Advocacy Brings Abuse for Alex Barton's Family

You know, I was feeling all encouraged about inclusion this week after announcing the results of the "ARTHUR/All Kids Can Character Search," in which 8,500 youngsters imagined a classmate with a disability for Arthur. Reading those upbeat, compassionate character descriptions made me feel that kids are starting to get it. And then, here comes a story that shows how profoundly some adults are not. Reading what they're doing to Alex Barton's family now makes me think we should all move to a remote location, homeschool, and leave this bullying society to beat up on itself.

Alex, as you'll recall, is the kindergartner with Asperger syndrome whose teacher had his young peers vote him out of class. His mother's advocacy got the teacher removed, and when the teacher appealed her year's suspension, a judge upheld it. It looked like a victory for kids with special needs, but of course, nothing is ever that easy. According to an open letter from Alex's mom, Melissa, posted on the blog Whose Planet Is It Anyway?, there has been a significant backlash against the Bartons in their community. You'd think, in our bully-conscious world, that parents might be concerned about a teacher who encourages children to reject a classmate, but no. Bullies, it seems, stick up for bullies.

And it's hard to think of any other term to use for school staff who harrassed Alex's 10-year-old brother, or a parent who threatened his mother in the cafeteria, or pickets who confronted the family in the school parking lot. What is wrong with people? Clearly, anti-bullying programs in schools have the wrong focus. I see far worse behavior of that type from adults these days than I ever have from kids. Maybe children, in their natural rebelliousness, will turn from those hateful attitudes. We can only hope.

_{Illustration by Terri Mauro}