An article and a linky....
Jun. 4th, 2006 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Autistic kids fall victim to parents who run amok
Autistic kids fall victim to parents who run amok
Sunday, June 04, 2006
DEBORAH KENDRICK
Anyone who has been a parent has at least one terrible moment where caring for a child seemed unbearable. Inconsolable infants, recalcitrant toddlers, preschoolers who refuse to sleep. I know; I had mine.
Once, my 2-year-old son screamed and shook his crib until . . . what? Until I thought I’d strangle him or drown us both? Who knows?
What I did, in fact, was go outside, closing the door behind me, and stand in the blissful silence. I breathed. I probably prayed. And I breathed some more. Then, because parents love their children more than life itself, I went back indoors, lifted my baby out of his crib, and administered whatever caretaking machinations were required until he was satisfied and we both were smiling.
None of my children is autistic. They did, however, have special needs, because all children have special needs. But no amount of rationalization or putting myself in another mother’s shoes can assist me in wrapping my mind around the actions of Karen McCarron or Agnes DeGroot these past few weeks.
DeGroot and her husband, Nicolaas, are charged with setting fire to their apartment in Linn County, Oregon, on May 14. Police reports indicate they locked the windows and door and left. Inside was 19-year-old Christopher DeGroot, who neighbors heard pounding on the walls. He died four days later. He was autistic.
And then there was little Katherine McCarron. She was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Her paternal grandfather describes her as a child who laughed at being tickled, said "I love you" and played with dolls. But autism means many different things in the lives of many children. In Katie’s case, she didn’t always sleep well, and she learned to communicate more slowly than "typical" toddlers.
Her mother, a physician, and her father, an engineer, had agreed to live apart 20 months in order to get Katherine quality services in another state. Finally, though, they agreed it was time to bring the family back together at their home near Peoria, Ill.
We’ll never know what the little girl might have become or how she might have flourished in her upscale neighborhood with both parents. On May 13, Dr. McCarron confessed to putting a plastic bag over her 3-year-old’s head until she suffocated.
What is wrong with these people?
And now there’s Autism Every Day,a13-minute film aired at a New York City fundraiser and again on MSNBC. Some disabilityrights leaders fear it could persuade some people that raising an autistic child is so unbearable that murder, suicide or some combination thereof is understandable.
That’s where Adolf Hitler’s slaughtering crusade began: Put those poor imperfect babies out of their misery and an bring end to their parents’ suffering.
One mom in Autism Every Day states pathetically that her child will never marry. "How do you know that?" is what my heart is screaming at her.
Did anyone know when Temple Grandin was 3 or 6 or 10 that she would become a world renowned scientist and writer?
I’ve heard parents of deaf kids, blind kids, kids with Down syndrome and other disabilities make the same kinds of pronouncements: My child will never (fill in the blank). To all of them I say no human can predict what another human will accomplish.
One parent can raise a child who is brilliant, athletic and gifted, but turns out to be a murderer, arsonist, or thief. Another can raise a child who has significant disabilities but becomes an inventor, political leader or humanitarian.
To raise a child with autism is a daunting task that takes boundless reserves of energy, vigilance and devotion. As a society, we need to help parents who have been assigned such jobs for which they never applied.
But to justify hurting or murdering any child is garbage.
A child is the greatest gift there is. A parent who destroys that gift deserves no pity.
Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with disabilities.
*wipes tear from eyes*
No sarcasm, I liked that editorial.
And the link....
Yes, I know, this is just another dumb stunt by melodramatic curbies. I got it, I really did. But you know what? These dumb publicity stunts work. And it occured to me reading the original post that posting all these articles to people who agree with me isn't very helpful in the long run. I mean, it is...
So I like Moggy's idea in the comments. Write to my representatives. Obvious. I shall proceed to do that. I don't imagine that one or two letters will have a huge impact, but several might.
Autistic kids fall victim to parents who run amok
Sunday, June 04, 2006
DEBORAH KENDRICK
Anyone who has been a parent has at least one terrible moment where caring for a child seemed unbearable. Inconsolable infants, recalcitrant toddlers, preschoolers who refuse to sleep. I know; I had mine.
Once, my 2-year-old son screamed and shook his crib until . . . what? Until I thought I’d strangle him or drown us both? Who knows?
What I did, in fact, was go outside, closing the door behind me, and stand in the blissful silence. I breathed. I probably prayed. And I breathed some more. Then, because parents love their children more than life itself, I went back indoors, lifted my baby out of his crib, and administered whatever caretaking machinations were required until he was satisfied and we both were smiling.
None of my children is autistic. They did, however, have special needs, because all children have special needs. But no amount of rationalization or putting myself in another mother’s shoes can assist me in wrapping my mind around the actions of Karen McCarron or Agnes DeGroot these past few weeks.
DeGroot and her husband, Nicolaas, are charged with setting fire to their apartment in Linn County, Oregon, on May 14. Police reports indicate they locked the windows and door and left. Inside was 19-year-old Christopher DeGroot, who neighbors heard pounding on the walls. He died four days later. He was autistic.
And then there was little Katherine McCarron. She was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Her paternal grandfather describes her as a child who laughed at being tickled, said "I love you" and played with dolls. But autism means many different things in the lives of many children. In Katie’s case, she didn’t always sleep well, and she learned to communicate more slowly than "typical" toddlers.
Her mother, a physician, and her father, an engineer, had agreed to live apart 20 months in order to get Katherine quality services in another state. Finally, though, they agreed it was time to bring the family back together at their home near Peoria, Ill.
We’ll never know what the little girl might have become or how she might have flourished in her upscale neighborhood with both parents. On May 13, Dr. McCarron confessed to putting a plastic bag over her 3-year-old’s head until she suffocated.
What is wrong with these people?
And now there’s Autism Every Day,a13-minute film aired at a New York City fundraiser and again on MSNBC. Some disabilityrights leaders fear it could persuade some people that raising an autistic child is so unbearable that murder, suicide or some combination thereof is understandable.
That’s where Adolf Hitler’s slaughtering crusade began: Put those poor imperfect babies out of their misery and an bring end to their parents’ suffering.
One mom in Autism Every Day states pathetically that her child will never marry. "How do you know that?" is what my heart is screaming at her.
Did anyone know when Temple Grandin was 3 or 6 or 10 that she would become a world renowned scientist and writer?
I’ve heard parents of deaf kids, blind kids, kids with Down syndrome and other disabilities make the same kinds of pronouncements: My child will never (fill in the blank). To all of them I say no human can predict what another human will accomplish.
One parent can raise a child who is brilliant, athletic and gifted, but turns out to be a murderer, arsonist, or thief. Another can raise a child who has significant disabilities but becomes an inventor, political leader or humanitarian.
To raise a child with autism is a daunting task that takes boundless reserves of energy, vigilance and devotion. As a society, we need to help parents who have been assigned such jobs for which they never applied.
But to justify hurting or murdering any child is garbage.
A child is the greatest gift there is. A parent who destroys that gift deserves no pity.
Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with disabilities.
*wipes tear from eyes*
No sarcasm, I liked that editorial.
And the link....
Yes, I know, this is just another dumb stunt by melodramatic curbies. I got it, I really did. But you know what? These dumb publicity stunts work. And it occured to me reading the original post that posting all these articles to people who agree with me isn't very helpful in the long run. I mean, it is...
So I like Moggy's idea in the comments. Write to my representatives. Obvious. I shall proceed to do that. I don't imagine that one or two letters will have a huge impact, but several might.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 10:50 pm (UTC)http://www.cagreens.org/action/
It offers links to articles about contacting reps, and more importantly, lets people get the contact info for their local reps just by putting their zipcode in. Removes one more step from the process (I know that the idea of looking the information up manually actually keeps me from writing fairly often)...
I wonder if we should have some kind of comm for this kind of thing -- for PR campaigns, writing representatives, and so forth?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 10:50 pm (UTC)http://www.cagreens.org/action/
It offers links to articles about contacting reps, and more importantly, lets people get the contact info for their local reps just by putting their zipcode in. Removes one more step from the process (I know that the idea of looking the information up manually actually keeps me from writing fairly often)...
I wonder if we should have some kind of comm for this kind of thing -- for PR campaigns, writing representatives, and so forth?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-06 05:15 am (UTC)