Double discrimination for ethnic minority children with autism
Source: BBC News
Excerpt:
A National Autistic Society report on "the reality for families" suggests 62% of parents had no choice over the school their children would attend.
Children with autism who are from ethnic minorities face a double discrimination in education, campaigners say.
Parents were much less satisfied with their child's academic and social progress than White British parents.
The government said meeting the needs of autistic children was "a priority".
Parental perceptions are that their children lost out because of the sort of unwitting racism identified in a recent Department for Education and Skills report.
Joan Nelson, whose son is black and has autism, told the society she believed ethnicity had a significant impact on the level and type of education he was given.
"There appeared to be more of a belief that my child was bad as opposed to having special needs," she said.
Black boys were penalised because their special needs meant they had difficulty accessing appropriate education, because they were Black, and because they were boys, she said.
"This hinders them in achieving what they should in today's system."
3 comments:
they are delt a double blow! wow! blows ones mind. never thought of it before.
Good subject Blue. I often get frustrated with the near complete invisibility of people of color in the portrayals of autism.
If you watched mass media, you would think only upper middle class white male children have autism.
I'd love to see this study replicated in the US. I would also like to see young girls, particularly girls from racial and ethnic minority groups, included in a discussion on this issue.
If you watched mass media, you would think only upper middle class white male children have autism.
Very true. And immigrant children (like Cho, possibly, possibly not) are never talked about in any regard except as a burden on the local school system. What they might actually need, or the combination of language adaptation and autism -- well, I've never seen it discussed until the recent rumors about Cho.
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