Why did the Blog Storm, that Engulfed Smockity, Erupt?

When I read Smockity’s original post and her defensive first response I was really upset.  I tweeted it, I facebooked it.  I sent her an email.  I blogged about it.  And then I started reading other bloggers’ posts and doing obsessive @Smockity searches on twitter.  Why did I react like this?  Did Smockity write anything that was worse about the child she observed in the library than what people have thought about Will?

I doubt it. 

I know what people think about Will before they understand why he’s behaving inappropriately.  Actually he probably gets more compassion from the average bystander because his behavior is so obviously due to a special need.  But he still gets those looks and some people are more expressive than others.  Sometimes I take the opportunity to educate the public.  I tell the person that Will is autistic and watch as their attitude changes.  “Oh, I wasn’t upset.”  I’ve been reassured.  But I know they were before they understood.  Usually, I disregard the looks . . . but some people have a talent for slapping you in the face with a single cutting look.

I think perhaps why I was so hurt by Smockity’s post was because she was reading the Bible.  I was discouraged.  If Will wasn’t cut some slack by a person like that, who would give him the benefit of the doubt?

But I’m even more concerned about Jake.  Professionals have told me they never would have known he was once diagnosed with ASD.  If someone like Will doesn’t get any slack what chance does someone like Jake, whose disability is invisible, have for compassion?  

Smockity’s post coincided with a boy on Bri’s bus mocking Will and my emotions erupted.  I can’t protect Jake from being bullied, Bri from being hurt or William from being mocked.  And I think poor, unprepared Smockity ripped the Band-Aid off the unhealed wounds that have festered for as long as our children have been mocked and disparaged.  And I think that is why the response to Smockity was so out of proportion to what she said.  She received a mountain of stored up hurt and anger.  The fallout was immense and I apologize for my out of proportion reaction to her post.