Sunday, July 12, 2015

With Liberty And Justice For All: "Will Chuck Forget?"

..."With Liberty And Justice For All" hopes to be a guest blogger series by Autistic teen voices against catastrophic violence to their neurodivergent peers that happens when preventable bullying events are ignored and escalate. Autistic Teen Activist Henry Frost leads with this moving post. A version of this article was previously published in Ollibean. kç

Will Chuck Forget?



Chuck is terrified to go to school. He has stuttering. Others laugh when he says something.
 He has a breakdown at school.

Some boys do feel bad but have no courage to tell and stand up for him. The teacher pretends nothing is wrong.

Chuck went missing.

Questions:

Who is responsible?
What can his friends do if he is found?
What does it mean to watch and look the other way?
Will his teachers take initiative and how?
What can his family do?
Will Chuck forget?

End of  the story.

I wrote this story when I was in Austin with Soma in October 2013. It is part of a book of  stories for discussions.  Two Houses is one of the stories. There is another in Halo’s Voice.


"If you are bullied, tell someone. It is not you who should feel shame. "

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Henry Frost

In 2012 Henry faced disability based discrimination when he was denied entry to the middle school across the street from his home. Then 12 year old Henry started “I STAND WITH HENRY” to take action against the segregation and low expectations he encountered and to empower others to stand together and demand full access to equal education in their neighborhoods. Henry’s international social media campaign garnered tens of thousands of supporters and he was allowed entry into his neighborhood school after months of negotiation. Henry went on to excel not only in General Education but it Advanced Honors and Gifted classes.He was the 2013 Recipient of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network's Award for Service to the Self-Advocacy Movement. You can find Henry @istandwithhenry on Facebook and Twitter.

1 comment:

  1. If a kid can't get into a regular public school for bullshit reasons like in Mr. Frost's situation, then this isn't the USA anymore! It's more like RED China or something along those lines...

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