What Presuming Competence Means to Me

Updated: Jul 28

Presuming competence to me, means knowing I exist as a whole being.

Willing, able, and eager to learn, connect, and contribute.

In my experience, it is taught that autistics are unable to really understand much of anything.

Educators who are taught this become teachers who assume their role is to simply bring life into a child corpse.

Bonus points if they can teach a color or two.

It is not out of malice, but it is dangerous.

I wish educators would hear the grief and pain as their lessons slowly convince each vibrant child that they do not exist or belong.

It is vital, and I mean truly vital, to rethink the educational system. It is a matter of life and death.

In presuming competence, the foundation lies in the unyielding belief in our truth.

It requires teachers to believe in both themselves and in us.

And asks us all to surrender our role as a teacher/student and become both.

And that is hard, but it can be done.

It is rightfully ours, education. It is our pathway to liberation.

Presuming competence is not presuming knowledge.

Presuming knowledge is the assumption I already know.

Presuming competence is teaching AND listening.

I may already know what something is, or I may not.

Teach me. Let me learn. And let yourself learn from me.

I believe in silence, we can hear and see more.

Don't be surprised if your students are fast learners.

Spend a day learning in silence to taste our potential.

Learning complexity ignites our souls.

Lessons must hold depth.

Teach yourself as you teach us.

If a student is working on building motor skills, your lessons with be two-fold.

The cognitive in-depth curriculum and the sensory motor support.

In these cases, your support will require you to decipher between a motor misexecution and less a misunderstanding.

It's hard, I know, but simply lean in energetically and break it down without dumbing it down.

We learn best when mentally stimulated.

Trust us to trust you.