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jmnixon95
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12 Apr 2011, 10:37 am

I attend a public high school, and I am a freshman.
I was taking a break today during math... just took a brisk walk around the far end of campus for some fresh air/a chance to take some deep breaths and get away from all the noise that irks me so.
In this high school, I am technically in the ASD program, but I'm not technically "served" by anyone/anything (I don't go to a special education classroom at all during the day.) However, I am permitted to take quick breaks in an ASD classroom if I have the need to do so, which I have done about nine or ten times this year. There are two ASD teachers; one is my "case manager" (and I'm not particularly fond of her), while the other teaches the older kids, and I went to her room a few times when in distress... so, she knows me. And she's considerably more familiar with ASDs when compared to my "case manager." That lady knows nothing about us.

Anyways...

I saw the lady I like better while I was walking around. She was walking with a woman I did not recognize, and she said, "Hello, Jane!" (My name is Jane.) I proceeded to wave to her; I didn't feel like talking because I was quite stressed.
When she thought I was out of earshot, she turned to the lady unfamiliar to me and said about me, "Oh, she's one of our babies." The lady said, "Awww."

...

Wait, what?

I was confused... little did she know that "her babies" can have hypersensitive hearing. I heard what she said.
Maybe I am thinking too much about it, but am I being pitied?
What right does the other lady have to know something so personal about me? Only two or three of my peers know I'm in special education/that I have Asperger's... what is this lady's right to know? She had a Vistitors tag on, so she wasn't a school employee.
:?:
And were they pitying me?

What do you think?
Am I overanalyzing?
Have you ever had something similar happen?

:?



emlion
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12 Apr 2011, 10:40 am

oh my gosh, my co-workers say this about me.
'we look after her, she's our little misfit.' :?
apparently i give off an air of needed to be looked after.
maybe you do too?



jmnixon95
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12 Apr 2011, 10:44 am

emlion wrote:
oh my gosh, my co-workers say this about me.
'we look after her, she's our little misfit.' :?
apparently i give off an air of needed to be looked after.
maybe you do too?


I don't really think of myself as doing so, and I never really have been told that I do, but I might... I just think that she was speaking about the group of AS kids she works with as a whole, including me, but not just me as a singular person. (Calling us "her babies.")
Maybe it was just an expression of affection... I can't be sure.



emlion
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12 Apr 2011, 10:45 am

i think the use of 'her' shows affection.



wefunction
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12 Apr 2011, 10:49 am

I wouldn't call it pitied. I'd consider it an overreach of affection. She considers the kids in her care to be her babies. I find it weird, but not disturbing or insulting. It's just weird. At least this means that she invests in her students. You're not just a file that she can't wait to get rid of. The "Awww" was a common response of support for something that's considered sweet to say.

For example:
"Then he gave me a rose and said I was beautiful."
"Awww."



MONKEY
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12 Apr 2011, 10:54 am

It sounds like the visitor was pitying you. But not so much the staff member, it sounds like she was just using cutesy terms for the students she sees like "my ladies" for a group of female friends. If it was me I'd pretty pissed off, babies indeed!
I got that quite a lot at school, even though I rarely got any help from mentors (I didn't need it most of the time, I was fine.) But I had a lot of contact with the special ed team through my severe-ish aspie best friend. And the regular teachers definitely treated me like they wanted to look after me, you could say I was one of their "babies" too even though I didn't want to be. They actually f****d up my self esteem for a while because it was making me feel like some kind of idiot and I hated having the aspie label because I got treated like a ret*d. I actually asked the head of special ed to take me off their list, they said they would think about it but they never went through with it. I got over it though in year 11, I didn't really care then.


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wavefreak58
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12 Apr 2011, 10:58 am

Possibly an overly familiar term of endearment? Some people in special ed invest a lot of themselves and see themselves as advocates and protectors and adopt a maternal stance. Some seem to go the other way and burn out, turning into charred zombies oozing bitterness and spite.


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Nurylon
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12 Apr 2011, 11:52 am

She should have said it in front of you if she had or wanted to say that. Shame on her. Coward.



kfisherx
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12 Apr 2011, 12:00 pm

Reading too much into it. I think teachers use terms all the time for their kidz. I call my adults on my team, "kiddos". My guitar teacher calls us all his "guitarlings". Also I am the highest earner on my road in my rural town and yet the entire neighborhood feels the need to look after me for some reason. I think it is awesome and I never lack for feeling "loved". Be grateful that you have people who are kind and care for you... Many people do not receive this.



2ukenkerl
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12 Apr 2011, 2:49 pm

I agree with the others. Some JERKS use such lousy statements. ESPECIALLY if you haven't made much use of the situation, and are in a normal school, they shouldn't use such language.

Still, MANY, whether school bus drivers or teachers, refer to kids in their room/bus as THEIR kids! Some of those will refer to smaller kids, younger kids, or kids in need of help as "their babies:. Of course, some JERKS will refer to ANY child in school or their "care"(generally someone below 18, or in school below college) as THEIR BABY!



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12 Apr 2011, 3:04 pm

Whenever my ears decide to perk up on a word someone says like twenty feet away or ten feet, I don't even worry about it because it could be my mind playing tricks on me.



jmnixon95
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12 Apr 2011, 3:27 pm

League_Girl wrote:
Whenever my ears decide to perk up on a word someone says like twenty feet away or ten feet, I don't even worry about it because it could be my mind playing tricks on me.


I tend to not hallucinate.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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12 Apr 2011, 3:44 pm

It sounds like the ASD teacher who said "she's one of our babies," meant it in an affectionate, endearing way. Since you are only fifteen, she thinks of you as very young, though you aren't a baby. Maybe "she's one of our kids," sounds better since people your age don't like being referred to as "babies" for the most part.
It doesn't sound like she pities you, she just didn't think how her choice of words might be interpreted.
She sounds like a nice lady who has a great deal of affection for her students, so I wouldn't take it to mean something negative.



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12 Apr 2011, 5:47 pm

I'd be pissed too. Often times when I'm getting lunch the lady will say "thank you baby", although I don't really know what to think of it. Then again, I don't know what I want people to call me. I nearly laughed when my English teacher called me "Mister [my name]" this morning. It was all I could do not to ask her "what did you just say?"


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12 Apr 2011, 5:48 pm

jmnixon95 wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
Whenever my ears decide to perk up on a word someone says like twenty feet away or ten feet, I don't even worry about it because it could be my mind playing tricks on me.


I tend to not hallucinate.


Are you saying that's what I'm doing?



Who_Am_I
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12 Apr 2011, 7:12 pm

jmnixon95 wrote:
League_Girl wrote:
Whenever my ears decide to perk up on a word someone says like twenty feet away or ten feet, I don't even worry about it because it could be my mind playing tricks on me.


I tend to not hallucinate.


Or mishear?
Not saying that that's what you did in this case, but it sounds more like what League_Girl was referring to.


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-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I! I! I! I I I