Sometimes in life there are 'lightbulb' moments......those things that occur out of the blue that change the way we see things. One of these moments happened one day when I was still working in mainstream education....a moment that made me see the value of 'turning things around '.
For a few years I worked as an English teacher in an all-boys secondary school in a U.K city. The school was staffed mainly by men, many of whom prided themselves on being disciplinarians, control being the buzzword in this macho environment. The boys were no better and no worse than any others but many were disaffected and switched-off from school and were consequently ‘difficult’.
One morning after finishing a lesson I was entering the staff corridor. An almighty racket was issuing from it. This was not unusual, some unfortunate youth was getting an official bawling-out.
I had to come to an abrupt halt as my way was blocked by one of the Deputy Principals who stood with his back to me, arms flailing and yelling at the top of his voice. He was a tall middle-aged man towering over a small, fifteen year old boy. He was puce with rage and gobbets of spit flew in all directions as he bellowed. I wondered what on earth this poor lad had done to elicit such a reaction. Then I found out and a light went on in my head as I suddenly saw things the way the boys must be seeing them.
This lad was very neatly dressed and as far as I could see was wearing appropriate school uniform but....I was wrong. In the boys’ neatly pressed grey trousers were....FLECKS! Instead of the regulation plain grey he had dared to wear TEXTURED TROUSERS!
The D.P hit his crescendo. The boy and I looked at each other, partly in anticipation of the aneurysm we were sure was about to occur and partly because we both wanted to laugh at the absurdity of his performance. He didn’t laugh, he was in enough trouble already. I, with the luxury of status and the rear view of the D.P, did...if only to express solidarity with the boy.
But what I could see was, looking through the eyes of the boys in this school, how utterly ridiculous so many things must appear to them and yet they were expected to both accept and respect this kind of brainless authority without question.
From that moment on I have employed ‘Turning Things Around’ as a general principle in life. It is very illuminating. It makes for very much better teaching, is incredibly useful in both living and working with autism and is especially useful in dealing with the many problems which we encounter as we wend our way through services and systems.
It’s an approach that goes hand-in-hand with considering what it is really like to be an autistic child and it gives useful insight into what will and won’t work when trying to structure and implement learning.
It’s also a simple and effective strategy to employ when trying to put your point or perspective across to professionals.
Let’s look at some examples of what I mean.
When I first started to work at home with my son I was very aware that I was ‘bucking the system’. Although there was no specialist school placement for autistic children at the time all other parents were keeping their children at the autistic nursery until the school came online. I was very aware that both other parents and the ‘powers that be’ did not think I was doing the right thing in keeping him at home. I don’t know if my patient explanations were ever really taken on board but I kept on repeating them anyway.
I explained that by ‘turning things around’ and looking outwards through my son’s eyes so many things that are taken for granted as ‘good’ and valuable out in the world of normalcy are quite opposite when viewed through the lens of severe autism. Can we begin, for example, to imagine what a nursery-class session looks and feels like to a young child who can’t cope with being more than a hundred yards from his own front door? Who can’t speak to express extreme fear? Who can’t cope with noise? Or other people?
Just stop and try it for a moment. Imagine your worst fear, spiders, snakes, rats? And then imagine being shut in a room with it for a couple of hours with no escape. And someone’s taped your mouth shut so you are mute. And you can’t leave until people you don’t know, who are at least twice your size say you can, no matter how terrified you become. Get the idea?
It was also a good way to look at things when trying to decide on the best way to help him. By doing this I realized quite early on that, on a smaller and less devastating scale, I was repeating the mistake the nursery had made with him.
I had worked with young children in both mainstream and special schools, although I had never worked with anyone as severely autistic as him. My initial reaction was to set up activities that were bright and engaging...in my eyes. But I quickly realized that if I turned things around and looked through his eyes they were quite pointless.
My son is, and always has been, extremely functionally orientated in that he will only willingly do something that he can see has a practical and valuable purpose.
Whilst, in the early stages, I could get him to do things by cloaking them in action and humour this was not a sustainable strategy. He wasn’t doing anything because he intrinsically wanted to and so it was very difficult to sustain and extend his interest.
Looking through his eyes I could see that posting a puzzle piece into a shaped hole was thoroughly meaningless – why do this? What for? But putting biscuits into the tin, or spoons into the drawer was a different matter – these things made sense.
If I looked through his eyes then I could see that home itself was our teaching resource and, more importantly, in his eyes it was safe.
On the other level of trying to put across parental points and perspectives I have included below a piece that I wrote a few years ago at a time when both I and other parents were experiencing extreme difficulties in getting the services and benefits that our children were entitled to. I wrote it to cheer us up and then sent copies to the worst offenders within a nameless, faceless bureaucracy that seemed to have no idea what the lives of the disabled and their carers were like and which seemed to care even less.
It’s a spoof training agenda for system professionals which I hope illustrates the value of ‘turning things around’ better than any further words that I may blather on with.
Enjoy...
‘Just Imagine.’
Just imagine that when you go into work tomorrow a new contract of employment is lying on your desk. You didn’t know that your terms of employment were being changed and it states very clearly at the top that this new contract is non-negotiable.
Just imagine that your new terms of employment will be as follows:
1. You will now be required to work 365 days per year.
2. Your working day will average 18 hours but you must be on call 24 hours per day.
3. You will have no statutory right to holidays, tea breaks or meal breaks.
4. Your pay is to be reduced to the level of statutory State benefits and will be non-negotiable.
5. Your personal and/or professional or academic skills will not be recognised or rewarded in any way.
6. You have no right of redress regarding this contract.
7. It will take effect immediately.
8. There will be no effective help available to you no matter how difficult you find it to meet the terms of your new contract.
9. This new contract is to be managed by a conglomerate of State departments and their ancillary bodies. Hereinafter, this conglomerate will be referred to as ‘The System.’ Those within ‘The System’ will retain all statutory employment rights such as holidays, appropriate rates of pay, etc.
10. The employment of those within ‘The System’ is entirely dependent on the existence of those, such as yourself, who are henceforth permanently under the auspices, terms and conditions of the non-negotiable minimum contract.
Just imagine that you now find that it is frequently extremely difficult to access and obtain even the minimal rights, renumerations and resources to which you are entitled under your new contract.
Just imagine that when you try to do so you encounter delays, obstructions and seemingly interminable prevarications from those who manage your new contract.
Just imagine that you have no recognised Trade Union to assist you in these difficulties.
Just imagine that if you attempt to question or highlight these practices or are in any way critical of them your new contract will be suffixed with definitions taken from an approved systemic list e.g. ‘troublemaker’, ‘difficult’, ‘awkward’, ‘ungrateful’, etc.
The above visualisation exercise is best undertaken alone, and in a state of extreme exhaustion, preferably in the absence of any adequate financial resources.
Candidates displaying appropriate levels of empathy may be awarded the approved certificate…
‘Imagining I am a Full-time Carer – Level 1.’
Level 2 training is available on application. This is a two part course. Module 1 is based on a field work placement and covers projects such as managing on a pittance, defying sleep deprivation and practical excrement management.
Module 2 is theoretical in content, challenging the more able candidates with a range of intellectual and philosophical issues such as the concept of Endless Patience, the Tao of Incontinence Laundry and getting in touch with one’s Inner Saint.
Gaia Charis, March, 2010.