process of getting my masters rn and i’ve really loved my placement so far but admittedly i’m a little bit uh. scared. lol.

Oh, so many reasons!

Student behaviors are out of control with increasingly less support from parents, administration, and society in general. There’s always some little excuse for why the kid decided to threaten to throw a desk at multiple classmates or wrote “FUCK ME UP THE ASS” on classroom furniture, whether it’s magically the abusive commie teacher’s fault, the poor wittle bwaby uwu is just going through a hard time and needs a bag of Takis, another kid made them upset, etc. Gentle parenting and the over-reliance on giving kids the benefit of the doubt for genuinely atrocious behavior is going to result in a very fucked up generation of adults in the next ten or so years, so be ready for that.

There’s also too much extra paperwork that doesn’t contribute to effectively getting the job done in the classroom in any way. There’s always some stupid PD to go to, some random document that needs to be filled out and uploaded, some email or phone call that just HAS to be responded to by 12:30 PM no matter how much it interrupts actually, you know, teaching your class.

I’m also very pissed off about how my maternity leave was handled, among other things. I understood my leave would be unpaid, which sucks and is honestly unacceptable, but we managed with short term disability giving me 65% of my normal paycheck while I was out. While I was on leave, I also had to deliver checks to the office to pay for my insurance premiums at the threat of having those benefits taken away. What they DIDN’T make clear to me, however, was the fact that my pay rate would be “adjusted” when I came back, so I was also getting hundreds of dollars slashed from each paycheck even when I got back to work, up until the end of this past August. In short, the school district found some legal way to double dip on withholding pay from me for having the audacity to have a baby. It’s 2024, and yet we still have a female-dominated field where this sort of thing is considered expected and okay.

There are also just little things that take away passion from teaching and add up over time. I hate having literally everything I teach revolve around making the kids pass a stupid standardized test at the end of the year. I hate having admin come in and, instead of finding ways to help me and my coworkers grow, picking out “gotchas” to make us feel like we suck at our jobs. I can’t stand being limited by following to the letter exactly the lesson plans the district hands out to us. It’s impossible to handle 16 different IEP’s for individual students. There’s an unspoken expectation that we devote hours of our personal time outside of work to focusing on work-related things.

I haven’t had a huge outbreak in trichotillomania since high school, but my traditional bald patch has started to come back in the last couple of years, I suspect from all the stress and anxiety. When I look at what I want for myself in the next ten, twenty, thirty years, this job ain’t it, especially since I would need to take out another student loan to get a master’s degree if I want to advance anywhere outside of the classroom. I’m not willing to put myself through that anymore. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[loving-n0t-heyting]

hey, so i'm like... at a strange crossroads here. i was homeschooled, it was really traumatic for me, i don't think kids should have to go through the shit i did. at the same time... i was homeschooled because i literally, physically couldn't enter a public school due to disability, and so were the rest of my homeschooled friends. there were a lot of people in the homeschooling scene who were homeschooled for religious abuse reasons, and even the disabled kids were not-infrequently abused due to the structure of homeschooling.

as a result, i'm really... torn. i'm very sympathetic to homeschool abolition, but simultaneously, if i was forced to go to in-person school, it would have killed multiple of my family members--they're immunocompromised, which meant neither they nor anyone they lived with could be in a building with more than a few dozen people daily. i had friends growing up who were immunocompromised themselves, so entering a public school building daily would have killed *them.* in less extreme versions, i had friends who couldn't go to school because they couldn't accommodate their sensory needs and being in a building with those lights and that much sound would have made it impossible for them to do anything but curl into a ball in pain. my sibling couldn't go to school, even if our family wasn't immunocompromised, because he wore adult diapers and aspirated on food, and there wasn't a single school in our city that was willing to accommodate a teenager who needed an aid to change his diapers and feed him.

and in homeschooling abolition discussions... i never really see anyone talking about us and the fact that a significant chunk of homeschooling--including the abusive kind--occurs because of us existing. i don't see a lot of discussion of what happens to us when homeschooling is abolished. and that really worries me, because like... we're a *lot* of the homeschooling population. we're a lot of the *victims* of the kind of abuse homeschooling enables! it doesn't feel right to talk about how we're victimized without addressing the reasons that victimization occurs in the first place and offering solutions for them. and i feel really torn about how to address that, because pointing out those reasons in the first place keeps getting taken as defending abuse. but i don't want to defend abuse, i just want to know that kids who are disabled like i am are being centered in the discussions that directly impact whether they live or die. i want the discussions to directly address what the option that is not public school and is not homeschool is, and how to create the structure for that option. i want to be on the same page that we are *not* talking about sending disabled children to public school.

i absolutely agree that disability accommodations are an extremely important problem to address in education policy, in fact idt ik anyone with my broad attitude towards education who doesnt think they are of paramount importance. whats mystifying to me is why this is somehow an argument against giving priority to public education: the right to inclusion ("sending disabled children to public school") has been a rallying cry of the disability advocacy movt for decades, and is the basis of core federal legislation on the topic like the individuals with disabilities education act (yes, including for immunocompromised students). now, you can fairly complain that this legislation is itself too weak to get the job done and often receives very inadequate enforcement to boot, but this is an argument for expanded protections and more robust enforcement mechanisms, not giving parents free rein to do with their children as they see fit. and there is no more effective incentive for superior enforcement than universal buy-in, which is not going to happen except by force

its also mysterious what the superior alternative is to public schooling for disabled students. traditional private schools, naturally, suffer from the more general accessibility problem that they weed out poorer families by their very nature. homeschooling comes with this hobble (not all families can afford to homeschool their kids), along with the unfortunate reality that even generally intellectually and academically competent parents are not automatically endowed with gifts as special educators and the atrocious shortcomings of disability rights law for homeschooled students. these shortcomings are part of the broader lobby-won trend to curtail otherwise standard rights and protections for homeschooled students, and like other aspects of this trend come with a body count (see link above). the plague of charter schools, finally, is recognised even among sympathetic analysts to fail disabled students especially egregiously—a natural consequence of the "school choice" movts policy priorities of testable "school performance" and general deregulation. again, ik you and other disabled students who have benefited from being homeschooled. there are parents i would actively counsel to homeschool their disabled children. but this is on the level of individual advice, not public policy, and there is no solution to the social problem of disabled childrens right to education by way of privatisation. its a dead fucking end

[dykesynthezoid]

The talk about gen alpha kids being uniquely terrible students always confuses me bc on the one hand I’m not denying that the prevalence of screens and technology in our everyday lives has had a huge impact on kids, but on the other hand when people talk about how uniquely disrespectful or violent or entitled gen alpha kids are I’m like but are they actually??

I honestly think class might be part of it, bc I’ve both tutored and taught afterschool activities at public schools that were specifically in working class areas and that was not my experience at all. I mean yes there were absolutely kids who were disrespectful or difficult and could even be aggressive, but the underlying causes of those issues was always really clear to me. I could spot a kid who needed more support than they were getting really, really easily.

Every student who was really difficult with me very obviously had something going on that I just wasn’t qualified to help with (usually a learning disability or behavioral issue that stemmed from a specific neurodivergence that wasn’t being addressed, often exacerbated by issues with their homelife or economic situation).

The 5th graders could be especially snotty, but that feels par for the course frankly. Older kids approaching puberty tend to act out more bc they’re testing out the development of their own autonomy and personal freedom in a way younger kids haven’t quite reached developmentally. It’s a messy process just like actual adolescence is.

At the same time, so many of those kids of all ages were so sweet and so genuinely wanted to do well and socialize and improve their skills. And a lot of those kids also had some really difficult and heavy things going on. Most of them did have some kind of personal device at home like a phone or iPad, but I rarely had to tell students off for being on any sort of personal device. The kids who brought their phones with them were usually pretty good at keeping them put away. And the ones who weren’t were also ones who, again, had other underlying issues that had nothing to do with their technology use.

I’m sure there are plenty of terrible entitled iPad kids out there but to act like gen alpha students are all some doomed generation of little monsters is just really weird. I don’t think that reflects reality at all. I think we can have conversations about parental neglect and access to technology and entitlement without acting like children have never even approached being this difficult before. As if educators weren’t saying the exact same thing about Gen X 40 years ago! It all seems very silly to me. Like yeah educating kids has unique challenges these days but also maybe people who work with kids wouldn’t suddenly be convinced that gen alpha is uniquely terrible if they also had some actual support and decent pay. Maybe we’d be able to take a step back and see the bigger overarching patterns. Idk

[naofaun]

Things in school that my autism affects that I never see anyone else talk about:

the arrival of substitutes is often unwelcome, sudden large change. their rules and methods of teaching are often different than the teacher's, meaning the class will be different that day and i had no time to prepare. also, students tend to get louder and more obnoxious.

rules that exist for no logical reason. for example, not being able to use your phone in free periods of class. or not being able to put your hood up. also, half of the points on our dress code.

this one isn't directly related to autism but rather the many disabilities that come with it, so: sitting in those tiny hard chairs, hunched over a piece of paper for 40 minutes before im allowed to move equals horrible horrible joint pain for the rest of the day

information processing. i take a longer time to process stuff than other people, and sometimes you have to explain something to me in a certain way so that i can understand it. things that i can't picture in my head as a physical form or occurrence happening will often take me longer to wrap my head around. because of the 25 other kids in the classroom with me, the teacher can't exactly slow down and explain to me in certain ways so i understand. also, i wouldn't ask even if they could because im terrified of being seen as stupid lol

anyway there's probably more but. all i see when it comes to autism in schools is sensory stuff like lights and people talking. im affected by a whole lot more than that.

[mydisasteracademia]

Honestly, the slight crumbs of worldbuilding are all the more frustrating because of how interesting they are.

Quirkless discrimination: it exists, given how okay the teachers are towards Aldera's bullying of Izuku. Sir Nighteye also thinks Izuku being Quirkless won't make him a good hero, using it as an insult towards him.

The Business Course and Support Course: WHAT DO THEY LEARN? I'd imagine some engineering and management classes/hands on labs in addition to the regular classes. Maybe internships with agencies/compnaies on a manigerial or engineering aspect?

Exactly! What’s the use of worldbuilding if you stay in the same spots the entire time? Keeping it safe is keeping it boring, and honestly that’s the biggest injustice for such an interesting and multifaceted world.

Like, we’ve seen people discriminate against Izuku because he doesn’t have a Quirk (even if the majority were literal children, and kids can be very cruel) - but is that just a him thing? We hardly ever (IF ever) see it elsewhere in BnHA. We hear about it it we don’t recognize its impact outside of being a traumatizing experience for our main. We don’t grasp just how widespread this issue is, and the fact that so many see it as an allegory for real-life disability in an ableist world makes it even more disappointing. We see no aids for those with destructive or harmful quirks, we see nothing for those who’ve lost their Quirks in some way (be it old age or losing it via accident), we see nothing to aid those who ARE disabled - we see none of that. I’m not expecting a Japanese man writing a Japanese-centric story to see it the same way other countries or cultures would, but it would be a genuinely interesting issue to showcase and get people discussing.

And let’s be honest, the other courses at Yuuei essentially don’t exist (save for the designers of the Support Course). What I wouldn’t give to see Business Course students debating the ethics of the hero world, or how to run agencies, or studying to get into law schools with Yuuei’s clout backing them up, or even getting government jobs! I would even take a Business Course kid being disillusioned with how corrupt and greedy the hero world is and having to confide in other students about their anxieties and frustrations. We could’ve had a legitimately interesting arc about 1-A or 1-B kids (or even Shinsou) getting to see other perspectives besides just “heroism is great and nothing is wrong!”

And the Support Course! Where’s the sidekicks, the rescue teams, the spies, or ANYTHING besides weaponsmiths? Where’s the tech kids who got into Yuuei to exercise their abilities in those branches? The hackers? The security experts? All of it would be so interesting to explore but we never see any of it!

I dunno. I really do love BnHA but the insistent refusal to explore any themes besides “let’s throw these inexperienced kids into an adult war” is severely frustrating and disappointing. I know Horikoshi isn’t (and shouldn’t be) expected to talk about everything, but even a little variety would be nice.

[mrhaitch]

Hello there again,

(X-files anon)

My partner is also a full-time teacher that works almost exclusively in supported learning, but he leans more towards physical and intellectual disabilities rather than behavioural concerns (though he has experience).

My question is, do you experience compassion fatigue and burn out? If you do, how do you handle it?

My partner tends to take on all of the weight from work and it hangs over him pretty bad, he can’t seem to shake it. Especially as it gets closer to the end of the year.

Would you also have any advice for me about providing better assistance at home when he’s feeling like this?

I feel as though i’m there physically for him, cooking and cleaning among other things, but emotionally it’s a little tricky as I am also studying two degrees simultaneously and we’re both utterly exhausted by the end of the day.

Thanks.

Sometimes - especially where individual cases are overwhelmingly bad and it feels like there's no seam to grab onto. Every student will have some crack in their armour, or something solid and stable to hang onto even if everything else is shit.

Unfortunately, for a lot of my students this isn't the case. Some of them are in care, some of them are estranged from an abusive or violent or neglectful parent. Some of them are in the orbit of gangs or have previously been involved with gangs. Some have substance abuse issues, others have cripplingly bad mental health issues and it's a coin toss whether they can hear you when you try to reach out to them.

In a single class I had a student confess they were homeless, that their dad is violent, their mum is taking money from their account, and a whole myriad of stuff.

You do get tired, at the end of the day. Especially when you've spent that whole time being calm while a bunch of kids with conduct disorder are yelling at you because you've decided today's the day they need to work on their spelling when they just want to be plumbers or electricians or mechanics.

Fundamentally what helped me was setting a boundary: I can't help them from home. I don't have access to our safeguarding systems, I can't talk to them, etc. outside of my working hours. From the start of the school day to the end - that is my window to make a difference. In the time between school days I need to take care of myself. I need to go to the gym, read books, work on my novel, spend time with my wife - do anything I can to make myself whole again so I'm ready to be there for them when they need me.

Of course, you'll still find yourself thinking about those students during your downtime and it's important not to beat yourself up for it - but also to keep things practical. Nudge the thoughts towards actions: what am I going to do? What can I do? Rather than going round and round thinking about how shit things are for them.

How to support someone who has to deal with that? The little things. A touch, a cup of coffee with a smile, making two minutes to talk to them about how they're feeling. Those little comforts can really help you step out of your head and remember you're not facing those challenges alone, in the same way that those things make all the difference to students with a difficult life. In a few weeks I've managed to take a bunch of unmanageable students and get them working and progressing just by being calm, praising them when they dig in and work hard, and not browbeating them for being themselves.

They'll be okay.

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

I had a rough week last week. Tuesday my dog gets sick, so I look up her symptoms. And bc I'm a crazy person, my mind automatically latched onto the worst possibility. So I spent three hours crying hysterically and having panic attacks bc I was so scared she would die. Then Wednesday I had to take my dog to vet and was still super stressed out. Thursday and Friday I have to deal with medicaid and disability paperwork. Saturday I had a panic attack so bad that I couldn't stop it and had to text my brother to come help me (he lives with me. we're too poor to live without a roommate, and we've basically lived together our whole lives, so it was whatever). Sunday morning I have a panic attack and can't leave my house to play my weekly dnd game bc the thought of spending hours with other people away from home was...bad. Sunday night, I got completely (and irrationally) terrified of being alone. I was so afraid that I called my mom, and of course she offers to come over. And I'm freaking out so bad I let her, even though it was late and I know she has to get up early for work. (She only stayed until my brother got back around 10:30)

BUT, today is a new day. I managed to get my blood work done today, and talk on the phone to my case worker, and pick up a pair of contacts from my eye doctor to wear until my order comes in. And I didn't have a panic attack. I mean, I still had to have my dad take me, bc leaving home alone isn't something I can do right now. (Mentally or physically. My brother's car broke down, and since he's the one who has a job, he's been using mine. i stg it's like a fucking family curse; every time someone is already in a financial bind, their car will break down.)

So I have decided to take the next few days to just relax. My two besties that I've been friends with since middle school both have kids with autism and they said I'm probably going through autistic burn-out. I'm pretty sure I'm autistic and my doctor thinks I'm somewhere on the spectrum, though on the lower support side. I'm gonna play bg3, and unwind. And try to work on some fic. (bc I have the next chapter of 16 Days damn near finished, and it's the last chapter that ties up the current plot, then there's an epilogue that takes place later that played out like a movie in my head, so writing it will be a breeze.)

Side note, did y'all know that some school systems still use 'high/low functioning'. I've had to say to my coworkers that autistic people would prefer not to use those terms. But it isn't surprising; one of my cousin's kids was literally diagnosed with Asperger's. Which has fallen under the autism spectrum disorder since like, forever ago. And also there was a TA in the autism classroom I worked in once who literally told me that autism was caused by demonic possession. I'm so glad I left the school system. Bc I eventually was going to fucking explode with rage after the way my kids were treated. (My students, not my actual kids. I don't have or want any)

Working in EC has really shown me how little the school system actually cares about helping the disabled; they will cut corners and do shit that 'technically' meets a kid's IEP, but doesn't do a damn thing to help them. And if you say something like, 'i don't think that counts' your coworkers will not be happy. But to a certain degree you can't be too mad, bc there is literally not enough time or resources to meet every child's needs, bc they cram as many kids in one EC classroom as possible, hire the minimum amount of TAs required by law and expect one teacher to be able to magically meet all their needs. My last job had 3 kids in wheelchairs in those tiny ass mobile units schools started using, that literally did not have room to move around, unless the other students stood up to let them get by, and sometimes even move their desk. We had multiple kids with autism. One of them stimmed by screaming, another was triggered by loud noises.

This post kinda went off on a tangent. Anyway, heads up to any parents who have kids starting school, make sure you get a copy of your child's IEP. If you think they aren't being serviced, contact your local Board of Education, and tell them that you have a child with an IEP who isn't receiving adequate services. Then threaten to sue them if they don't start providing your kid their services. It does not matter if you can actually afford to sue them or not, an IEP is a legally binding document. You have the right to sue, and most of the time the threat alone is enough to kick their ass into gear.

[gryffindorpsychologyandcoffee]

Hii!

I'm an undergrad psych student that dreams to be where you are in the future (studying clinical psych)!

I'm striving to be a psychologist but I've heard how competitive it is. As someone who is in postgrad, I was wondering if you'd be okay giving some advice, what scores you had to get in ungrads and honours, what volunteering you maybe did and how postgrad life is!!

♡

Hey! It’s so awesome that you want to go into clinical psych!

I went to a pretty competitive university for undergrad and majored in Psychology with a minor in Disability studies. I ended up with a 3.8 major and overall GPA and graduated Magna Cum Laude. I worked as a FWS student on a clinical trial that focused on helping people with intellectual disabilities access mental health care as well as some odd jobs here and there. I also volunteered at my state department of mental health during the summers while I was home from school and with the National Counsel for Mental Wellbeing as a state captain for Hill Day.

I applied to a small college in my hometown for Postgrad because I wanted the small college feel and it is a really reputable program whose grads see a lot of success. I got in and I absolutely love it. The program has wonderful professors and they are really focused on graduating strong therapists. I will be a masters level Licensed Professional Counselor when I graduate in May 2025.

My advice for you is to find a place to volunteer at that will get you some good hours and face time with the right people. You don’t have to always be doing psychology related things with them. When I volunteered for DMH, I helped with their mental health conference and with Santa’s helpers which purchased presents for kids of patients at the center. I wasn’t always doing psychology stuff but I made some really strong connections and they wrote me excellent letters of recommendation. I wish I had gotten more acquainted with my professors in undergrad but it was hard because I went to such a large school. Find the people who value you and your work and they will give back by writing you glowing recommendations which go a long way in the application process. The more you volunteer and get experience, the more you’ll have to write about in your admissions essay, which I think carried me through the process.

Post grad is hard but it’s focused on what you love and is training you for your dream career. It’s worth every minute. Get as much experience as you can, clinical or not, so you make those connections and get to know people who have influence in different areas. Keep doing what you’re doing! We need people like you in our field! Hope this helps!

[alphaman99]

Tomas Estevan it all a damn ruse....

From a California school teacher:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language Department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title-1 school, meaning that its students average in the lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Title-1 schools are on the free-breakfast and free-lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking about a glass of milk and a roll, but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. Well over 50% of these students are obese, or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more have cell phones. The school also provides daycare centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls, some as young as 13, so they can attend class without the inconvenience of arranging for babysitters or having family watch their kids.

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department, or risk losing funding for the upcoming year, even though I had little need for anything. My budget was already substantial, but I ended up buying new computers for the Computer Learning Center, half of which, one month later, were carved with graffiti by the appreciative students, who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. I have had to intervene several times for young substitute teachers, whose classes consist of many illegals here in the country less than 3 months, who raised so much hell with female teachers, calling them putas (whores) and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical care, free education, free food, free day care, free housing, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled not only to be in this country, but also to demand more rights, privileges, and entitlements? To those Americans who point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society, because they happen to like their gardener and housekeeper, I say: Spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the true costs to American taxpayers. Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases, etc. are the real costs of illegals.

America, we need to wake up. The "guest" worker program will be a disaster, because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think illegals will voluntarily leave and return? It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by age 15, and that refuses to assimilate; and an American culture that has become so weak and intimidated by "political correctness," that we don't have the will to protect ourselves.

Cheap labor? Isn't that what the whole illegal immigration issue is really about? Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage; consumers don't want expensive produce. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie; there is no such thing as cheap labor. An illegal qualifies for Section-8 housing and subsidized rent; he qualifies for food stamps; he qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care; his children get free breakfasts and lunches at school, where they get a free education; he requires bilingual teachers and books; he qualifies for relief from energy bills; if he is, or becomes aged, blind, or disabled, he qualifies for social security income; once qualified for SSI, he qualifies for Medicare; he doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance; taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins, and printed material; he and each member of his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits, whereas Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his; American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti, and trash clean-up.

Cheap labor is such a ruse it is laughable.

---Sarah Jones

[sniffanimal]

being a para is a really... weird job

it occupies this space where I'm in a position of great advocacy for my students but also I'm exposed to a lot of ableism every day

I work one on one with an 8th grader with multiple severe disabilities. most of our students just have autism or ADHD but she's got some other physical disabilities going on. I mostly just work with her, executing her education goals and taking care of her personal needs at school.

it's a tough thing to recommend to people bc it's a really rough job I adore it, it works perfectly for me on so many levels, but it is a really weird job. it's a little thankless, while I do think I'm doing a social good in advocating and educating kids that need it, it's underpaid and undervalued by the district due to ableism. and this isn't just a my school district thing either, it's systemic.

but part of what keeps me going is knowing that I'm very good at this job and if I wasn't in my position, my student would potentially have someone worse than me teaching her, and my support for her and the rest of the class keep me going.

even if I do get bitten (not as much anymore, but last year was bitey), and pooped on (again not often, but I did on Thursday), and bled on, and have to call EMS, and talk to CPS, and administer medications, and advocate for the kids and everything it's still the best job I've ever had. I love teaching

I am going to be one of those teachers that's like "I love kids. I also love having no kids of my own. it's nice to go home to no more kids"