Controversy.... or Outside the Box Thinking?

 Today when I got into work for my day job I had something brought to my attention immediately.  I guess some background information is in order for you all so here is a bit for you.

I work for a special education program attached to a local high school.  The program that I work in specializes in helping teenagers and young adults on the autism spectrum fit into society and be as successful as they can be.  For the most part I like my job.

Background aside I came in today to find that one of my clients had sent in a maintenance request to the district to fix a toilet that was broken.  I had to promise to talk to this client and their family about proper channels and how if they see something that needs fixing to report it to one of their teachers.  For a second I was in fix it mode where I felt the need to fix the situation and make sure that it never happens again, but the more I think about it the more I am proud of this client.  They saw a situation that needed to be made better, took the time to email a person who could make the situation better, and they got results. Maintenance got to the site and fixed the problem over night and everything is working again.  I feel that they probably felt that they were going through the proper channels and nothing was getting done or getting better.  I love that they took it upon themself to get results in a world that is stacked against getting results.

Perhaps this is why we as a society are getting so fed up.  We have bought into this system of believing that if we run things up the correct channels that eventually they will be taken care of.  Maybe what we really need to make change is to actually find those that have the power to make the change that we want and talk to them directly.  I believe that we could all learn a bit from this client of mine on how to make lasting change. I feel that people on the autism spectrum have an innate ability to see solutions that us with "normal functioning" brains cannot see and that they are an amazing group of people that can make lasting change in the world. I think that we all need to channel our inner Greta and make a change for climate, or our inner nameless client and make our situation around us better.  We are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for and with this great power we can actually make true and lasting changes. 

Way to go client!!!! You made life for everyone better because you did not have time to wait for proper channels to be used. I applaud your individualism and stick it to the man attitude.