Loading ...n the midst of the whole Sweetney debacle, I read a comment that almost thawed my cold and bitter heart. A woman posted eloquently about how my picture insulted people with downs syndrome more than it insulted Sweetney’s daughter.[..]
Original post: Retard Genocide
This is the only post of V’s that rubs me the wrong way. I get the end-point, that parents of disabled kids often let them run amok and mightn’t teach them the highest social manners. That’s fine and worth raising.
But I don’t think the point was made as fairly or well as in her other posts. I love the viciousness in the ‘mommy-blogger’ posts, because those women blithely profiteer at the expense of their children and deserve a good kick up the arse for it. But the parents of disabled children aren’t necessarily as in control of the outcomes and I think this barb attacks people who aren’t necessarily in control of what’s going on.
As the parent of my own special ‘tard’ I can say that one of my goals is to instill respect and good behaviour. To have any hope of achieving this, I have to be “on” all the time. I really do have it a lot harder than parents of normal kids. Really, I do. Every tiny action and interaction has to be watched, I can never just relax and let ‘kids be kids’. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming that I do just pick my battles and let some behaviour slide. There are benefits though, he is doing really well at integrating, but it is hard work. Parents carry the burden of behavioural therapies and rarely get enough support or respite - and most do the best they can.
Anyway, I think this post is out of order because it picks on people who can’t necessarily help what’s going on. Lucky for me and V though, my boy’s got autism and is unlikely to get in her space.
There is another thing that annoys me about this post. I have no problem with V’s friend telling the mother that she’s not okay with the kid going through her stuff - that’s the adult thing to do. But she doesn’t do that: she passively whines about it without directly addressing the mother, until V overreacts on her behalf. Really, that’s not something to brag about.
I have to say I love “retards”
fuckin’ love em
truthfullllly
They are the true geniuses
so-called normal people…
everyday amercian folk
may be the real “retards”
just a thought I entertain from time to time…
LONG LIVE RETARDS
or if you prefer long live the cognitively and mentally disabled or challenged as long as they’re not hurting anyone…
as one of my “retard” friends once said:
It takes all kinds.
hell, we’ve had lunatics drivin’ the buss
for ohhhhh about forever now…
@!*^cool it^*!@
schmidty, you seem to be a person that VA doesn`t address cause you really seem to watch after your kid
Now… I may have sounded like an ass
in my last post but what I meant to say
is that disabled people whether physical
or mental… at least the ones I have met
are some of the most interesting and
insightful people on the planet.
and a lot of “normal” people
are mean and nasty…
I’m a gemini cut me some slack
I’ve met many ‘tards’
who have brought me more
joy than many of my “normal”
friends…
most of the mentally or cognitively disabled folks
I’ve met have an outlook on life that I could only
wish for… I’ve had a hard time enjoying the simple
things in life due to my own condition. I long for a future in
which I can be a productive happy citizen that enjoys the fruits
of labor and the simple things in life.
I’ve been jaded for years… and am trying my hardest to pull
out of it…
I have great respect for people with disabilities
who can maintain a positive outlook on life in
the 21st century… cuz it ain’t easy for me…
My gratest respects to schmidty.
My opinion is also, that it’s not wise to put down such kids parents, except if V really knows what’s she talking about.
I think it takes great strength to be a good parent, even more so to a somewhat disabled kid.
wow. just came back from Lila’s 4-month check up. everythings great! she’s doing everything a “typical” baby should be doing. ready to start solids. so proud. call her dad to brag. can’t believe i can’t wait to go to the store and buy a simple bowl and spoon. come home, search down syndrome and oatmeal and come across this. sick to my stomach. pain like i can’t describe. knowing she can only do what she can do and hopefully will live a happy life but will have such horrific hate from someone like you. i don’t understand and i’m surprised to feel such pity for you. you don’t owe Lila, a beautiful strawberry blond, sweet baby anything, but i hope you can take a moment to think why you would want to cause someone else such pain and heartache over something that they have no control over. going upstairs right now. pulling down the blinds and turning off the phones and holding her tight. feel so stupid that i was so cocky earlier. thought that this wasn’t going to be as hard as i thought when she was born. sad that i can’t protect her forever.
Wow.
I guess I didnt read this one before, cant say I like it.
I generally reserve the word ‘retard’ for the functionally illiterate children I see in college. You know, people with enough cash and opportunity to learn something and do something of consequence and dont? Yeah.
So I had an aunt, with cerebral palsy. She was in a wheelchair for her entire life. I remember the horror I felt when I realized that only her body was crippled, her mind was the same as anyone else in the family. Not brqagging (and not including myself, either), but we have a bunch of really bright white people on the white side of my family. She used to drool and laugh and the like, she used to complain as well, but her complaints always seems direct and straight to the point. I remember the day she knocked me over with a paintbrush.
My grandfather was brilliant, wealthy and an inventor. My aunt had one of the first touch screen arrangements i am aware of, and had a stephen hawkings type vocoder hooked up. She could type, but only at around 10 characters a min, and only by activating the touch pad by holding paintbrushes. So there I was, serving my country in 1983. On the island of Grenada, now that was a war! Remind me to tell you about it sometime. So Cathy had typed a solid page, telling me how proud she was and that she was praying for me and my safe return. I asked gramps about it later, when I returned, he told me she worked on the letter for the better part of 3 days, getting it just the way she wanted it.
Everyone has irrational fears and dislikes, and if you arent willing to overlook differences of opinion etc, you will never be able to lay claim to a single friend, ever. I do think that for me, this one essay is a low point in my estimation of the writing. But not really a fair weather reader, I take it all regardless and keep what I want. Its hard for me to hear VA harshing on a population of people that cant help it and cant help themselves, but hey, I dont have to live looking that person in the mirror.