Complete Innocence

So today is a Wednesday... for those that do not know my hectic schedule at work on Wednesdays, here is a run-down. Think: cuss words, yelling, throwing objects, lots and lots of pacing, death glares, and odd smells all day long (this is just on a good day, folks). Now, a very nontraditional Wednesday was what I walked into. All of the students were calm and collected. There were no cuss words thrown out, chairs thrown across the room and through a wall, or death glares (at least made particularly at me), so all in all, it was a good day. I have to laugh at the innocence of some of my students. One of my favorites (yes, I know you are not supposed to have favorites, but give me a break... you all know you do) is a young adult with asperger's syndrome. For those of you who do not know what aspergers is, I'll tell you... it is a mild form of autism. Now, autism fascinates me, as do my students. I think of their lives and how they form their opinions and thoughts every day and am amazed at how talented and genius this particular student is. He loves politics and every chance he gets will try and squeeze any innuendo to do with the topic in his daily conversations. He is so sly about it too, that sometimes, people forget they have lost themselves in the conversation (about politics). Did I mention this young adult is smart? Anyways, to my story... today, we had a speaker come in and talk about situations that arise on the job and how our young adults should handle them. He proceeded to talk about how he lost a customer due to one of his employees sporting a hickey on their neck. Needless to say, this manager was not impressed and ended up firing the employee for coming to work with a hickey on his neck. Now, to my amazement, my student is fascinated... for a completely different reason than I expect. I for one, thought he would have been intrigued by the fact that someone got fired for having a hickey on their neck at work... Nope, not at all the case. My student was fascinated with the thought of a hickey. Little did I know, he had NO IDEA what a hickey was!! Now, in my case, I should be excited right? That one of my 21 year old students does NOT know what a hickey is or what they look like. Instead, I am amazed at his pure innocence at the thought of it. At the end of the day, he comes into the office and asks my coworker and I what a "dickey" is.. (insert laugh). We proceeded to tell him that it was called a "hickey" and then spelt it out for him on a piece of paper. My coworker was graceful enough to tell him how people get hickey's and I jumped in and asked if he thought that was attractive? He responded with, "having a bruise-looking circle on your neck caused by someone you are in a relationship with? I do not THINK that is attractive AT ALL... in the workplace or not!" Now, in order to understand the comedy of this statement, you have to hear it yourself as well as see his hand gestures. My coworker and I were in stitches after he left just at his expression alone. He thanked us for explaining what a h-i-c-k-e-y is (yes, he spelt it out) and was on his way. 

Now, I find myself smiling and laughing all over again after writing this post. I cannot believe how fascinating this student is to me and it makes me wonder... why does someone like me, who is not diagnosed with a disability, think the way I do? I understand that people who are diagnosed with autism or aspergers think differently and have trouble with social cues, but why do some people have such a hard time accepting who they are... who cares that they think differently than most, or that they do not understand some phrases are not okay to say in public, or to people they do not know. That is who they are... My job as a special education teacher at the Young Adult Program is to help my students understand what is acceptable and appropriate in their workplace, at home, or just in everyday life. Some things can be changed, some cannot. For one, I am not about to judge other's thoughts or beliefs, or what they know at 21, or do not know at 21. They are who they are, and we either accept them as them, or lose out on the opportunity to meet a potentially great person.