psychesmartautismtm's posterous http://psychesmartautismtm.posterous.com Most recent posts at psychesmartautismtm's posterous posterous.com Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:17:37 -0800 Hostile school environment outlawed for religious minorities & should be outlawed as practiced against autistics http://psychesmartautismtm.posterous.com/hostile-school-environment-outlawed-for-relig http://psychesmartautismtm.posterous.com/hostile-school-environment-outlawed-for-relig

This is a fascinating revelation. Title VI of the civil rights law of 1964 is being interpreted to protect student of a minority ethnic or religious background against discrimination and or hostile school environment imposed by school principal or board or other students. Under the new interpretation schools lose federal funding among other punishments when they create a hostile environment for children.
While this is a welcome development in this arena, it opens another question. Autistics, as misunderstood as they are, are often treated to a hostile school environment by ignorant and or intolerant school officials and other students alike. While this is rampant and almost standard behavior by many school districts, it has gone under the radar so far. I feel that that the standard anti-discrimination laws fall short of protecting autistics students who superficially are not an ethnic minority, most of whom are white kids anyway. This has created a problem similar to the workplace discrimination against women a century ago.
The problem is this, a white autistic kid does not qualify for a minority characterization under current laws and is therefore not entitled to any of the protections that minority students are entitled to. However in all objective terms, an autistic kid of any ethnicity is a minority by definition, since this child is not like the other kids, and therefore is discriminated against constantly by schools who are too ignorant and lazy to figure out fair ways of treating someone who is not the same and who requires a slightly different treatment.

This revelation today also takes me to another familiar problem, the state of autistic adults in the workplace. The same reasoning applies here. Autistic, asperger's and highly sensitive adults are not an ethnic minority, in fact they come from all creeds and backgrounds and religions. Yet they are an objective minority based on who they are. Again here ignorance and laziness results in mistreatment of this group in the workplace. Often this means creating a hostile workplace environment for this group causing them unbearable distress and often leading them to quit or otherwise be underemployed where they are relatively immune from scrutiny.
This is a rampant problem and there are no provisions in the equal opportunity employment laws that makes it illegal to create a hostile workplace environment for someone who is simply different. In fact creating such hostile environments is a mainstay of American business today and is bragged about by employers as their way of getting around the anti-discrimination laws. This is obviously unfortunate and requires a revolution in how we look at minority status. It requires a new and progressive legislative spirit that goes beyond the tangible skin color and ethnicity and religious background to dwell into the intangible characteristics that are embedded in one's personality.
A lone voice in the prairie, hope not!
Rami j serhan, MD
Http://sovereign research.org
Https://autismtm.com
Consultant@sovereign research.org

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