Social Analysis

One of the foremost ideologies which contributes to the continuation of this injustice would be the longstanding skewed ideologies perpetuated through history of people with intellectual disabilities and behavioral disorders. See the Historical Context tab to learn more about this. 

This cruel history of those with developmental disabilities lends a hand in how they are looked down upon and treated cruelly today, paralleling their treatment throughout history. In addition to this, many people believe children with intellectual disabilities are too “stupid” to recognize or feel the effects of the abuse they receive. This viewpoint allows abusers to continue their mistreatment without fear of repercussion. 

Another ideology which contributes to this injustice and has been normalized throughout history is using abuse as punishment. See "Historical Context" to learn more about the origins of abusive punishments in schools and homes. 

This long history of abusive punishment leads to a dangerous cycle of abuse and the passing of generational trauma up to the present day. This normalization of abusive punishment lends a huge hand in abusive punishment of any kind today, specifically that of students with intellectual disabilities and behavioral disorders. 

One example of a social system which encourages this injustice is the news. Though the news does not actively contribute to this abuse as you may be thinking, it is their negligence of the issue and the way which news is most often presented to the world that has allowed this unjust abuse to continue with little public awareness or effort to fight back. Through my efforts to research my injustice, I discovered there is very little coverage of this issue despite the many stories there are of children who have endured abuse in schools based on their disability. Additionally, I believe that constant exposure to media violence often makes people less susceptible to act against it, as each violent story we hear about on the news is simply one of seemingly a thousand others. Instead of empowering others to fight these issues, it can leave the reader/viewer feeling hopeless. Studies have also shown that exposure to media violence is linked to more aggressive behavior in adults and children, likely in efforts to mimic what they see. Finally, I believe that the manner in which the news presents violent stories protects the attacker by not holding them as accountable, most often in efforts to make the story more palatable or “comfortable” for the reader/viewer to take in. Specifically, their use of passive voice places blame away from the attacker. For example, a news reporter might read: An intellectually disabled third grader was handcuffed in class when… rather than: *insert name* handcuffed an intellectually disabled third grader in class when.…

Another social system which allows for this abuse is school systems. The main issue is that schools hire many teachers who are not trained to work in special education classrooms as teachers, therefore they are unable to effectively teach these students, often resulting in mistreatment. All teachers should be mandated to be trained to teach students with disabilities, and furthermore schools should not hire teachers to work in special education classrooms without the proper training. In addition to this lack of training, teachers are often not given enough resources for these classroom settings, and aides in special education classrooms are significantly underpaid, discouraging them and sometimes spurring them to act unprofessionally. School systems are also not doing a good enough job of paying attention to what goes on in classrooms and how students are being treated. It is their negligence that allows this abuse to happen, and it is in them hiring untrained teachers to special education classrooms that children are put at risk of mistreatment every day.