Thread by @ottawa_asd_mum

🧵🪡
Dear @Sflecce:
I wish you could understand how unsettling, nerve-wracking, *insert uneasy synonym here* it is to approach a new school year as a parent of a special needs child. But you won’t. You may have read a handful of briefings or listened to colleagues tell you

how your government is doing a “stand up” job at special education—but until you’ve fathered children of your own who may need a little more in Ontario, you won’t know.

I wish you could know how maddening it is to hear you talk about how “wonderfully” your govt is

doing at supporting special education when REAL, ONTARIAN FAMILIES have children who cannot attend school, or who are sent home because of inadequate resources, or who are unsafe or who “don’t present with enough challenges to deserve support”.

You don’t support our Boards, who

in turn cannot support our educators who in turn run themselves ragged, stretching themselves thin, *insert preferred euphemism for working for too hard* to prevent kids from falling behind, falling into cracks, falling so far out of view their needs barely even register on your

purview. And they are YOUR responsibility, @Sflecce. Although they shouldn’t be. You haven’t earned the privilege of caring for these kids the way our educators have.

When placements are so few, that the “solution” to access a specialized classroom is to apply, get waitlisted,

send your child unsupported to a school, have the VP babysit them, and ultimately play chicken with the Board to expedite a spot—SOMEWHERE within your City: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

When a child is struggling, there is a total lack of support staff, and their parent is regularly

called from work to collect them: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

When a single EA has to bounce from classroom to classroom, caring for ALL the special needs children for a few minutes each per day: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

When a parent receives continuous calls home reporting problem

behaviour and challenges in learning but no proactive solutions can be put in place because of a lack of resources: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

When a special needs child has a letter sent home in their backpack saying they can’t attend a field trip with their peers because no one can

Adequately support them: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

When Spec Ed teams are combing through piles of student profiles, trying to decide whose needs are severe enough for support and who doesn’t make the cut: THAT IS A PROBLEM.

This is your job, @Sflecce. And I

Have to believe that you simply don’t understand; that you simply don’t have the necessary facts to produce any type of empathetic response—because I honestly don’t think you’d have the balls to stand at a podium and proudly say that the @fordnation govt is doing

Wonderful things for Special Education knowing that you’re lying directly to some of the most strong and relentless parents and dedicated educators out there.

But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you do know how f#cked the system is for children with anything from a developmental

disability to a learning disability to a child who is simply struggling to access curriculum at a certain point in their lives. And that really tells us how @fordnation actually feels about kids with disabilities in this province. And if it didn’t, the way our Educational

Assistants and Educational Support Workers are treated certainly would. You have set these folks up to fail. And then paid them miserably for it. It’s a good thing they have the heart and the compassion they do to hold out as long as they do before their need to pay the mortgage

or feed their own kids forces their hands.

I wish you knew, @Sleece. But you don’t. And you likely won’t. And you don’t have to understand the discouragement that a special needs parent feels jumping hoops to ensure that their children are safe and are accessing some kind of

education, or how they pray that they get a call from their principal with the offer of a placement or EA allotment in the dying days of summer “holiday”, or the worry they are overcome with when they don’t. You don’t have to understand that. But you should at the very least

understand that hardworking Ontarians deserve a respectable living wage and that all children, regardless of need, should be able to access an education.

Regards,
A parent with 2 amazing children relying on Spec Ed with unwavering support for @CUPEOntario.

#50KIsNotOk

#ontedsolidarity
#OntEd
#onpoli
@slecce
@fordnation
@maritstiles
@ I would tag my #NEPEAN MPP, but I don’t have one.