Accepting the Kikoran Race: A Diversity Activity

Use this activity to lead to discussion about acceptance and diversity. 

A race from another planet is interested in taking residence on the earth. Since they didn’t want their arrival to be a surprise and have us destroy each other in panic and ignorance, they left this description.

      We are the Kikoran race and come from the planet Puru. Our home planet was destroyed after an unknown parasite ravaged our land and devastated our food supply. There are about 1,000 of us and we hope you would be willing to accommodate us on Earth. We heard many positive things about Earth and we wonder if you could let us coexist with you and the rest of the human population. Read this thoroughly before making any rash decisions.

     We call ourselves kikos. We have blue skin, ranging from almost white blue to dark blue. Some of us have somewhat green skin. The average height for a kiko would be about 10 feet in height and we usually weigh about 200 pounds. We are spindly, but strong for what we look like. Our eyes have pink scleras and our irises can be (from common to rare) red, orange, yellow, purple, white, green, or rainbow in color. Possible hair colors include purple, black, pink, white, or any combination of the listed. Our appendages are long and spindly. We are either “male” or “female” as you say, but we don’t really have gender roles.

     Our government was a direct democracy. This means everyone votes directly on the laws. We will be able to adapt to yours, though.

      Do not assume that kikos eat human flesh and/or practice cannibalism. We think such practices are barbaric. However, there’s no way we can resist a good piece of fruit.

      Our recent technological advancements include well-developed neurotech, clean and infinite energy, and new hospital configurations that prevent the spread of disease.

     The foods of Puru are not toxic to humans, but alcohol has similar effects to a kiko like hemlock has to humans. We don’t like the smell anyway. 

     Our languages are English and Maori. Most of us speak both.

     Kikos are very open-minded to other cultures. We value charity, acceptance, diversity, and kindness, but, as with any race, you get a few mean ones.

     We breathe a same air and have similar religions to the ones of Earth.
     If you don’t accept us, there’s a chance we may become extinct.

Would you let the kikoran race live on Earth with us? If so, how would you treat them? Would you drop language such as “Well, at least I’m human”? How far will you go to make sure others accept this alien race? What would you do as an individual, government, business, family, or other group to accommodate the kikorans?

High-Functioning =/= Easy/Convenient

Note: Personal reflections and opinions ahead. You are welcome to disagree with me, but any profane, hateful, irrelevant, an/or otherwise inappropriate comments will be removed promptly.

Warning: Text-heavy and long post

Don't assume that so-called "high-functioning" people have it easy. We have specific, out-of-the-ordinary needs too--and some people refuse to accommodate them because we seem so normal. High-functioning people are often labeled as spoiled, undisciplined, stuck-up, lazy, inconsiderate, impostors, or other negative things because their disabilities are not as apparent. I have personally experienced this, but not to the extent others have. The same can apply to someone with invisible disabilities because people are conditioned to think that outward normality is an indicator of inward normality. To alter a quote from "Flowers for Algernon", a well-known short story from Daniel Keyes, "How strange is it that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes--how such people think nothing of abusing a man with [insert disability here]."   No matter the severity or manifestation of a disability, it is not any more or less real.

I replied to a comment on the Love that Max post "People who get it, People who so don't". I told a commenter about my accommodations, honors classes, and how I needed them and, as expected, someone lashed out at me. They said I used my services to prop up my GPA, don't need it more than anyone else, that I was using resources that could help students who were barely making an average grade and did not have a disability. I replied with this comment: (Name omitted for reasons)

Accommodating a high-performing student in a school or elsewhere, especially if said student already performs well beyond passing standards without extra help, is a foreign concept to many people. Fortunately, I have a resource teacher that gets it and helps me to achieve what I can by helping to alleviate the anxiety that causes me to hold myself back. It is the law to provide needed accommodations and services despite a student's grades. However, some disregard this law and say that it is not fair to accommodate an intelligent student, like they're trying to create a Harrison Bergeron-esque school system.

This extends outside of the academic world as well. I have multiple food aversions ranging from common to almost unheard of. To name a few, I do not like beef or pork, avoid garlic and onions, think most sauces are vomit-inducing, do not bother with fish unless it's the 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000 chance that I will try a small flake of the mildest whitefish in existence, reject most seafood, find nearly all cheese revolting, only like buttered toast if the butter is applied before toasting, will never try durian, and have actually used a strainer to determine whether pulp-free Tropicana orange juice was pulp free (Pulp clogged the strainer within seconds.). Because of this, I am afraid of offending someone by refusing their food. They will be more apt to think I'm spoiled and it's all in my head because it's not an allergy, sensitivity, for religious reasons, or a predictable diet like paleo, vegetarian, vegan, or an elimination diet.

This post was not intended to be a means to acquire pity from others or express the desire to be cured. It was intended to draw others from the trap that high-functioning=easy. Being able to perform, but still needing services, leaves the high-functioning prone to more antagonism and false accusation of faking a disability. Keep this in mind if someone without any adaptive devices/outward indicators of a disability is parked in a handicapped spot, inconveniences you/your child waiting to use the accessible stall, or leaves the class to take a test in an alternative location. It is an awkward gap to bridge, but I wouldn't be anywhere else for the world.

All About those Notes (All About that Bass Parody)

All About Those Notes (All About that Bass Parody)

Note: These lyrics are flutist-specific. You can rewrite this to fit your instrument. 

Because you know I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels.

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes.

Yeah, it’s pretty clear.

I’m not all ditzy, but I hit high notes, high notes,

Which is my specialty.

And I have that airstream and tongue the others chase

With all the right notes in all the right places.

I see musician jokes

Working stereotypes.

We know that can’t be real.

Come on now. Make it stop.

If you make music, music, then play it up

‘Cause your instrument is perfect

From the bottom to the top.

Band directors will tell you “Don’t worry about the size.”

Don’t pick your horn for its case, but for the sound you like.

You know that I don’t look or act like a brainless doll,

So if that’s you think of me, get a life and move along.

Because you know I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels.

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes.

I’m bringing music back!

Come on, where are the real musicians at?

That's what I'm saying.

If you're not into that,

I'll still tell you

‘Cause your instrument is perfect

From the bottom to the top.

Band directors will tell you “Don’t worry about the size.”

Don’t pick your horn for its case, but for the sound you like.

You know that I don’t look or act like a brainless doll,

So if that’s you think of me, get a life and move along.

Because you know I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels.

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes.

Because you know I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels.

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes.

Because you know I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels.

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes

Not labels

I’m all about those notes,

‘Bout those notes.