Humanity
I went swimming today.After I finished, I went into the locker room. The high school team has their own locker room inside the larger, public space. Their door was open and I heard four boys talking.
They were comparing a singer to an autistic person, and one of the boys was doing an imitation of an extremely autistic person trying to speak. All four of them thought this was hilarious.
I know teenagers are generally idiots. I certainly was. It was discouraging, though, to be reminded of how many people lack empathy for anything that doesn't directly affect them.
If one of them had an autistic sibling, that "joke" would never have been made. It's as if they feel they have a license to make fun of anything beyond their own limited experience.
This school makes a genuine attempt to inclusive of persons with disabilities, too, but it seemingly had no impact on them. They've separated the whole world into "better" and "worse," and because they put themselves in the "better" category, they'll make fun of anyone they consider "worse."
Humanity. Like Pogo said, We have met the enemy and he is us.
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