Education-Sponsored Gaslighting

Some social-emotional programs are ableist and invalidating

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

Ever had someone tell you you’re overreacting?

How’d that work out for you?

Did you immediately stop and say “y’know what? You’re right! I was totally blowing this out of proportion, I’m sorry. I will immediately calm myself down and no longer be upset now that you have informed me this is not a big deal.”

Or are you more like me, where a comment like that would elicit a stream of profanities at loud volume, complete with contemptuous body language and wild gesticulation?

If many of us would absolutely hate being told we’re overreacting, why do we constantly do this to others, especially children? In fact, we have entire social-emotional learning programs designed with gaslighting built right in.

For example, you may have seen something like this in an elementary school or classroom:

Created by author as an example of posters present in classrooms today

What’s wrong with this?

On the surface, it seems like a good idea: help people identify the specific problem they’re experiencing, take a step back and evaluate…