A few days ago on friday March 14th, our school got a great opportunity to watch a basketball game between New Trier and Lake Forest. It was not a varsity game though. It was an exhibition between students from both schools’ special needs programs. Every fan cheered as the players performed for a large crowd of faculty, students, and parents. Activities like this are so important if we want to respect and encourage those with special needs.
I think that here at New Trier High School we do a fantastic job of supporting people with special needs, and it is fantastic that those people are so accepted here. However, that is not necessarily the case across the country. Mentally handicapped individuals are made fun of and laughed at in many places in our country.
Two teenage girls in Maryland were recently accused of physical abuse on an autistic 16 year old boy. The horrible acts committed include sexual harassment, forcing the boy into a frozen pond, threats with a knife, kicks to the groin, and dragging the boy by his hair. Reading about this story completely blew me away, that somebody could be so insensitive as to bully someone in that way, let alone someone with autism. The two accused girls recorded the whole incidence on a phone, so fortunately they will not get away without some sort of punishment.
I have no clue where these kids go to school or what the attitude towards mental disabilities are in their area, but I do know that these acts were wrong in every sense of the word. The school that the students attend needs to re-evaluate exactly how they promote the respect of those with special needs. I think the way New Trier does it is a fantastic model. Kids with special needs aren’t locked away in some isolated room. They instead are completely integrated into the everyday life of high school. I have been able to sit with some of these students at lunch and gotten to know different people that I would have never gotten to had it not been for this system. There are a lot of things I disagree with about my high school, but one aspect I know they have gotten right is the special needs program.
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