I have been an early childhood and primary school teacher in Western Australia for seven years. Before that, I worked as a special needs education assistant. For much of my teaching career I have chosen to work as a relief teacher and I have worked in over 20 different schools.
Last August, I resigned from my part-time contract as a primary school teacher because I could no longer endure the way school staff spoke about and treated autistic and other neurodivergent children.
I have worked a handful of days since, and on every single one of them I have seen or heard things that remind me why I walked away. It has reached the point where I can no longer work in schools without it effecting my mental health.
Recently, my psychiatrist asked me whether I had considered "whistle-blowing". I told him there was no point. The attitudes and behaviours are so common - so "normal" - in the education I would be the one they considered to be a "problem". In fact, I'm sure that the staff who isolated me, lied about me, and discredited me (including the deputy principal) think they were justified because I wasn't a "team player".
Whilst I sincerely doubt that the Department of Education is interested in my experiences, I do think that it is important to share them. I could write extensively about the systemic prejudice and discrimination that saturates the education system - not just towards autistic and neurodivergent students (and staff), but towards anyone who falls outside the White Australian, able-bodied, heterosexual norm. However, I will focus here on just a few of the things I have heard in the last few years.
The careless way that many of these comments are made in everyday conversation - even when the person making them knows that I am the parent of autistic/ADHD children, and maybe even that I am autistic/ADHD - highlights just how 'normal' these views are.
Some of the comments quoted below may not seem particularly problematic, even to autistic/disabled people. Some will be upsetting for autistic and disabled people, but seem innocent to non-autistic/disabled people. There are some quotes that everyone should (I hope!) be extremely troubled by.
Content warning: Some of the quotes below may be distressing for autistic/disabled people and their allies to read.
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