it's the sunday before labor day.
there are fireworks going on outside and i am sitting on my couch watching netflix as my fall candles burn. i see nothing wrong with this. i love fall. the colors, the smells, the crispness. drew is traveling for work today so this evening i started a new show by recommendation of my girl hannah (hay girl) called atypical. i won't write a whole review but to be frank, it's pretty damn delightful. the show centers around a boy named sam, who has autism. in my opinion, the series beautifully illustrates the frustrations, successes, and every day miracles that a family who has a member with autism spectrum disorder (asd) encounters. all the characters are unique and charming and i like how the show challenges commonly-held beliefs and truths about people, especially children, who have asd. the autism spectrum is by and far one of the largest and most complex of any spectrum in the medical field. it is constantly changing and growing and there are as many rarities within it as there are people who are on it. when i was in school, i learned about many (but certainly not all) of the facets within the spectrum and what those may look like in children who have autism. i also learned about the language that should be used when discussing asd. the show touches briefly on one major component of appropriate language when discussing individuals who have autism: person first language. person first language is essentially acknowledging the individual before the disability, as it relates to asd. to be honest, when i first learned of this term at miami, i rolled my eyes slightly at the "political correctness" of it. we should be focusing on the kids, i thought, not the language. but then my professor had us do an exercise that changed that perspective. she asked us to imagine our favorite thing about ourselves. the thing we like most about who we are. i remember i thought i was friendly and that was my favorite thing. then she had us think about what we would feel like if every time we were introduced into a new environment, we were associated by that thing before anything else. friendly laura. it seems fine for a second. but then think about feeling frustrated or just quiet one day. maybe i'm not feeling very friendly, and that's ok. or think about circumstances when knowing that i am friendly wouldn't be relevant or necessary to know. i am friendly. but i am so much more than that. my characteristics and qualities stretch so much further than friendliness. and so do the characteristics and qualities of individuals who have autism. see, when we don't use person first language we limit a person to one thing. one quality by which we associate them. in class, when a child is known as the "autistic kid" that title stays with them and confines the vastness of their character. i bring this up not to shame anyone or make anyone feel bad. i bring it up because it's a lesson that i feel is important and one that had a profound impact on me and the way i teach my kiddos. i encourage you to remember that you are more than the sum of your parts. you are so much more than one thing. we all are.
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