Heather Saskia Nichols,
Maple Grove, MN.
I do not bleach my hair.
I do not color my hair.
I do not highlight my hair.
I do not think about my hair.
I do not think with my hair.
Why am I called dumb because of my hair?
In 7th grade, I stopped talking in class. I stopped raising my hand, I stopped answering the teacher, I shut down. I got A’s & B’s in everything except class participation. Why? Because if I spoke up in front of the class and had the wrong answer, students and sometimes teachers would laugh and tell me I was dumb because of my hair color.
Color.
It’s a color.
Because of a color, I’m dumb.
Because of a color, I’m an object.
Because of a color, it’s ok to demean me, insult me, invalidate me, hate me.
Now that I have a son who has Aspberger’s Syndrome I know what is wrong. If you listen to enough blonde jokes you will notice that most of them have to do with a person (yes, “a blonde” is a person) taking what people literally to the extreme. Is it ok to make fun of people with disabilities who take things literally & who misunderstand what is said to them? No. But it IS still ok to make blonde jokes. Oh, it’s just a joke. Can’t you take a joke? Can’t you enjoy being called stupid for your entire life?
