Despite public “awareness” on autism, nothing really has changed. In schools autistic people sit in different
classrooms from their neurotypical peers, apart from the mainstream of the
school, turning them into outcasts, because typical public school classrooms
are not equipped to teach them, despite it being perfectly possible, which in
turn, damages their chances of reaching their full potential rather than only
being able to be a UPS driver, while their neurotypical peers go off to
exciting careers of their own. The
“cost” of autism cannot be used to justify the status quo. According to Time Magazine’s 100 New Scientific Discoveries asthma, cancer, lead
poisoning, and developmentally disabilities combined
account for only 2.8% of our national health care budget meaning autism
accounts for only a fraction of that cost.
The fact is, discrimination is unconstitutional, and does not fit a
legal exception to this rule. But you,
unless you have autism yourself, are maybe wondering, ‘What does this have to
do with me?’ Valid question.
The fact is, only
educated people vote. Education affects
voting because it teaches people about the issues in our country. Without a universally relevant and equally
accessible public education system, democracy is compromised. Of course you may be thinking, it doesn’t
affect me. I mean it’s not like the
price of gas is going up. Ok, good
point. But what does cause the price of gas to go up? The Arab Spring, right? And what is the Arab Spring about? Ding,
ding: democracy! And what country is
looked to by the rest of the world to model democracy? Well, us.
The Economist
ranks countries according to four levels of democracy: Full democracy (That’s
us), flawed democracy (India, Mexico), hybrid regimes (Venezuela, Kenya), and
authoritarian regime (China, Russia, North Korea, Myanmar, etc.,). South Africa, currently a flawed democracy,
still experiences huge setbacks, even after three decades of the apartheid
being over. Miners protests, much like
the Arab Spring protests, have caused inflation to rise significantly. South Africa modeled much of their
post-Apartheid democracy after ours just like they modeled their Apartheid
after our segregation. Whenever there is
a patterned inconsistency in democracy, there seems to be in varying degrees,
large amounts of social unrest. Whenever
the Arab World seems to suffer this, oil prices tend to go up. You might want to consider how we integrate
autistics and other people with cognitive differences if you want to go to your
job or see a long-distance partner.
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