Reply to APS mask policy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are still masking for the foreseeable future.

I tried talking to my kid this morning about treating everyone with the same kindness at school whether they were wearing a mask or not and he was legitimately offended, saying that people who were not wearing masks were failing to take care of the people in the community who had lower immunity levels or at risk people at home, and I said we would have to continue the conversation this evening (because, though I didn't say it, he wasn't really wrong and I don't know a great response to this argument).[/quote]

Your son sounds like a nice kid. I can tell you my perspective as the parent of a mildly autistic kid. Despite his disability, in March 2020 he was a happy, outgoing, curious, albeit awkward kid. The APS decision to abandon all teaching for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year was disastrously bad for him because it cut him off from some great teachers and kids. We are glad that school (eventually) reopened but the masks present two challenges to him. First, under the best of circumstances (without masks) understanding subtle social cues and messages is a significant challenge for him. But with everyone wearing a mask it's nearly impossible. He has more or less decided that making friends is a code he will never crack and having a friend is not something he really even thinks about anymore. He comes home from school exhausted and dispirited nearly every day from trying to decipher the world. Second, he has sensory issues and wearing a mask is uncomfortable for him, both with respect to the feeling of the mask on his face and just plain simple breathing. Weirdly though, even though he is fully vaccinated and has had covid, part of him is also scared of taking off his mask because he has received angry reprimands from so many adults who have no idea of his situation but have convinced him that the mask is saving his life. Every time I see a post from an adult that no child minds wearing a mask, I feel like screaming.

Bottom line, the happy, outgoing, curious kid from March 2020 gets through his day by taking 15 mg of Lexapro every morning. [/quote]

This is a good point, I will also mention that some kids legit have more trouble dealing with masks than others do.  Sounds like your son has had a rough time, I'm sorry.  My kid is also mildly autistic fwiw (it's part of what makes him feel the injustice of ignoring the risks to immunocompromised people so strongly), but doesn't have any sensory issues with mask wearing.  I could say that for some kids it's like having a tag inside their shirt and he will totally get that.[/quote]

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