As the weeks of quarantine progress, my Netflix list is dwindling at a rapid speed. Over the past week, I took on the show Atypical. The plot revolves around Sam, a highly functioning autistic kid diagnosed with Asbergers. The show does a good job of portraying events that would be normal for a high school student but are more difficult for Sam. Additionally, the show portrays how Sams's family must accommodate parts of their lives so Sam feels comfortable.
When Sam attends school not everyone is well informed enough to realize Sam is on the spectrum, but rather they label him with names like, "the weird kid." Sadly, this seems to be the case in society even nowadays. High school students are commonly ignorant of the fact that some kids react to stimuli differently. This is the case whether the stimuli are highschool drama or lighting in a room.
In the show, Sams's girlfriend, Paige wants him to attend the school dance with her as her date. However, the flashing lights and loud music affright Sam and shatter his chance of attending. That is until Paige comes up with a proposition of making the dance Asbergers friendly. She proposes to the mothers to get noise-canceling headphones so that the dance is silent and Sam can attend like everyone else.
This scenario invoked a lot of thought in me, why aren't all dances like this? A vote was taken by the mothers and surprisingly many voted no! They were more focused on the hair of their daughters than the happiness of someone else. I understand in essence this is the happiness of one individual in comparison to the comfort of everyone else. If this show showed me anything it was that Sam is not a regular individual but someone who repeatedly faces oppression and challenges that others do not on a daily basis. I feel like if anyone deserves to have fun at the dance it should be him! I hope in the future all dances and school activities can be adjusted to fit the requirements of people with special needs.
Would you wear headphones to the dance so that a kid with special needs can also attend?
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