Sometimes an artist just has to be an advocate

I have a non-profit organization to promote fine arts in at-risk youth with Asperger's, Tourette's, OCD, Anxiety, etc

But the past few weeks I have been in Mommy Protection Mode from an incident that happened at my son's middle school

I'm sure some of you are aware of the Federal Lawsuit that has been filed stemming from the amazingly horrible actions of a Kindergarten Teacher in Port St. Lucie, FL. A five year old with Asperger's was voted out of his class in a survivor-style vote and the teacher made each child in the class tell this poor five year old boy what they didn't like about him.

I never cease to be amazed by the actions of adults toward those with Autism/Asperger's. It stems from ignorance - if people would just take time to understand those with differences they would see there is no reason to 'cure' or 'fix' them. We are all just individuals who want to be understood.

My son also has Asperger's and can make wrong choices and have difficulty communicating, but it is usually his BEHAVIOR that COMMUNICATES for him when he is unable to do so verbally.
He was in trouble and one of the school principals questioned him, had him write a statement, sign forms that he was placed on an emergency expulsion and then allowed the Sheriff to question him before we were even called!

It saddens me that young people have no rights - a school and law enforcement officers may question minors without parents present or aware. There are NO Federal or state laws preventing this. What deeply saddens me is that school districts wouldn't have a policy against this. To me as a parent it is common decency - a no-brainer - that a parent would be called at least simultaneously as the law enforcement being called. Yet in our case we were phoned over an hour after the call to law enforcement.

So now we as parents must teach our young children to say, I don't want to answer any questions without my attorney present - apparently that is the only LEGAL standing to protect our children.