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.