Outrage

So, double post today, because I had already written something to post when I got online again, and because I have something new to say as of today.

I want you to know, if you are reading this, and you still think that working with people with special needs makes me some kind of saint, that you're dead wrong.  After introducing myself as an astronaut, a poet, a renaissance man, a political leader, and- after a friend on the sidelines would add 'he works with people with special needs'- countless times people meeting me would remark, "you must be so patient".  Truth is, I'm really not.  Yes, I can deal with students not looking at their work tasks and trying to rush through them, for hours on end.  Yes, I can deal with a kid screaming in my ear, or punching me in the face.  I can deal with diaper duty, and lunch preparation, and temper tantrums, and the whole gambit.  I can be patient with my guys, because I'm awesome, but not because I'm a patient person.

As I was thinking about how to start this post, I just kept coming up with expletives.  I'm pretty sure my first mental draft was something like "fuck those fucking fuckers", in various iterations, and very likely very specific descriptions, for about thirty-five pages.  And part of me still wants to write that.  Just because I can deal with people with special needs does not make me a patient person.  It just makes me a patient person when I'm dealing with people with special needs.  The truth is, when some loud-mouthed entitled jackass puts down one of my guys, in specific, or in general, I very much want to donkey-punch those stupid motherfu-

Er...  Let me get back on track.

So, today after work, I got an e-mail from the Big Man in Charge (BMC).  It was a letter informing us that we had been attempting to put together a group home in B~ Village.  Apparently, through some means that was not described in the message, the trustees of the village made it abundantly clear that they would be denying the application to build the group home on the property.  Dozens of citizens of B~ stood up to make absurdly ignorant and absurd comments about the population, and despite the law being in favor of my company, and the meeting being open for discussion and transparent to participants, the zoning planning commission were 5 to 1 against the opening of the group home.

Thankfully, the BMC of my company was not asking us to send letters or beg in some way, but instead decided to pull out of that area, so that we did not have to place clients into a hostile, ignorant village.  He also invited anyone in the company to come show support.  If I'm in town that day, you can damn well bet that I'll be waving a B~ Village Flag, super-imposed with a large penis on it.

The thing is, this isn't rare.  It's fairly common for zoning boards to deny adult group homes access to their community, usually by simultaneously arguing that a commercial property cannot be placed without a sprinkler system, and then also refusing to push through a permit for the company to put into the building said sprinkler system.  One of the families I worked with at Always Learning While Living had run into their town doing this same thing, for the very same reason-  I'll reach out and see if they'd be willing to write about it on the blog.  Different town, same bullshit.

Look, let's face it.  No reasonable person goes to town hall meetings.  The only people who do are people who are too ignorant for anyone to listen to them, too old and pickled for anyone to listen to them, too insane for anyone to listen to them, and the people who are on a power trip, trying to move up in politics, and who have to listen to all these people.  And, I couldn't tell you who my town's mayor (?) is, or when city (?) elections are either.  I have a life, and people to talk to, and things to do.  I don't go to town meetings.  So, I get that the people who came up and had something to say were the screws loose from an Ikea table, the marbles that popped out of a Dollar Store bag, or the dullest colors in any crayon box that isn't Crayola.  It just sucks that democracy lets these people matter, even for a moment.

If there were any justice in the world, there'd be a masked crusader who would find out about people like this, and in the middle of the night break into their house, and kick them in the face.  C'mon people, I'm not asking for a lot here.

Anyways, if you know what's happening in specific, and want to join me at the meeting, I expect it to be the second meeting that I will be walked out by the police for, so if you want to see that, you should go.  And, if you want to know the specifics, get in touch with me, and I'll give you the deets.  Personally, I think that this kind of story should be in the news, you know, ever, but what kind of isolated minority would we be if we had THAT kind of press coverage.  I guess we're indie enough if we're able to say "I worked in special needs before obvious prejudice was publicized'.  That's pretty cool, right?