With all the closures going on, and the kids not being in school now for over a month, I wonder what message this is giving to our children with special needs.
I’m an individual with autism. Something many of us on the spectrum face is a lack of willingness to socialize. Of the many therapies I had as a kid, one of them was designed to improve my social skills by using scenarios and having the popular kids follow me around at lunch. In elementary school, I hated it. But now, as a senior who seems to know everybody, I rely on others for my energy. I went from not wanting to leave the house, to feeling like I need to be somewhere every day.
Last semester, I revisited some repressed thoughts I had during my period of mental crisis in middle school. There were elements of my anguish that I hadn’t shaken off for years, and I finally began to find the tools to fix them. I had friends, now I needed to find meaning in my friendships. Then with the shutdowns all happening in the span of hours, everything I seemed to be working towards is rendered useless.
So that leads me to wonder what messages this is giving to the autistic kids who are still getting hold of these things. Without a doubt, some of them are probably rejoicing that they don’t have to make an effort to see people. But for many of us, it’s very difficult to grasp the reasoning for why things are happening in the world. For somebody to be told they have to talk to more people, only to now hear that they can’t see anyone even if they wanted to, is awfully confusing. I can’t be the only one who now feels their whole life is a lie, but it’s definitely affecting me.