Austrailan Nationalist calls for segregating Autistic kids

Post Reply New Topic

Pauline Hanson says autistic kids should be removed from mainstream classes

f*****g idiot.

This seems consistent with other right wing policies: fear of differences.

Leaving political group identity aside (it's a false dichotomy, red herring and a hasty generalization to imply that you can't be "right wing" and value the education potential of autistic kids simultaneously), it's a policy that should be controverted by autism advocates (ND's & autistic priders would view this as pure neurobigotry) as expeditious as possible and should enforce a government warrant of forcing the teacher to sincerely apologize or have her job withdrawn, especially since it's a public school.

Either she is pig ignorant as many public citizens are still about the nature of the ASD continuum (they'll always will be); or to imply something more sinister, that she is repressing her discontent (and abhorrence) towards aspies and high functioning autistics for the fear and likelihood of witnessing creativity, talent, and cognitive/intellectual abilities from them that would surpass that of the NT students in the class that they attend to.

Hanson should be reminded that her words and actions are being witnessed by not only autistic students, but their families, friends, church congregants, educators, care providers and neighbors among others including business owners, investors, and wealthy contributors to her campaigns who are connected to autistic students in ways she has never contemplated. Watch for political implosion in three ... two ....

Meanwhile, autists of all ages should learn from this. Vote with your ballots, yes. But, also vote with your money by choosing which merchants agree with you. The seemingly simple task of shopping for groceries can become highly politicized, if we make is so. First off, I would find out which businesses from which she supports or expects support in return. Target them with kindly e-mail messages, and watch mircles happen. Opinions can be changed in the blink of an eye when the toys coveted by some are suddenly removed from them.

I was ignored when in the traditional school system and in a regular class...I was only called upon during roll call. I wasn't disruptive unless another kid was trying to provoke me somehow...and I got in trouble for telling the other kid to stop or or trying to defend myself. I was in a special education class for kids of all kinds of disabilities in the fourth grade. Again, I wasn't disruptive unless I had a reason to be. It was basically just glorified state funded daycare because although I was technically in the 4th grade, I was given first grade and sometimes even kindergarten level work to do. I supposedly was there for help with math, but I never got it. When things were rarely explained to me, people didn't understand I can't remember something forever after only going over it once. In order to truly master something, I need to go over it for weeks...and I need a private tutor. My parents pulled me out in the fifth grade and home-schooled me. But then I was in the United States.

Australian politician criticised for remarks about autism

let's put some perspective into this....

Pauline Hanson is generally regarded as an uneducated twit by the majority of australians.

in the australian psyche, there is a thing called "tall poppy syndrome" and there is also a coexistent attitude that is approving of "the battler who made good".

she was a simple "fish and chip shop owner" before she entered politics. she has a very average IQ.

but back in the late 1990's she came to prominence when she said "we are in danger of becoming swamped by asians".
there was much backlash for her comments, but many australians admired her for daring to say what they also believed but did not want to say.

with the asian immigration that was huge, some suburbs of sydney are now almost entirely asian, and they do not really consider caucasians as equals, but inferior, and so they tend not to integrate.
many districts were occupied almost exclusively by asians, and they advertise the wares in their shops in chinese with no attempt to also issue an english translation.

anyway, she does not have enough real intelligence to consider the things she asserts because smarter people behind the scenes use her as their megaphone, and craft the things they want her to say.

she understands what she says on only a crude level, and when you see her in the senate question time broadcasts, she can almost not pronounce many of the words in the stuff she is reading. she never speaks in a spontaneous fashion, but always reads her questions and her replies to other questions from a script.

she famously said a few years ago "please explain?" to an interviewer who asked her if she was "xenophobic".
she did not understand what the word meant.

she has made many gaffes and people realize she is not extremely bright.

recently she went on about muslim immigration and had a very simplistic argument that appealed to the people from the lower working class (truck drivers and forklift drivers and other laborer types of people etc).

so the support she has that has got her into the senate comes from people who think "good on you!! ! you've got the guts to say what you think"

i am sure that she has no knowledge really about autism, and would imagine autistic people as being quite ret*d in a general sense.
that is the classical working class idea of autism. "a dribbling temper tantrum throwing pain in the neck who is ret*d"

it is true that classical autism can be characterized as "moderate to severely ret*d, with little concept of rules of engagement", but i am sure that those people never enter a mainstream classroom.

if she had phrased her assertion in a different manner, then there would be no problem.

here is an example of how what she said could be rephrased:

"people with autism who have special needs, are not getting enough 'one on one' attention from teachers in mainstream classes, and so i propose that special classes be considered where the main focus of the teacher is on individual needs rather than the general needs of average students."

but then one has to ask what the criteria for segregation should be. surely higher functioning autistics (which i am sure she is not aware of) do not need to be hamstrung either by the 90% of attention that would have to be allocated to the most severe cases in a class in which all autistic people are consigned to.

i am sure she has not researched it, and is just "bugling" the sentiments of those people behind the scenes which advise her what to say and think.

on her own, she has no chance of competing with the normal "argy bargy" of politics. without stewardship from the people that use her as their mouthpiece.

anyway, what she said was ill phrased, but not considered by her in a bigoted sense.

it is so important that the wording of everything you say is vetted by many levels of scrutiny before you talk to the public as a politician.

that's why so many of them sound so stodgy and constrained.
if you say the slightest thing that can cause offense, then that will now go viral in this day and age.

anyway whatever.

Pauline hanson isn't very good at expressing herself and I think other politicians bully her, when she was on Q & A they kept interrupting her because they know she would get all flustered.
I think she should talk to parents of autistic children and also adults with autism.

Her misguided belief about vaccines being a major contributor to an autism epidemic says it all really of not wanting to apologize.

I'm not against autistic kids getting extra support and having the option of leaving traditional classrooms because of sensory issues etc (especially if bullying is involved), but the way Pauline Hanson phrased her comments bugs me. She gives the impression she's trying to protect the 'poor neurotypical Aussie kids' - 'our kids', she calls them, and she often uses the word "our" when wanting to create emotional division in Australian culture - from autistic kids.

I agree with Sweetleaf that autistic kids shouldn't be swept with one uniform motion out into special classes but receive individual support, because there are as many of us on the spectrum as there are different diets that work for fat people to lose weight.

But remember, this is the same woman that brought us the phrase: "I believe Australia is in danger of being overrun by Asians," and, so far as I know, the only politician to have appeared on Dancing With the Stars. I don't think she even takes herself seriously; I think of her as the Troll of Parliament.