Should My Wordless Kid Go to School with Your Normal Child?
Rob -
I’m a long time reader of your blog and I’m a huge cheerleader for your daughter.
That said, I wanted to offer a teensy bit of criticism, which I hope you will take in the manner I intend (helpful) rather than taking offense.
You seems surprised by the negative reactions from some of the readers here, but I wonder if you didn’t cultivate some of that reaction? The entire tone of your post seemed to assume that your readers were jerks. You assigned us the belief that mainstreaming was bad and then called us self-absorbed for thinking that way. (I agree that your exact words didn’t say that, but the tone sure came through.)
The problem? It gives people an excuse not to take you seriously. Heck, I was on your side at the beginning of the article, and by the end of it I found myself mentally arguing against your points, just because I was so annoyed by your tone.
I think some (not all) of your beliefs are valid, but presenting them in a less aggressive, in-your-face manner might do more to help people see your point than merely castigating us for disagreeing with you.
Best of luck to you.
