FSTDT Forums
Community => Society and History => Topic started by: m52nickerson on November 06, 2012, 07:33:46 pm
-
For Chy Johnson high school looked as if it was going to be a nightmare. The brain disorder she suffers from made her a perfect target for the school bullies and those willing to join them. After an indecent that involved trash being thrown at Chy her mother had enough. Chy's mother wanted names so she emailed Carson Jones a Senior at the school whom she knew through a friend. Jones also happened to be the quarterback of the football team.
Carson decided to to something, personally. He began eating lunch with Chy each day and walking her to classes. Following their quarterback's lead the football team soon joined in. Chy found herself being escorted around school by a phalanx football players.
The bullying has stop. Carson and members of the football team say they are not sure why, perhaps it is simply because they have been seen with her. Whatever the reason Chy says that "her boys" saved her and that they love her. She loves them right back.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/arizona-student-special-needs-avoids-bullies-protection-football-112516229.html (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/arizona-student-special-needs-avoids-bullies-protection-football-112516229.html)
http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Queen-Creek-football-players-stand-up-for-bullied-special-needs-student-175920391.html
(http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/Queen-Creek-football-players-stand-up-for-bullied-special-needs-student-175920391.html)
Oh, Football fans might want to lean some of these young men's names. Currently the team is 11-0 and crushing opponents left and right. With the heart and skill these young men have they could go far.
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/queen-creek-bulldogs-%28queen-creek,az%29/football/schedule.htm (http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/queen-creek-bulldogs-%28queen-creek,az%29/football/schedule.htm)
-
Those guys are pretty fucking cool. Kudos to them, to say the least.
-
That is badass and awesome. Faith in humanity +1.
-
I love seeing stories like this. Those guys are awesome.
-
That is badass and awesome. Faith in humanity +1.
Mine goes up +20 since they're kids. Kids tend to be immature and cruel to fit in with the 'cool badass' kids, even if they really don't want to be.
-
That is badass and awesome. Faith in humanity +1.
Mine goes up +20 since they're kids. Kids tend to be immature and cruel to fit in with the 'cool badass' kids, even if they really don't want to be.
But the football team are the "cool badass kids", so they can get away with this sort of thing.
-
That is badass and awesome. Faith in humanity +1.
Mine goes up +20 since they're kids. Kids tend to be immature and cruel to fit in with the 'cool badass' kids, even if they really don't want to be.
But the football team are the "cool badass kids", so they can get away with this sort of thing.
In my experience the football team are the ones normally doing the bullying. For them to actually stand up against it and help someone like this is pretty amazing in my books. I have a significant amount of respect for these boys.
I wonder though, did the bullying stop because the bullies believed she was physically protected by the football team, or because they saw that the football team had decided that bullying this person went against the schools social order / clique? I would be curious to find out the core reason why it stopped.
-
That's what I mean, though. They're going against stereotype and standing up for the girl. That's cool.
-
Maybe things are different in American schools, but in my personal experience kids with actual disabilities are off limits to bullies.
I didn't go to a very nice school, the majority of the pupils there were massive pricks, and dangerous pricks too (it was a school on the edge of a UVF controlled council estate, just to give you an idea of the kind of place I'm talking about). But there was a girl there with down syndrome and you DID NOT fuck with her. Even the biggest assholes in the school left her alone - and I'm talking about the sort of teenagers who were members of the junior divisions of paramilitary orgnaisations and who would put somebody in hospital for being Catholic. I even witnessed some of them defending her once against someone who made fun of her behind her back.
Don't get me wrong, it's still awesome, I'm just not particularly suprised. Athough the escorting her everywhere is a bit different I have to say.
-
Maybe things are different in American schools, but in my personal experience kids with actual disabilities are off limits to bullies.
I didn't go to a very nice school, the majority of the pupils there were massive pricks, and dangerous pricks too (it was a school on the edge of a UVF controlled council estate, just to give you an idea of the kind of place I'm talking about). But there was a girl there with down syndrome and you DID NOT fuck with her. Even the biggest assholes in the school left her alone - and I'm talking about the sort of teenagers who were members of the junior divisions of paramilitary orgnaisations and who would put somebody in hospital for being Catholic. I even witnessed some of them defending her once against someone who made fun of her behind her back.
Don't get me wrong, it's still awesome, I'm just not particularly suprised. Athough the escorting her everywhere is a bit different I have to say.
Trust me, it really is different in American school. Disabilities just make you an easy target. I've got a lot of experience there.
-
In the USA, you aren't seen as a victim of fate if you have a disability.
Instead, you're viewed as a burden, a freeloader.
"It isn't society's fault that you were born with a disability, why should we be forced to accommodate you at our own costs!?"
This sentiment gets picked up by kids who decide that it's perfectly okay to pick on disabled kids because they're such a burden.
-
I had a friend ... HAD a friend, who said upon the disabled and mentally challenged kids entering the lunchroom: "Here comes the freak show".
She wasn't my friend anymore from there on.
-
I had a friend ... HAD a friend, who said upon the disabled and mentally challenged kids entering the lunchroom: "Here comes the freak show".
She wasn't my friend anymore from there on.
Scotsman SMASH bigot jerk.
-
So in some ways Northern Irish teens are more progressive and better human beings than American teens? Jesus fucking christ, just how bad are kids in the US? I thought it was impossible to get scummier than your average Northern Ireland youth. What the fuck is wrong with your children??
-
Parents are just grand, here in the States.
-
Parents are a bit... blah.
I got a lot of teasing when I was younger because I had asbergers and was prone to the strangest things, but nothing physically violent. It also grew less pronounced as I got older. By High School I could hardly notice bullying against me (Or by and large, the entire school was pretty chill.) There was one girl that got a lot of shit for looking like her face had an impacted skull and talked with a heavy slur (Due to her being malformed face, not mental disability) but mostly it was because she was a control freak bitch than she was ugly. People tried to be nice to her but often got distanced from her because her personality was so shitty.
I Mean, I'm against bullying and I understand why it happens... but for someone who should have received a lot of shit (Intellectual, mentally disabled even if functional, and into nerdy things) I didn't. So it's hard to empathize or understand completely at times.
-
It's always extremely gratifying when people see the right thing to do, and do it.
-
Parents are a bit... blah.
I got a lot of teasing when I was younger because I had asbergers and was prone to the strangest things, but nothing physically violent. It also grew less pronounced as I got older. By High School I could hardly notice bullying against me (Or by and large, the entire school was pretty chill.) There was one girl that got a lot of shit for looking like her face had an impacted skull and talked with a heavy slur (Due to her being malformed face, not mental disability) but mostly it was because she was a control freak bitch than she was ugly. People tried to be nice to her but often got distanced from her because her personality was so shitty.
I Mean, I'm against bullying and I understand why it happens... but for someone who should have received a lot of shit (Intellectual, mentally disabled even if functional, and into nerdy things) I didn't. So it's hard to empathize or understand completely at times.
When were you in "high school"? Nerd is no longer seen as being that negative.
To add to the discussion earlier about being seen as a freeloader, nerds are also less likely to be painted with the brush likely future "freeloader". They're more likely to be seen as patenting an invention or idea and/or running a major company. It's on some people's minds that "this guy's kind of awkward and annoying but he could be my future boss, so I should be nice."
They are likely to identify you as a "nerd" if you fit the profile, but accept you for it. But underneath the acceptance the need for labeling is really a way for most of them to subtly express "you're OK, but please tone it down at times", although I could see other motivations at work leading to the need for labeling such as if the person is a nerd him/herself and has embraced the identity or is attracted to people they identify as "nerds".
Add to that how Asperger's has been run through the media so much and how it is has come to be associated with Bill Gates, Einstein, etc...
So, the image of "freeloader" wouldn't be likely to come up, at least if the label "Asperger's" is used instead of "autism". But I could imagine that people may then be less understanding when someone with Asperger's gets upset whether it is related to Asperger's or not. Though they are unlikely to draw the connection consciously this would relate to them seeing the person as likely to have a pretty awesome life coming and so judging that they should be less upset about things, not more.
-
I think people are still fairly ignorant when it comes to Asperger's. People who have more abnormal public behavior because of it are viewed as weird and oftentimes avoided altogether, in school. While people may not directly bully a kid with Asperger's, they still gossip and spread rumors that can certainly harm the person. If there is direct bullying, it seems to consist of people trolling the person -- saying shit to get him riled up because they know he has trouble with outbursts sometimes. That's still a major problem in schools that needs to be addressed.
-
Maybe things are different in American schools, but in my personal experience kids with actual disabilities are off limits to bullies.
I didn't go to a very nice school, the majority of the pupils there were massive pricks, and dangerous pricks too (it was a school on the edge of a UVF controlled council estate, just to give you an idea of the kind of place I'm talking about). But there was a girl there with down syndrome and you DID NOT fuck with her. Even the biggest assholes in the school left her alone - and I'm talking about the sort of teenagers who were members of the junior divisions of paramilitary orgnaisations and who would put somebody in hospital for being Catholic. I even witnessed some of them defending her once against someone who made fun of her behind her back.
Don't get me wrong, it's still awesome, I'm just not particularly suprised. Athough the escorting her everywhere is a bit different I have to say.
In my high school there were about a dozen or so special needs people. Even though there was a lot of bullying, a good deal of fights, and just general douchebaggery that goes on in high school; those students were off limits. I do remember the occasional asshole trying to be funny by making fun of them (to their face or behind their back) and it never ended well for those bullies. Either the school as a whole would start putting the bully down or someone bigger and badder would tell them to knock it off. I honestly thought that was the norm everywhere.
-
We had a fairly sizable population of special needs kids because of the program there. In elementary/early middle school you had folks who thought that they were funny, but usually a) they had paraprofessionals to walk with them and such and b) no one was that much of a douchebag. Mostly people hugged them. They were sort of morality pets.
-
As my dad taught for 30 years, including coaching football, and was my alma mater's athletic director for a decade before he retired... this shit makes me PROUD!
-
This is why I NEVER think, "Humanity is doomed" or "I've lost my faith in humanity", because plenty of good people still exist.
I look at it this way, both the humanist & the misanthrope make good points but most humans are either mostly good or mostly bad. Humans can be both the pinnacle & nadir of the animal kingdom. It all depends on the person, persons or situation.
I also feel that humanity can & does learn from history. The problem is that the people who learn from the past are rarely the ones in power. This is why those who do learn & wish to better things should continue to make noise! We need to always try to make the planet a better place. It will never be perfect, bad things always will happen, but it can still be improved.
This story makes me genuinely happy.
-
Spuki, can you please stop necroing threads?