Obama’s Special Olympics Gaffe

As I was sitting watching The Situation Room’s coverage of the Obama special olympics gaffe, it dawned on me that the Autism Communities on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace would all be buzzing. And low and behold, it is…

One status update I read said something like “Obama called special olympics paticipants “retards”" Which was so far removed from the facts and context that it is laughable.

Obama made reference to the special olympics when Jay Leno was patronizingly clapping Obama’s 129 bowling score… said Leno was treating him like he was special olympics…

Obama did not make fun of “special needs” people… he was making fun of the way we “normal” people often treat special needs people.

Actually, what Obama said reminded me of a passage I read in Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay’s “How can I talk if my lips don’t move” The memoirs of a non-verbal, externally low-functioning autistic boy, who actually turned out to be quite the writer and philosopher…

- “I must admit that I cannot draw beyond stick figures. Every time I tried drawing something, I would get so embarrassed. I had no mental model or map in my mind, and I did not really know what I was drawing. And when people tried to be dishonest about it by praising me with a “Good job,” I was more humiliated

… after hearing that annoying singsong “Good job!” I had a sudden gush of anger… I had one just before entering the classroom. I was standing at the head of the queue of students, who were all waiting to enter the classroom. The moment I opened the door, there was a most annoying chorus of “Good job!” not only from a teacher but from those half-educated teacher’s assistants who don’t even know who Byron or Shelley was, and who believe that every act of a student needed to be Amen-ed by a “Good job!”" -

I think what the world needs now more than ever is for everyone to just relax… seriously…

For those of you who are raging mad about this, I’d like to offer some advice… stop taking yourselves so seriously… being angry is stressing you out. It takes so much energy to be angry and upset over simple words… why not direct that energy into positive things that can benefit your community… special needs and otherwise…

Obama was not being negative, or derogatory towards individuals with special needs… he was sort of empathizing with those special needs individuals who get potentially dishonest “Good jobs” because we treat them “specially”… not because we are actually impressed by their accomplishments.

I mean no disrespect… but there are so much more important things going on in the world… in our countries, in our regions and in our own neighborhoods… this is not a story worthy of another newscycle…