Asian Ben

Ha - I can't believe I'm going to post this.  So - you might have noticed that Jacob's boy scout ceremony lacked something.... let's call it Diversity.  A recent foray into disability literature has gotten me thinking more about something I used to dismiss.  Besides, social economists found that increasing diversity without discussion doesn't lead to more tolerance.... in fact without talking about the meaning of diversity, "diversity for diversity sake" tends to decrease tolerance - as kids tend to break things into neat categories - "like me/not like me." 

But let's set that all aside and say we can only teach by example, which is why I've got to quit saying "Asian Ben."  Granted, this is a Cub Scout den in Northeast Wisconsin - it doesn't scream Diverse to begin with.  Then Jacob had three Ben's in his den of 11-ish last year.... and you can see where this is going.  I needed a quick Ben reference and the Soccer Ben / Asian Ben system was born.  Though I must say, we never said it in front of the kids - I guess we knew it probably wasn't the best to begin with.

There is a movement within the disability community to use "people first" language.  You are a "person with autism" much like you'd be a "person with cancer."  You shouldn't say "she is autistic" anymore than you would say "he is cancerous."  I'm not fully bought into this system, but I see the logic. 

Now, does that logic apply to race and gender?  I don't know.  I could describe someone as "he's Hmong," or "she's black."  It seems that trying to work around it is way more awkward - like "she's got long black hair, lots of small braids, dark skin" which sounds worse than "Isabelle's black."  Besides, I'm white.  I could be described that way.

However, I'd probably bristle at being called "White Jamie."  Why does race info not quite fit in front of the name when it can pretty easily go after the name?  Maybe it's the same as people first language.  Jamie's white - defines me first as Jamie and then as white, just like girl with autism would describe someone first as a girl and then as something she couldn't really help.

So - I guess we'll need to give Ben a new nickname.  We could call him "Ben whose dad complains a lot."  Ha.