I guess this is time to link to Growing Joel's site again...

[conuly]

My brief (very brief) examination into the eviedence shows that this trend of excusing people for murder if it's an autistic kid they killed extends well past that, into just about every sort of disability. If you kill your disabled kid, you get to say that it was the best choice, and people will listen. Some will believe you, and even those who don't will end up discussing matters from your perspective, instead of taking the stand that says "no, murder is wrong, this was wrong".

Remember the caged kids? This is the most recent article. I remember the comments to the early articles. There were people in the comments arguing that they "didn't know" why the cages were there, that there might've been a good reason for it, that we didn't know the whole story, that it could be nothing more than screens to keep them from getting out of bed at night.

Can you imagine anybody saying that if these kids weren't disabled? Even if they were nothing more than screens attached to the bunkbeds, can you imagine people saying "that's okay" for nondisabled kids, kids who are long since too old for cribs? Not everybody said that. Many people didn't, in fact. But even those who didn't were still letting the foster parents set the stage by claiming that this was for their kids own good.

Comments

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I would recommend — if you can get a copy which is difficult — Dick Sobsey's book Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities, which goes into great detail about the ways used to excuse these things and the breadth of the problem. (The book Four Sight by Sobsey/Hingsburger/Montgomery/Wilkins also goes into it but not near as much depth. But it's in print, so may be easier to get your hands on.)

[panda-cookie.livejournal.com]

Murder is wrong, disabled or not. There is no excuse for taking someone's life, in my opinion.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

The only screen acceptable for *any* child's bed is a mosquito net.

Let's see... "We couldn't control the children!" Then why the f*** did the state keep giving them more children?!?!?!?

Don't answer that. I know the rea$on.

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/

It's not disability-specific, but it does somewhat explain how this happens and why it's allowed to continue.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I would recommend — if you can get a copy which is difficult — Dick Sobsey's book Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities, which goes into great detail about the ways used to excuse these things and the breadth of the problem. (The book Four Sight by Sobsey/Hingsburger/Montgomery/Wilkins also goes into it but not near as much depth. But it's in print, so may be easier to get your hands on.)

[panda-cookie.livejournal.com]

Murder is wrong, disabled or not. There is no excuse for taking someone's life, in my opinion.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

The only screen acceptable for *any* child's bed is a mosquito net.

Let's see... "We couldn't control the children!" Then why the f*** did the state keep giving them more children?!?!?!?

Don't answer that. I know the rea$on.

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

http://www.liftingtheveil.org/

It's not disability-specific, but it does somewhat explain how this happens and why it's allowed to continue.