It has been quite a while since I posted.. have been busy trying to get my financial situation straightened out and just have not felt up to it. A friend of mine recently posted a blog on another site I wanted to share:
I have 3 beautiful, wonderful, intelligent children. My kids surprise me everyday with what they know. They surprise me everyday with the questions they ask. My children are my world and I will do everything in my power to protect them.
I have a 2 year old who is learning her way in this world.
I have a 7 year old. He is my mischief maker. He is also my little helper! He helps me clean up the house when I ask him to.
I also have an 8 year old. He is my geography and mathematics whiz!
He loves maps and math.
I want to protect my children and still empower them to achieve their dreams. I want them to succeed in this world. But I want to keep them from harm.
I do not see this same attitude from everyone. I see people who use their children. In this case, I am referring to those who use their children for political gain.
Now, honestly, I do not care who you are voting for, that is not the issue here. The issue here is that children should not be used for political/personal gain. Yet there is one ticket who insists on using the candidate's children to gain votes.
I am sorry John McCain. You do not understand special needs children. Just because your running mate has a child with Down's Syndrome does not make you the authority on children with special needs. As a matter of fact, in last night's debate you mentioned Sarah Palin and autism as if that is what her child has. Her child has Down's Syndrome. Down's and Autism are completely different. They are not interchangeable.
John McCain, you do not understand the daily life of the lower to middle class family who has a child with special needs. You do not understand what these parents have to do. You do not understand the fight these parents have for their children. You do not understand the waiting involved for these parents. You do not understand the uncertainty. You do not understand the heartache.
To use a child with special needs to advance your own ticket is despicable. This election is not about the children of the candidates. This election is about the war in Iraq, the economy, this country's dependence on foreign oil... THAT is what this campaign is about. It is not about the children of these candidates.
John McCain, you are using your running mate's child for your own political/personal gain. So is your running mate for that matter.
Using the special needs child of one of the candidates is a low blow and it is insulting to all parents who do have a special needs child.
Let me tell you my story:
My oldest child. He is 8 and the most intelligent 8 year old I have met to this date. But right now we are waiting. What are we waiting for? We are waiting for a new pediatrician. His previous pediatrician has forwarded him on, referred him to a behavioral and developmental pediatrician. We have been waiting for about a month and a half now. We finally heard from the new pediatrician. We have filled out another form. We are waiting for the phone call that may bring life back to my son... that he has been accepted into the practice, his first visit with the new doctor, an official diagnosis, and treatment.
See, my son has a few problems. He cannot interact with other children very well. He is teased and made fun of by his teammates in soccer (called a retard and stupid and dumb and an idiot). He spends hours screaming and crying because his teammates do not like him. It takes forever to calm him down. He does not cope well with changes in our daily routine. Everything has to be planned out to the last minute. Any deviation from our routine sets my son to walking into walls, flapping his hands in the air and kicking his feet. My son hums. He hums all day long. It is never-ending, except when his is "in his head." When he is "making movies" in his head, he makes sound effects. He is never quiet except for when he is sleeping. Oh, I take that back, he hums and talks in his sleep too.
Do not try to take the Atlas away from my son. He has even slept with it. That atlas was great for helping him learn about geography but it doesn't help with his science lessons. Try walking through the grocery store, a 2 year old in the cart, a 7 year old talking incessantly, and an 8 year old being a cat (literally crawling on the floor). Uh oh! Where is Stripey? (That's my son's Webkinz cat, he goes everywhere with us). Oh, there he is. Whew, we evaded the meltdown in the middle of the grocery store. There he goes again, with his shoes. They are the same, they don't feel right, one is tighter than the other, they have to be the same tightness. I cannot whistle, no one in the house can whistle without my 8 year old crying and rocking and covering his ears.
I could go on all day long... over and over and over. So many different things, and it seems like there is a new one every other day.
We do not have the resources available to us that those with money have. We have to wait. We do not have an official diagnosis yet. We are still waiting. His first pediatrician thinks he has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. She believes my son has Asperger's, with a sensory processing disorder thrown in, just for added fun.
John McCain, I dare you to do what I do on a daily basis. Please, come to my house and home school my 8 year old. You get him to pay attention and listen. You get him to do his schoolwork (and do it in less than 6 hours). You calm him down when he has had his self-esteem thrown in the toilet by mean children on his soccer team. You come and spend a day in my shoes. Then you will know what a day in the life of a parent of a special needs child is REALLY like. But please, if you do come here, make sure to keep your socks and shoes on, my son really doesn't like the sight of feet. Make it easier on yourself so you don't have to calm the screaming, crying, thrashing child. Come on over and spend the day with my child (with supervision very close by, we know how your temper is). Come on by and do what I do in a day... I bet you will crack in less than an hour.
Please, come and live in my shoes for a day. Or any other parent with a child on the Autism Spectrum. THEN you can talk about autism as you have experienced it. But do not keep using your running mate's child to score political points. It is insulting to those of us with special needs children. You are not scoring points with me.
I completely agree with her, not just about autism, but about any special need a child may have. Yes, it is tragic that Palin has a child with DS but guess what, a million other mom's out there have special needs children too, some have more than one. Who the hell does McCain think he is kidding? Seriously? Not me that's for sure. Sarah Palin has the means to make sure her child receives every need he will have to make his life easier. She will not know the frustration of waiting for funding for the therapies and adaptive equipment that her child will need. It took me an entire year to finally get a weighted blanket for my son who has special needs, that blanket cost $200 and he will need new ones that will increase in cost throughout the years as he grows.
I think it is reprehensible to use a child's disabilities to further your campaign. And to be honest, I think it is BS when people make such a big fuss over celebrities that have special needs children. Maybe I am just being ornery but just because someone has a lot of money does not mean that their situation is any more tragic then that of the parent of lower income who has a child with disabilities. It is a terrible thing to happen to ANY family rich or poor!
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