omg I tried teaching SPED in NC. I apologize in advance for venting on your thread but ultimately yes, sometimes SPED attracts the worst people who just lap up the kudos for working with "those poor kids". The TA's (both mine and one across the hall) regularly made fun of kids- imitating their gaits, their singing, anything- right in front of them. The biggest knee-slapper for them was making fun of the genitalia of severely multiple-disabled students- telling an ambulatory but also severely disabled girl that "so and so ain't got nothing for you, girl. Go sit by so and so. hahahahaha" Fussing at incontinent students. So much shockingly unprofessional behavior, every day.
They were used to parking wheelchairs in front of the tv and cooking full on meals, having friends and family come in the back door to eat lunch and hang out half the day. Like it was their house. They were beyond pissed just because I insisted the back door to outside remain locked, like they'd never heard of such a thing. Mad because we actually followed people's plans- putting people in their walkers, sanders, etc. It was a freaking nightmare. Oh, then they hired a male assistant who on day one filmed himself feeding students and put it on his public instagram for sainthood praise.
They wanted my ass out of there immediately because they thought the room would be covered by their sub friend until three days before school started. I made it to February, when their bus driver buddy pushed a wheelchair down the bus ramp and turned away the quickest I ever saw him move- when I was about 15 feet away walking toward it. All that and so, so much more. When it went way beyond petty, personal, annoying, escalating, and unaddressed because "it's too hard to find people willing to change diapers" it felt dangerous for my license and myself. One Monday morning I packed my stuff and handed in the keys. The VP said, "You finally had enough?" I said yep and left.
I live in a different state now and am subbing to get a feel for how self-contained rooms are run here. So far I haven't seen any resemblance to what I experienced in NC but I'm still terrified of landing in another messed up setting.