Abuse

My wife works with a disabled girl as her personal aide.  Part of doing that is helping them do a special meal every so often, where the kids have to ask you what you want, give it to you, and make change.  I admit that when I would hear of this, I would think Well, that's nice, but its not a big deal.  Today, for the first time, I went to one of these meals, and I saw the kids in action.  I realized that for some of these kids, it is a big deal.  Some can't look you in the eye.  Some can only communicate with grunts and a form of sign language.  A couple of the kids have Downs, and a couple more have problems with impulse control.  At least one of the latter was big enough, though young, that he could give me a run for my money.  The size kid who makes high school football coaches salivate.

One of the kids was a quiet, shy girl.  I noticed that she didn't respond easily to questions, and, indeed, my wife says that this is a characteristic of hers - she responds very slowly, if at all, unless she has recently had an epileptic seizure, when for a little while she responds normally.  Yet to look at her, all you see is a cute 13 year old girl with a ponytail.

I found myself wondering what the boys in her class see.