"White Privilege", "Austism", Career Choices

 “White privilege does not mean your life has not been hard; it means that skin color is not one of the things making it harder.” In response to this meme I posted on FB, a friend answered and said she was trying to share something her daughter had posted recently. She said it referenced Rick. After working on the technical aspects of it (which often eludes many of us) she was able to send the following post:

"Today is #WorldAutismAwarenessDay. This past year, ***(our son) was diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (what we used to call Asperger's). He's funny and bright and kind, and he'll need some special skills to cope with the world as it is because of how he processes things, but I know he can do it. I am so blessed to have had a high school teacher with this same difference in his brain, who taught my psychology class and talked about what this meant for him in daily life. Because of him, I had a huge headstart in recognizing and learning the kinds of things ***(he) might need extra tools to manage. I'm pretty far from an expert, but I'm happy to talk about what autism means in our family if anyone has questions."

I was pretty choked up trying to read this to Rick. What a wonder it is that something he shared years and years ago can help someone now, today. I had her mom message her to ask permission to use her post. The student wrote back: " Of course! Dr. Marklund was a huge influence on me. He is why I chose my major, and his psych class informed a lot of my mental health/coping skills. So, so grateful to them!" These are the rewards of teaching and living life in the way we are supposed to live it….following in His guidance. It means the world to hear things like this, which we do occasionally hear. Another student wrote a while back that her chosen career was encouraged by Rick talking about art therapy and giving her colored pencils to use during lectures while other teachers were removing them from her hands. Another talked about him making her face the past.

It also relates to my FB meme about White Privilege.  Because of the disabilities we all struggle with, life is often hard. And the more pervasive or profound the disability the more difficult life becomes. However, even living in cultures which are predominately not of our ethnic background (and we have spent our lives mainly doing that), we have rarely faced discrimination because of our race. We usually have still been the overlords/privileged/Great White Hope, whatever else you want to tag it. Surely our lives are easier because of it, but I am not convinced that we are better Christians for it. I am fairly well convinced that our identification with the poor and outcast and the special needs of this world would give us a deeper understanding of God’s love/forgiveness/mercy/grace than our position of privilege.