I understand celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, graduations and retirements.
I understand celebrating holidays of all kinds-religious and not.
I understand celebrating days honoring people like George Washington, Martin Luther King and other heroes.
But I do not understand why my school is literally celebrating autism.
In the same way some in the deaf culture appear to want to isolate themselves based on their disability, it appears that some people on the spectrum (or more realistically, their parents) want to make autism appear not just to be normal, but to be desirable. Hence, my school now has banners "Celebrating Autism."
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Even in my school we've started various weeks of celebration for African Americans, Hispanics, not Asian yet although they outnumber Hispanics in my school, LGBT and a variety of other special snowflake holidays that not only seem to "celebrate" but to promote diversity at all costs. Indeed, I'm seeing more divisions than I did before. But these circumstances are not the same as a disability that can often rob a person of the ability to function.
So what next? Will we be "Celebrating Spina Bifida?" What about "Celebrating Cerebral Palsy"-how come Autism gets this kind of fake boost when it is something that we should want to counter with proper education and training instead of treating it like a party trick when a kid melts down in class?
This appears to be more of the same nonsense that wants us to pare down expectations for everyone in order to accommodate the few
