Pride and Prejudice

This painting is a very popular piece. It has connected with a lot of people for a lot of different reasons.

I painted it when I was angry one day. My step-son is autistic and we are in a constant battle with the school district to make sure he is educated properly. This day I had to express the anger and frustration I was feeling.

I am sure a lot of parents who have special needs children feel this same way. 1 in 100 children now have autism. It is something that we as a society need to understand and we need to deal with. There are not enough resources for these children. The school districts have no idea how to educate them. In fact, our school district refuses to even recognize his diagnosis saying that “they don’t have that label.” They educate him as an MR child. It is horribly frustrating.

The name of this painting is “Pride and Prejudice”. I used this because my son is so prideful of himself. He praises himself when he does well. He has everyone in the family clap for him when he does well. Then he faces enormous prejudice when he goes out into the world. People don’t understand. This is why my current series is called “The Chasm Between Understanding and Awareness”. You may be aware of autism but you need to understand it. Understand what our children are going through. Understand we can help.

Please help the cause in your local area any way you can.