Blogging Blue

This just speaks for itself:

On May 21, Alex Barton, age 5, was escorted out of his kindergarten classroom at Morningside Elementary in Port St. Lucie, Fla., by the local police department’s “school resource officer.” Alex, who is autistic, was taken to the assistant principal, to whom he promised he would “not kick students, throw crayons, eat crayons, crawl under the table, kick the table of other students … [or] disrupt the class,” according to a police report. The assistant principal tucked in Alex’s shirt, put his “shoes on the right feet and tied them,” and sent Alex back to class. During Alex’s absence, his teacher, Wendy Portillo, “gathered the students to talk with them” about the youngster’s misbehavior.

When Alex returned, Portillo, who has been teaching in Port Lucie for 12 years, directed the youngster to the front of the room and “asked him to listen to what the children didn’t like” about him. According to Alex, the children complained that he “eats paper, picks boogers … and bites his shoelaces,” and Portillo herself said, “I hate you right now. I don’t like you today.”. Portillo next “polled the class” about whether to let Alex back in. Alex lost the class vote, 14-2, and spent the rest of the school day in the nurse’s office.

This story is disturbing on a lot of levels, but as the parent of an autistic child, I’m disturbed that a teacher would knowingly and intentionally subject a child with special needs - in this case Asperger’s - to that kind of treatment. What’s more, the fact that a teacher of children that young would tell a child she hates him absolutely boggles my mind. This is my worst fear as a parent - that my child is going to end up in a classroom where he’s made to feel different and ashamed of who he is simply because of his disorder. No child should ever be singled out and made to feel the way this child was made to feel.

So today, Wendy Portillo wins my Most Despicable Person of the Day Award.

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I’m going to get off my political soapbox for a moment to climb on my soapbox on behalf of individuals and families affected by autism. As the parent of a beautiful and brilliant autistic child, I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve often been a fierce advocate on behalf of my son and all those other individuals and families who’ve been affected by autism, and so I’d like to encourage all three of you who happen to read this blog on a regular basis to take a virtual test drive of an all-new Chevy Malibu in the month of April.

Chevrolet Will Donate up to $1 million to Autism Speaks when Consumers Take Virtual Test Drives of the All-New Chevy Malibu during Autism Awareness Month. If you go to “Help Chevy Help Autism” during April - which is Autism Awareness Month - and take a free virtual test drive of the 2008 all-new Chevy Malibu, you will directly help Chevrolet reach its goal of donating up to $1 million to Autism Speaks and its mission of support for individuals and families affected by autism, increasing awareness of autism, and raising money to fund autism research.

Chevrolet has committed to a minimum contribution of $500,000, but every virtual test drive taken gets Chevrolet closer to its ultimate goal of $1 million.

Click here to take your virtual test drive today.

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According to a cost estimate by the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Division of Executive Budget and Finance, the cost of health insurance coverage for autistic children whose parents already have insurance is about 10 million dollars.

That’s right, 10 million dollars is all it will take to make sure the therapy for each and every autistic child is ensured of being covered under their parents’ health insurance coverage. Now sure, 10 million dollars is a heck of a lot of money, especially considering our state’s current fiscal situation, but let’s put that 10 million dollars into perspective.

• Seven million dollars could get paper mill reopened in Park Falls, the largest community in the district of Republican Representative Mary Williams of Medford.
• Four million dollars could buy one - just one, no more than that - brand new soybean crusher for the district of Republican Representative Brett Davis of Oregon.

So sure, 10 million dollars is a lot of money, but so is the 11 million dollars in “persuasion” that some Assembly Republicans got in the last state budget. I know I’m biased, but if I had to choose between spending 10 million dollars on providing health insurance coverage to autistic children for the therapy they need or spending 11 million dollars on pet projects to get Republicans to vote for the state budget, I choose health insurance coverage for autistic children.

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I know I can be very passionate - sometimes to a fault - when it comes to issues that matter a great deal to me, and I’m sure it’s obvious to all six of my regular readers that autism happens to be one of those issues. In a blog entry, I said Mark Honadel, “apparently doesn’t care too much about autistic kids, as he voted against Governor Doyle’s proposed budget.” Having corresponded with Assemblyman Honadel, I’m cautiously optimistic that’s not actually the case, and so I feel a bit like a horse’s hind-end.

This is a lesson learned on why not to blog when you’re angry.

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Shame on him for caving in and allowing mandatory health insurance coverage for autism treatment to be cut from the budget “compromise” reached late yesterday. It’s really a sad day when politicians are so readily willing to make treatment for autistic kids a political issue, and it’s a sad day when Democrats are so quick to give up on the issue just so they can say they got a budget deal done.

In a multi-billion dollar state budget, mandating insurance companies provide coverage for autism treatment would have cost 1.3 million dollars, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s money that couldn’t have been cut from somewhere else.

I’m actually disappointed I had faith in Governor Doyle and all his talk about helping autistic kids.

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