Last Friday was my husbands birthday we were having a day out together while our kids were in school. We went to a shopping center and we went into a gift shop and looked around found the cards we needed and got in line to check out and pay for our items and this is what I observed. The young women behind the counter was ringing up purchases of a customer who I am assuming is younger than myself and is an acquaintance/old friend of the sales clerk.There was small talk so nice to see you how are you and then the acquaintance asks the young lady behind the counter how’s school and she says wonderful I will start student teaching in the spring..and the  acquaintance asks what will you be teaching? The young woman replies Special Education with a smile. This next part really bothered me mind you I am waiting in line hanging out with my husband on his birthday attempting to not be so observant. The acquaintance has this to say to the smiling young sales clerk-Bless your heart with a I feel sorry for you tone and then something about that she will pray for her…I am standing there and it took everything out of me to act as though I didn’t just hear what she said.I didn’t say anything and  I so regret it now. I didn’t want to embarase the smiling young sales clerk or act like a horses behind…If my daughter would’ve been with me I wonder what I would’ve said to her… I have a feeling I would’ve said something to her in the moment that would’ve gotten others attention.When I think about what I observed the ignorance of it make me wonder how many other people still think that way. How wide-spread is the ignorance?If a child has a special education teacher that they are some one deserving of pity merely because they learn differently than the typical average student really??? The last time I looked it isn’t 1959… but I witnessed someone with an attitude as though it were.The gift shop wasn’t empty we waited for a while in line and I am thinking there could be most likely were other people in the store who are Dyslexic like me or have a child who has special needs is LD ADD or Autistic.It is not like dyslexia learning disabilities ADD special needs or Autism are visible that you can tell just by looking at some one… the more I have thought about it over the last few days the more upset I’ve gotten and I realised that I know I am not the only one who would be bothered by this and what I should have said to the women was- Different is just different not good or bad and certainly not less. Just like I have always told my kids. I am not less or bad neither is my daughter or others who have LD ADD Autism or other special needs.We are not inferior- We are merely outside the box and I for one like it here -outside the box it’s all I’ve ever known.