To the editor,
I’m done staying silent about the systemic ableism and nepotism that’s wrecked my life. Many disabled people, myself included, was punished for expressing emotions, while people with powerful families (city council, law enforcement, school admins) got away with actually being rude/abusive to people. That favouritism didn’t end when I became an adult—small cities, like the Sault, operate on who you know, not what you know.
The double standard is infuriating — neurotypicals with other mental disorders sometimes get coddled after violent outbursts, while autistic/intellectually disabled people are punished for their meltdowns. Or even another example with a popular man making inappropriate jokes/sexist/racist jokes and people are OK with it while an autistic makes a fart joke right out of a Despicable Me/Minions movie and they’re punished.
The worst part? Families with power hold all the info on disability rights, while people like me had to scrape by and/or scramble for basic support, only to be burned out by the lack of resources as an adult from finding them. The only disabled people ‘coddled’ in my personal experience are those with powerful families. Where for example one person I knew was allowed to bring a fake gun to school, while I repeated a word from a movie I wasn’t aware meant ‘death’ and they got a police officer to verbally assault me.
I’m tired of being dismissed and shamed for my neurodivergence, and I’m sure so are many other neurodivergent people. It’s time to call out this toxic system, fight against ableism, and give everyone equal rights.
Max Di Renzo
Sault Ste. Marie