I have a painful memory of Year One, when my regular teacher was away for four consecutive Tuesdays, at seminars, and for three of those Tuesdays, we had the principal as our teacher. There was a boy in my class who'd had a hard start in life, and he had many allergies, and I remember one day, the principal was supervising, and his tone was all wrong. The boy was a few minutes late and arrived in class crying. He wailed, through his tears, that he wanted to wave to his mum. The principal boomed, "Come out here!" and pointed to a space within striking distance of him. Okay, you can't be all, "It's okay, turn up for class whenever you feel like it," but what he should have done was say, "Okay, you wave to your mum, and then just tell me why you were late," in more of a gentle fatherly tone.

I remember the principal was showing us something and he confused me one day, by telling us to arrange some cards in a ladder, and I started to arrange mine one way and he boomed, "That is not a ladder!" Maybe he should have said, "I want you to put them like the rungs or steps of a ladder," and he'd have understood why I set mine out like the railings and steps of a ladder.

I remember, also, the principal physically struck me and accused me of not paying attention. I remember another day he was supervising three classes of Year One and he looked down and said, "That rude boy (he wasn't talking about me) who is playing with his socks will get a smacked bottom, in a minute, if he doesn't stop." Maybe, it was the case that, "That neurodiverse boy who is playing with his socks is feeling anxious and needs to do that," OR "That neurodiverse boy is finding his socks uncomfortable at the moment." I remember a woman saying that people talk of ADHD, but in her day, it was CANE, and then you behaved yourself. I can't help but think, how many of us went through school (I was never caned) being struck, hit or detained, when what we needed was understanding and accommodation.