Small Acts of Racism

#smallactsofracism

Act 4: Dear Fellow School Psychologists, This one is for you!

I have actually posted about this before. As many of you know, my daughter has Autism. One of the characteristics of Autism for many people is repetitive motion. My daughter rocks back and forth almost all the time. For those of you who don’t know, every three years, as required by law, the school district is responsible for reevaluating a child’s eligibility for special education services. This year she started a new school as part of her transition to adulthood program. 

To set the background: It took the school district 13 years since it was first mentioned as a possibility that she could have Autism. The length of  time it took to properly identify her, in and of itself, reeks with racism. Please remember that I identify kids with education related disabilities for a living. Now, I was facing having an evaluation completed by people who were new to Bo.  And, this is what appeared in her new Evaluation Team Report: Bolade “aggressively and violently” rocks back and forth. It was written by her new female, young white teacher. 

Let’s examine the old tired trope behind this stereotype: Black women were presented on “Amos and Andy” as “aggressive, loud and angry” through the Sapphire Stevens caricature. The sense that black women lack “home training” (aggressive, loud and angry) and are violent by nature has become the current stereotype of black women. 

Given that said, let’s go back to describing my daughter’s rocking as “violent and aggressive.” How is rocking back and forth either aggressive or violent? She doesn’t rock towards anyone with the intent of hurting someone. She is not self-harming while she’s rocking. Why is a behavior that is rather neutral in nature identified in that manner? How many times has her teacher described the intensity of rocking as aggressive and violent for my daughter’s white counterparts? I have no way of knowing, but again, I do this for a living, and in 25 years I have never heard of any child’s Autistic behaviors described in that way. 

Now, educators, how do you think describing my daughter’s behavior as aggressive and violent affects her ability to get into future transition programs and jobs?