tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post6698589143868542728..comments2024-03-16T16:44:18.220-07:00Comments on Bad Cripple: An Untapped Resourcewilliam Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-64848900568405988772012-09-12T12:51:17.680-07:002012-09-12T12:51:17.680-07:00Matthew, As always you make a number of good point...Matthew, As always you make a number of good points. Sadly, you are correct there is some antagonism between carers and those who advocate for disability rights--in their own life and beyond. Even worse, there are some parents that do handle disability well. Your comments made me realize yet again how lucky I am to have had such wonderful parents. By the way, I really liked your last post. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-77055966199963650132012-09-11T23:54:50.922-07:002012-09-11T23:54:50.922-07:00My own observation is that self-advocating disable...My own observation is that self-advocating disabled people and carers are often antagonistic to each other, and this is particularly true in the autism and cognitive disability area where you have carers publicly advocating for things like the Ashley Treatment and for "cures" for their conditions which amount to a pre-natal test to facilitate an abortion. Many disabled adults also want to put a distance between themselves and their parents (especially) because some of the latter seek to interfere in their disabled children's lives well into adulthood.<br /><br />Some parents, sadly. don't fight for their disabled children; some are more interested in furthering their own careers and find their children's special needs an obstruction. I believe this is why my mother left me to suffer in a boarding school for four years - because she wasn't willing to countenance any more disruption to her own life and her own career (as a teacher, of all things). When I told her the sort of things that were going on there, she was obviously disturbed but refused to pull me out, saying "Where will you go?". Carers and parents will often defend each other when taken to task on failing to stick up for their children when things get tough - I've had my aunt tell me how distraught my mother was at having to send me away, but she wasn't so distraught as to put her foot down and say no. Some parents home-school their children, and that doesn't have to mean sitting with them all day.<br /><br />I'm sure there are lots of people with different disabilities who have similar (or worse) stories to tell and they don't want these people's voices to be too prominent in any discussion about disability or advocacy. I have also noticed that in some fields you get high-profile groups using celebrity carers to advocate quackery and 'cures' that don't work or are harmful. So, with some types of disability the affected people's and carers' voices are more or less as one (such as in ME here in the UK) while in others they are very antagonistic, and some disabled people have good reason to be suspicious of high-profile advocacy by carers.Matthew Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16675719484819810707noreply@blogger.com