Writing in USA Today, journalist Michael Gartner says that tolerance of diversity has increased markedly in the quarter century since the newspaper was born.

Some of the increasing tolerance is the result of legislation. In 1990, and again in 1997, Congress broadened the Education of All Handicapped Children Act that made it easier for children with autism and other learning disabilities to receive special education or to be mainstreamed into schools. By last year, this law was aiding more than 6 million students ages 6 to 21. In 1991, 5,094 autistic children benefited from this act. In 2005, the number was 192,643.

This exposure leads to acceptance, tolerance and affection. My 10-year-old friend and baseball-going buddy Tyler Steinke has an autism-like disability, and he is in a fourth-grade classroom at an elementary school in Urbandale, Iowa. “The other kids help him and like him and include him and look out for him,” says his father. “The teacher says it’s remarkable.”

Tyler’s father says that in his day, kids would have made fun of special-needs students like Tyler. “I know,” his father admits, “I was one of those kids” who made fun of the others.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 8:28 am and is filed under public attitudes, stigma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post