5:01pm July 13, 2014

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“What kind of staff are you?” she continued. I was unsure of what she meant so I asked her to clarify. “Well, do you work in a group home or an office?” I told her that I worked in an office and I was a behavior therapist. I must admit that I said the behavior therapist part with some pride. She stared at me, “What do you do?” she asked in a very measured tone. “I’m a behavior therapist. I work with people who have problems.”

That was it. She was angry. “You shouldn’t be here. You lock people in little rooms. You shouldn’t be here.” Both her anger and her words took me aback and before I could answer her friend spoke up. “Maybe it’s good that he is here then. He may learn something from the movie that will help him understand people better.” She agreed and the two of them discussed my betterment. When others started to arrive she left us to help people find seats.

Sitting through that was bad enough but sitting next to someone who was bound to feel smug for the next few hours was nearly intolerable. At the reception afterwards she approached us again and asked if I had liked the movie and I assured her I had. She wanted to know if I had learned anything and I told her that I did. I learned that it was good to be challenged about what I do from the people I do it to. Even though I had not locked anyone in a little room for some time, I knew that I had used time out and other procedures like it. I knew that I would remember her for a long time, but especially whenever I wrote a program to manage someone’s behavior.

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