Sarah Palin and the Responsibilities of Special-Needs Parenting
On Friday, I reported with excitement that Sarah Palin, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, was the Republican nominee for Vice President.
Since then, all heck's kind of broken loose, hasn't it? The story has scattered in a multitude of directions, some silly, some serious. But a common thread throughout has been the flipside of my excited reaction: What's the mother of a tiny baby with Down syndrome doing running for national office? That child needs her more than her country does.
I've heard it from the right and the left, from people without experience with challenged children and those with it. And to be sure, there are days when I feel lucky if I have enough time and energy to tie my own shoes. Parents of children with disabilities tend to become their own case managers -- mothers more than fathers, I suspect, with no disrespect to the overinvolved dads out there -- and it's hard to imagine how it would be possible to run your child's treatment and run a country at the same time.
Yet I gotta tell you, those "her needy child needs her" comments rub me the wrong way. They hit the same sore spot as declarations of "You're a saint for the way you care for that child" and "I could never do that" always do. There's a common assumption that a child with special needs brings nothing but sacrifice, and soul-crushing labor, and selflessness; that parenting such a child is all about burying oneself in service. Certainly, there's enough service to bury you; certainly, having a child who needs so much help can seem like a good excuse to withdraw from the world, even if the world didn't already tend to withdraw from us.
Here's the hard question, though: How are our children ever to gain the visibility needed for full inclusion and full understanding and full sensitivity if their most passionate and knowledgeable advocates are supposed to do nothing but caring and case-managing? Our Mama Bear focus on the immediate and the day-to-day has real value, but it too often serves to keep us and our children invisible to society.
Visibility is important, and it almost always comes with a trade-off. You go to a PTA meeting, and you think of how you could have better spent the time helping your child with homework. You write a blog about your children's struggles, and you wonder if you've violated their right to privacy. You get involved in advocacy groups, and you wonder if you're neglecting your kids to do it. Parents of children with special needs don't really need pundits and blog-commenters to beat us up; we do a pretty good job of it all by ourselves.
I'm not saying that parenting a child with special needs is not a worthy vocation in and of itself. Just that it's often a heck of a good excuse for withdrawing from the world, and it doesn't need to be. It shouldn't be. It can't be, if we want our children to ever be part of that world. Not many of us are called to as big a stage as Sarah Palin has been. But if we are, and we're so inclined as to accept, I think there's an awful lot of good that can be done.
I hope we can adjust our Mama Bear viewfinders to see that, while having a mother who can't devote 24/7 to his treatment and therapy might not be ideal for little Trig, having a mother who can raise the visibility of children with Down syndrome and families of children with special needs is potentially an extremely good thing for him and for all of our children. (Plus, I'd like to believe that being VP might carry some awesome perks in the area of therapists and doctors coming to you. There's a trapping of power I wouldn't mind having.)
Though I'll admit I'm tempted to make up "Trig Palin for Vice President's Kid!" bumper stickers, I want to be clear that I'm not suggesting any of this as reason to vote for one ticket over another. I'd just like it not to be a reason not to. One thing I hope we learn as parents of special children is that everybody has unique strengths and talents, and focusing all attention on weaknesses is a pretty bad way to make progress. However this election turns out, I hope it serves to bring some leaders among us out of hiding.
Read more:
- What Do You Want Sarah Palin to Do for Your Family?
- Sarah Palin is the Republican VP Nominee!
- News and Views: Sarah Palin
- Discuss Sarah Palin in the Forum
[A note on comments: I would like the discussion on this post to stay true to the post's topic of whether the responsibilities of special-needs parenting should prevent a parent from taking on such a high-profile political candidacy. I have created a forum folder for broader discussion of Palin's candidacy, including topics for just positive and just negative opinions for those who don't care for the arguing. I will not go back and cut comments from this post that are off-topic, but from here on in -- past Comment 43 -- I will be pruning at my discretion.]
Taking this one a bit too far… I think Alaska Governor is quite “visible” already. Washington DC is thousands of miles from Alaska (home). This position is not equivalent to a PTA meeting. Maybe after she’s actually had some experience with a special needs child would society benefit from her greater awareness.
I’ve been annoyed at the comments about how much her child needs her and what she “should” be doing for him. He’s got a mom with a long hours, high stress job but a stay-at-home dad and (presumably) plenty of money and support. My special needs son has a dad with a long hours, high stress job and a stay-at-home mom with (probably) not nearly as much money or support. Sounds to me like the big concern is the gender of the parent staying at home.
Mary–his dad is not a stay-at-home dad–he has a job. Part of the debate in my mind is that ANY infant need his mother’s attention–it is part of early childhood development. Then, when you add in special needs… I agree with Doug–let’s see her be an advocate when she actually has some experience with the issues.
I’m sure she has good govt insurance that tax dollars have gone to pay for….meanwhile my 7 year old autistic son got kicked off his insurance after he was poisoned by vaccines that had mercury…(insurance and pharmacutical lobby deep in the R pockets)…she’s had a special needs kid for 4 months and she’s an expert…give me a break…my son will continue to have NO insurance for sure with these R’s in office…
I welcome Sarah Palin to be an advocate for special needs-do you really think anyone else is really going to put up a fight for your special needs child? Blame your insurance companies for not covering autism-not Sarah Palin.
the party of the insurance lobby has never done anything for children…much less special needs children…we pay lots in taxes yet we can give evildoers in guantanamo health care but not children? I don’t blame Palin, I blame her party…the D’s are culpable too…you really think she’d have said anything about special needs kids before having one? honestly…
On CNN, a reporter was interviewing Palin’s sister Heather, and there was mention of the fact that Heather had a child with special needs also, a teenager now I think, and that the family had always been very supportive of him, and because of that Sarah knew something of what was involved in having a special-needs child before she had Trig.
They didn’t mention the nephew’s diagnosis, and I can’t find anything on the Net about it tonight — has anyone heard more about this? I’ll keep trying to find out more.
I have to say, I got choked up when she spoke directly to special-needs families and said she would be a friend and advocate.
I’m happy Palin pledged tonight to be an advocate and ally for the “FAMILIES of CHILDREN with special needs” but like her party complains about not having the details behind change-HOW does she plan to do that? Simply having a child with a disability doesn’t make you a strong advocate…We don’t remain children forever and while my mom and dad appreciate the support-I think they’d rather she direct her disability efforts towards ME-the person with a disability.
As a single mom of a special needs child, and a Republican I might add… I was offended that she would use her child’s disability to her advantage! She has no idea what she is in for…. her chid is still a baby. It wont be until he is a little older that she will discover what it means to care for a child with disabilities. Everyone around her will want to use her son to further their cause. A child with disabilities just needs love. Not exploitation. If she is to win this election, she should win it on her own merit. Not on the suffering of her child!
I want to believe that Gov. Palen would really be a good advocate for our children, but I read today that she cut Alaska’s Special Education Budget by a huge percentage with a line item veto. I don’t know about you, but my family really counts on the assistance we get from the school district and state.
Thanks for this very thoughtful post. I am a firm Obama supporter and oppose McCain/Palin for a million other reasons, but the discussion of this topic and the other aspects of her private life all over the internet is making me sick. It was refreshing to read something serious on the topic for once.
I am absolutely ashmamed of all the parents of children with special needs that are bashing Palin! Here we have a national voice bringing awareness to our kids and what are we doing ? We are criticizing her for not knowing what it really feels like to have a special needs child because her baby is only 4 months old?! And lashing out at her for our kids being dropped by insurance ? Let us all stand together to support our children and show the world that change needs to happen and they deserve it ! Stop the negativity ! Let us embrace this voice instead of being pessemistic and setting a terrible example for our children. I applaud Palin for being a working mom too! Terri Mauro said it best: “How are our children ever to gain the visibility needed for full inclusion and full understanding and full sensitivity if their most passionate and knowledgeable advocates are supposed to do nothing but caring and case-managing? Our Mama Bear focus on the immediate and the day-to-day has real value, but it too often serves to keep us and our children invisible to society.”
be ashamed all you want. I will continue to actually research which candidates and their parties who actually support our “types of families” and which ones just give lip service.
The Bush administration cut services to the disabled along with the R party and these McCain Palin want to keep us in a war that costs our country trillions while millions of Americans in different situations struggle to pay bills. Our family specifically, we keep payin our elevated insurance premiums to get absolutley no services for our special needs kiddo. I guess we’ll just keep pulling the money from our three daughters college funds.
And a party that preaches family values for everyone else gives themselves a pass? Our special needs kiddo needs special attention. Attention we probably couldn’t give him while shuffling all over the country. It’s one thing to carry a child to term but it’s another to care for them afterward.
If she does (heaven forbid) get into office and actually helps facilitiate help to special needs families, then I’ll be first in line to say sorry. I’m just not holding my breath.
Sarah Palin’s sister has a 13-year old child with disabilities. This baby is not the family’s first interaction with special needs. She knows what it takes as she has helped her sister. She know what frustrations her sister has had to endure to get the best for her child. Believe me, her eyes are wide open as to what is needed for her family.
Hey folks, are there any other two parent workers in the US? How about two parent workers with children with special needs? Of course there are. Why is Sarah Palin’s circumstance any different? If John & Jane Doe both have to work to support their special needs child, what makes the media thing Sarah Palin can’t do it? It is a ploy to force the traditional roles of mothers and to tell women everywhere that being a woman is more about the equipment between the legs and not the gray matter between the ears.
My special needs son is 13. If my family can do it, so can hers. More power to you. Sarah! God bless you and thanks for stepping in to educate America on what strength really looks like!
This is a wonderful opportunity for the Down syndrome community to educate the rest of the world. I know there has been questions already about Palin’s ability to run or serve with a child with Ds. What the media needs to know is that just because you have a child with special needs, it doesn’t mean that the world stops or that your life is crippled because of them.
I will be happy if the media simply learns that it’s not “Down syndrome baby”, but a baby with Down syndrome. I want people to learn that currently 90% of positive prenatal testing of Down syndrome ends in abortion. And lastly, I think the media needs to know that 1 in 5 families have a child with special needs.
A child with Down Syndrome is perfectly normal, as long as you don’t compare him with other children. As a parent of one, I know that he MAY have health issues that require some additional attention, and he may start physical or other therapy, but otherwise simply needs the same love and attention as any other child, and I think she can fit it in between breaking ties in the Senate. Then again, maybe a working mom with political ambitions, a large family, and a new baby might leave her 17 year old daughter, already dealing with biological, social, academic, and other pressures, feeling starved for attention. In other words, we all have special needs.
Making a difference for special needs funding will require either additional funding or major insurance reform, neither of which is likely with a McCain-Palin ticket. Maybe Sara wants to put Air Force One on E-bay to start funding programs. Personally, I don’t need a friend in the White House, I need someone who has the power to make real change happen. Sadly, neither party fits that bill.
HEY!!!!! Its not the fact that this lady has a special needs child that is the issue. It is the fact that she CUT the line item within the Alaskan State Budget for special needs families by 62%. Apparently her family has the ability to finance the needs of her child but to hell with the rest. As an advocate and the father of an Autistic child I will do everything in my power to make sure that the parents of special needs children and the political action committees of those representing such families unite against this Judist……Rod
Rod, the 62% cut stuff appears to be BS based on misreading of the budgets. Regardless, I agree with your position and am not impressed by the little shout out we got in Sara’s attach speech. Do we really think that she will have the nerve or the power to take on Big Pharma or push spending away from the military to special education? Come on. Schools can fund programs for neurotypical children. Quoting Sara Baracuda herself, actions speak louder that words. I’ll wait to reserve judgment but have no dilusions that she would do anything of substance if she gets in the White House.
I enjoyed listening to Gov. Palen last night. She seemed to strike a chord with me, which has honestly never happened from a Republican platform. One thing gave me hope in that regard. Some people are asserting that she has no idea what is involved in parenting a special needs child, as the baby is so young. I agree. But, do you remember the first diagnosis your child received? If the Palen’s are like so many other parents I know who receive a “LAL” (Life Altering set of Letters), you become an information sponge. This is the time that you are seeking and searching for information and advice on your child’s disorder. It is a momentous time in our journey with a special needs child, and I will argue one of the most important. I have hopes that as Gov. Palen seeks information that she also begins to see the defecits in the systems she will look to. And it gives me hope that as the Vice President, she may be in a position of power to do something about it.
I am so tired of hearing people poke and prod Sarah Palin about having a special needs baby and working so much. HELLO!!! Fathers do it ALL THE TIME!!!
At least she HAD THE BABY. She CHOSE LIFE after knowing the baby would have a chromosomal abnormality.
Why doesn’t everyone go bitch out those who murdered there chromosome abnormal babies before they had a chance at life?... Instead of slamming Sarah Palin for working!
IGNORANCE.
I am a parent of a special needs child and having a voice and advocate in the White House is exciting. Governor Palin is not exploiting her child. The press started this insane course. They lied about many things about her and her children.
I respect her because she has embraced her childs special needs and she is not afraid or embarassed to talk about it. When my child was first diagnoised with Autism I kept it secret. I wasn’t sure how to talk about it, but I have embraced his special needs. By speaking more freely my whole family is realizing how special and wonderful these children are. We have to talk about our children, that’s the only way we will get the changes we need for them.
As a father who has spent the last year and a half raising a son with autism and a “typical” daughter while my wife is working a more than full time government job, I just hope the Palin’s have a plan to make sure Trig is connected to their whole family. I know that’s what cut me up when I was the one working full time after our son was first diagnosed – that I couldn’t be there for a lot of the intense therapy and bonding that helped so much.
Now, Palin may want to be an advocate, but she’d first have to change her running mate’s world view pretty severely. Here’s what I know about McCain and special needs:
1. On the campaign’s website, there is NO discussion of special needs kids or adults (other than a bland comment that he’ll keep investigating the causes of autism). No mention of DS, CP, MS, PDD-NOS, MD, Asperger’s, organic brain damage, fetal alcohol syndrome or even the phrase “special needs.” Apparently not worth discussing.
2. The key part of the McCain healthcare plan is encouraging companies to drop group health coverage (which helps reduce the cost of covering special needs people) by taxing benefits and giving credits for individuals who buy insurance on their own. The idea is that people will enter the private insurance market and create “competition” for health care. However, no one wants to compete to cover special needs kids – insurance companies do their very best not to have to under the rubric of exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
3. Despite this glaring problem, McCain has no mandates for private insurers to cover the special needs population – and a lot of states don’t have one right now, either. Rather, his health insurance reform consists of creating a bunch of state government run plans of last resort like state minimum auto insurance – with zero guarantee of the quality of coverage. Can’t even begin to imagine how much that will cost or how thrilled doctors will be to take that plan.
4. McCain’s main education idea is “school choice” – ie, vouchers. However, there is no corresponding requirement for private schools to take kids with special needs. If you haven’t tried, its pretty hard to find a private school willing to enroll a kid with any sort of behavioral issue – at least without a huge bump up in tuition to cover extra staff. Also no funding for schools to make up for the budget loss from such departures, even if the local public school winds up with all the special needs kids in town once all the kids who can bolt to private schools.
5. There’s a suggestion on the site that No Child Left Behind will be enhanced, but no change to NCLB that would stop states from “excusing” special needs kids from otherwise mandatory testing. If you haven’t run into this yet, this is how a lot of schools try to protect their averages. In states that require you pass a NCLB test to graduate, though, this means they can’t get a diploma – required to get decent jobs, go to college, etc. – based on the failure to even take the test. No accomodation for aspects of the test that a child’s condition prevents them from understanding, either, like an autistic kid who has problems identifying and relating thematic elements in fiction.
5. John McCain also opposes the Community Choice Act, which would help fund and encourage states to transition people with special needs from state facilities (think prisons without armed guards and you have a good picture) to community settings (group homes). This bill is the product of Tom Harkin, who pushed (ironically with McCain) the ADA through Congress. While it doesn’t mention it by name, it basically seeks to Federally fund a transition the Supreme Court has found states have to make if the person requests it. McCain all but shouted down a self-advocate in a wheelchair about this issue at a town hall several months ago. He may have forgotten it, and Palin may not know about it – but the special needs self-advocates are very aware of it.
Sarah Palin may become an advocate for special needs families some day. But she and McCain aren’t there yet.
Finally, if family connections matter so much, then know that David Axelrod (Obama’s chief strategist) has a kid with autism. His wife is a big advocate for special needs care in Illinois. Obama’s policies do address the special needs community in particular and in great detail, in addition to his goals of comprehensive health care, revising the testing aspect of NCLB and seeking greater school funding. He is also a co-sponsor of the Community Choice Act.
I really like Sarah Palin, I really do. I’d like her to actually go back to being the governor of Alaska, the state with the lowest High School graduation rate, legalized marijuana and the highest rate of Chlamydia in the country needs a governor who is paying attention…
Is she minding her community? No, I saw last night that she is busy telling me how I’ll have a friend in the white house as a mother of a special needs child. But she cut the special needs budget in her state by 62% while flying around shooting wolves and bears from helicopters paid by the Alaska state budget? Huh.. oh yeah that must have been pre-special needs baby… Well Sarah, I don’t know how you with your 4 months of experience can compare to my 14+ years of experience with a special needs child and the type of advocacy I had to do in my COMMUNITY of which you have no idea about.
As a mother of a 14 year old with autism who does know and has actually been helped and assisted by community organizers in advocating for my special needs child, I don’t know how much stake I can put into her words that I’ll have a friend in the white house.
I don’t have a Nanny, when my daughter was born I didn’t go back to work for several years until I felt she and I had bonded sufficiently, I didn’t dump her off on my other family members three days after giving birth. I think I was at home breastfeeding and nurturing her doing transcriptions on my computer so I could continue my career while caring for my baby in the best way I could. Call me sexist, uhhem..you can’t, I’m a working mother of 2 kids one with more special needs than the other and my career is quite demanding! I work 40 to 80 hour weeks and still bring my monsters to work with me, was the President of the PTA for a few years and have won several awards in the career path I’ve chosen. My daughter attends one of the best High Schools in the country for people with autism and I got her in there on my own, oops oh yeah, I had a community organizer in the Autism community recommend the school to me.
Call her elitist, divisive, separatist, classist, or even racist uhhemmm… I think I can… I felt like she definitely didn’t know what a community was, much less who I am as an Afro-Latin voting citizen of these United States. And her friend comment, was trite, she is 4 months into her special needs child’s life, what is she going to do for me in the white house if she doesn’t even advocate for these kids in her own state. I’m 14 years in, and she truly has no idea what she’s facing.
So I like the Pit Bull, I like her a lot. A pit-bull is a dog right? and female dogs are usually called the B-word right.. So go on little Pit Bull, please don’t tell me what you’re going to do for me. She can read the prompter really well and has great delivery and is very pretty in a small Alaska town type of way. Cosmopolitan no, Hockey Mom, sure, but we soccer moms out weigh and out number those icy pit bull hockey moms anyway. Go on Ms. Palin, you surely were the best pick for McCain… She got a lot of feisty in her but she is definitely not ready for Washington… with our wonderful community of the highest paid most intelligent, most educated black people on the planet. She is not ready for DC… Can you see them living down at the Navy Yard residence? uhhemm… NO
Just my opinion, I couldn’t let it go so read if you feel like it and pass it on to others!
For those of you that actually care about learning, here’s Obamas plan for our kiddos…
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities/
not suprisingly, I could find nothing on the R candidates stance on children with disabilities…
I’ll continue to be an advocate for my child and your children by voting for those that give us hope and plans to help our children….not just a bunch of lip service….
when President Clinton told the story of the couple that had to get a divorce to help get their autistic child covered, I wondered, that’s where my wife and I are…we had actually thought about that before…i pretend like I leave her so she can claim welfare and Texas CHIPS (healthcare for underprivleged kids) just so we can have SOME coverage…needless to say, our sanctity of marriage overruled the decision in the end…oh the wonderful options the party of family values has given todays families…ironic it seems…
but hey, by the end of the day, we will all have paid another $350 million for a war started by the family values party….I wonder how much therapy that would provide for special needs kids….
http://www.costofwar.com
How very sad and shocking…
it’s official…
party affiliation truly must be brainwashing, for either party, how can it not be when so many are so willing to piss away the FIRST possible national executive office special needs advocate because she doesn’t come in the perfect package? Yes, she’s new to the game (in terms of MRDD, I’m not talking Washington), but take yourselves back to the first 5 months, you may be more angry now many years out, but you were AS involved and dedicated and seeking information and avenues at 5 months as you are now. Don’t for a minute that she doesn’t feel this as deeply as we all do.
I’m really just shaking my head, you’re going to throw this candidate away, throw her into the trash because she’s not on a silver platter who agrees with exactly how you think it should be done.
Shame on you for not even giving them the opportunity to make the case.
And,…anybody with a J O B knows that its a very rare thing for any company or organization to have the website always saying the perfect thing in the perfect way. Yes, they need to get a platform up there, but this is new, this is groundbreaking in modern politics, it might take a couple of days. You all should know the meaning of the word patience.
Okay, first women were supposed to vote for her because of her having two XX chromosomes, and now you suggest she’ll be the first advocate ever for special needs kids because she says so? That’s why I’m supposed to vote for her?
Slight problem with this vision of Palin to the rescue. She’s not running for President, and she doesn’t set the agenda. Last time I checked, the guy on the top of the ticket does that. Now, you may think they can turn on a dime, but I suspect the party might be a little miffed if John McCain suddenly rolled over and disavowed his own words and policies on health care, NCLB, the Community Choice Act, IDEA, vouchers, et al. You know, those things that the party is supposedly nominating him to carry out? The things he’s spent more than a year claiming makes him better than Obama? Do you seriously think he could suddenly embrace eliminating pre-existing conditions, ensuring special needs kids get the best access to health care (ruining his “competition argument”), making schools take kids with special needs (Big Government anyone?) or dropping vouchers altogether – basically adopting the Democratic social agenda? Let me know how that works out, okay?
I’ll believe McCain will completely redirect his platform for the seek of giving teeth to a one-line comment by his VP pick when I see it. In the meantime, I’ll stick with the guy whose been advocating for people with special needs for the last several years and actually has a plan.
ummmmm….
what plan, happy to hear it.
Cleon…..sorry to say your wrong but you need to take a closer look at the line items of the Alaskan State budget….SHE CUT 62% OUT OF THE LINE THAT CARES FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN…..even CNN is reporting on it. You need to look at the Alaskan papers and the budget itself. How on earth can anyone be for a woman who is affluent enough to take care of her own child and to hell with everyone else. GEEEEEEEEEZ
Regarding the special education line-item veto, there’s an interesting post at http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/2008/09/politics-of-broken.html regarding that, from someone who is not a fan of Palin. But in looking into the story about the 62-percent cut, he found that the money was not actually cut, but a program that had previously been under special-ed was now a separate budget item.
Rod, I don’t know if this is the same cut you’re talking about. Can you post a link to where you’re seeing something actually eliminated?
Sarah Palin may have pledged to support special needs kids, but DON’T FOOL YOURSELVES! Listen to what she actually says: (1) Reduce government (2) Reduce spending (3) Reduce taxes (4) “If Alaska needs a bridge, we’ll build it ourselves.” Translated: it’s State responsibility, not Federal. (5) Local control over local issues – education, etc.
Sure, she’ll support special needs kids — by telling the States to commit more resources, not by committing Federal dollars. And one more thing – her child was lucky enough to be born into a large & caring family, with enough money to care for him. Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion, even in cases of rape! Her assumption, based on her own experience, is that the family will have enough to care for the child. But we all know how many divorces occur in families with special needs kids. We NEED more government support; most of our families, unlike hers, cannot do it all.
My adult brother lives in a group home with 50% annual turnover in staff. Pay is $8-10/hour in a county where the Living Wage is $14/hour! I want o see Sarah Palin put her money where her mouth is and provide a living wage so we can hire qualified staff to provide a caring and SAFE environment.
Enough said.
It is exactly the same cut……anyone can access the budget that is being discussed…the papers in Alaska were all over it and CNN mentioned it repeatedly today. If it is under a different line item why is that it hasn’t been identified by this womans professional handlers and I can’t find it elsewhere in the budget?
I took a another look at the actual budget…..the line item mentioned in the blog you refered me to….doesn’t have anything to do with special needs families!
Rod, as far as I can tell from researching this, it’s because money for special-needs families was never at issue in that 62-percent cut, despite how the story may have been spun. The budget that received the 62-percent cut was the budget for special schools, and the item that was moved from that was a special school, though not a special-needs school. This appears to be a case of CNN and others reporting something without looking into it deeply enough. Budgets don’t always line up year to year, and a simple comparison can be misleading.
There’s more on this at:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2008/09/gov_palins_budget_for_special_1.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2074727/posts
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/09/newest_palin_smear_she_cut_spe.asp
and an article from Education Week on Palin’s education budget:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/30/35recaps.h27.html
I’m not saying services might not have been cut elsewhere, just that this 62-percent story is not what it seems.
People people, slow down. She just went on national tv 2 days ago and made the commitment. Can we give it more than 48 hours for her to have time to follow up? I doubt it would have made political or common sense to spend more than the amount of time allotted on this single subject in the context of this acceptance speech. So lets give all the candidates a chance to expand on their plans to provide assistance for special needs.
If the only issue on the table were to be children w special needs, you have to agree that there is a heck of a lot more real commitment to children, adopted children and special needs children exemplified in the 2 Republican candidates by the number of children, adoption status, special needs status and the choice not to abort. Actions speak louder than words.
BTW, her children appear to be well cared for and healthy, a night out on the town won’t hurt little Trig. And what would people have said if he wasn’t there? That she was ashamed of him?
If it was Trig’s daddy who was the candidate, this would not be an issue. This little boy has a father who is just a capable, and a very supportive extended family. The Palin’s have shown to be concerned and involved parents. I do not have any doubts that Trig will have everything he needs.
I am the mom of 13-year-old child with disabilties and I’ve worked (part-time) ever since his dx of CP/DD at 11 months.
If nothing else, I am grateful for the national media’s attention on all of us, the parents of children with special needs, who have been quietly battling the school districts, the medical establishment and the insurance companies. This is our Warholian moment of fame, and we should use it education and inspire all Americans to support our children and our families through better government funding and insurance company regulations.
Heather said:
“Yes, they need to get a platform up there, but this is new, this is groundbreaking in modern politics, it might take a couple of days.” You are kidding me, right? New in politics? What the hottest governor has a child with special needs? Oh the horror, we must all flock to her side like little sheople. This is a classic example of the mantra that goes something like “if I don’t see it, it doesn’t exist”. I for one knew that there were kids with special needs prior to Palin’s nomination. As the mother to 2 kids with FAS/FAE, I was horrified when Palin touted her alleged advocacy for special needs children while calling for less govt and deriding community groups at the same time! Who IS GOING TO DO IT????? IT’S ONE OR THE OTHER AND YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
As for the media, contrast the difference between the way the press handled John Edwards and Sarah Palin. John Edwards, father of two children eight and ten, with a wife dying of cancer, juggling his mistress and love child, which much of the media knew about, gets a pass. Sarah Palin and her family get the opposite, unremitting attacks and desperate searches for something damaging to say about her. What’s up with that?
It would be wonderful to have an advocate for special needs children in the white house. Sara Palin has an uncanny ability to talk to an enormous group of people and make you feel like you are sitting across from her on the sofa. I will vote for the candidate that I feel that I can identify with the most. I was truly on the fence in this election, not any longer, Palin 08!
Disaboom has some posts on this new twist in the political arena. Advocates are made, or developed, not born. The idea that you have for a plate on a car (in jest) ……Though I’ll admit I’m tempted to make up “Trig Palin for Vice President’s Kid!” bumper stickers,will not solve the real problems within the parties and how they view the disabled culture. I recall waiting several months for results from a study ……..on osteogenesis imperfects, brittle bone condition….I watied and waited and finally received by mail a short letter. The letter explained that the research was cut –right in the middle of fact findings that may have helped me make decisions for my child’s health. It was the R party and that party cuts behind the scenes more than they fund it. Believe me. So, it is not about placing a baby in the public eye to gain votes? That has been done for years, it is just this baby is a baby with a disability. Some people get the view of pity, and other use words like “suffering” and such. I don’t deal out or take in pity. It is not the legislature, or even president that needs to take our country to the mountain top where all needs are considered……No. “Human rights are inscribed in the hearts of people; they were there long before lawmakers drafted their first proclamation.” Mary Robinson ( 1997)
Now, I know why I quit looking at these blogs, just a bunch of people ranting. I cannot believe people would critize Palin over being a working mom. Are we suppose to stop our lives because we had a child with special needs? Are you insane! Our children need well balanced parents. My son is 10 years old and severely developmentally delayed, I have been a stay at home mom all of his life until he started school. My whole life evolved around him and still does when he is our of school and even at times when he is in school. Just because a parent works or goes to school or whatever they chose,, it does not take away from the fact that their child is special needs everyday, every minute of the rest of their lives.
and just for the record, people can complain allthey want about the war, but I don’t remember anybody complaining lately about not being hijacked, bombed or poisoned lately. Do you not think, the terriost are just looking for another opportunity to hit us again?
oh yeah…forgot all about the terroists…didn’t 9/11 happen with this family value party in office…isn’t Bin Laden STILL on the lose? Iraq attacked us right? Seeing how there were no hijakers that were Iraqi, I think we got it right…
Bush and his party funnel $350 million a DAY into a war that was based on lies…we are spending billions rebuilding Iraq…many of our Generals saying now that IRAQ has in fact become a hotbed for terrorist training and Afganastan is now out of countrol…
what about our country? Millions losing their jobs, health insurance, HOMES and Americans sholdering the high costs of gas and inflation…
My wife and I are in the top tax bracket, can’t get health insurance for our son…our taxes are more than what most people make in a year….forgive me if I have a problem with terrorists in Guantanamo getting FREE healthcare on my dime, and our politicians getting excellent healthcare for their families all on my dime…don’t get me wrong, taxes are a necessity but I’m tired of this party taking my tax dollars and giving it to big business and telling me that my son has to stay on a waiting list to get CLASS services….vote R and vote against my special needs son and basically children in general….
McCain has over 150 lobbyists on his campaign while Obama has taken $0 from corporations or lobbyists…I’m tired of politicians selling out families while voting for insurance industry, oil industry, banking industry etc etc etc….
Palin represents more big business voting while leaving the American familiy out in the cold….
I can’t believe that people are bashing her because her son is only 4 months old! She may not have the experience yet but she will be getting it. The first year of my special daughters life was the hardest for us. She is spending plenty of time with him and I heard that she is still breastfeeding full time. If she becomes VP I’m sure her husband will quit his job in Alaska and come to Washington to help care full time for the baby. I love that she brought him to the convention. And that he didn’t seem upset by it. Children get used to what they are around and he will probably not be bothered by crowds etc. As the mother of a special needs child I wonder where all of the other special needs children are. I never see them in the grocery or at the mall or the lake. My daughter goes everywhere and loves it and I’m sure her son will benefit from not being stuck at home.
I am a mother of a special needs child. My son Sam is 11 years old and has Down Syndrome. Like the Palin’s, my husband and I found out about our son when I was 21 weeks pregnant and were faced with the option of abortion. I faced then, as I sometimes still do, the criticisms and downright rudeness of people who still question our choice to have our son. And we now thank God every day for bringing him into our lives. Has it been as easy as our other “typical” child, no, the path has been different but equally rewarding. I cried when I heard Sara’s words – I want others to be proud of their special needs children – to make society aware of its need to embrace these persons and carve out their destiny just like the rest of us. I am embarrassed to read what some have written in this blog – this person is who we need in Washington – she and her husband are going to personally go through the heartaches that we all have experienced, no matter what arena. She is human – her ideas now will not be carved in stone forever. We have the opportunity to be advocates for our children by putting our trust in Sara Palin.
Some of these comments make me sick. My younger brother is disabled, and he and i were raised by my mom by herself, working two jobs for most of our childhood. But she had no choice. And she was very committed to seeing that my brother had the best opportunities possible. Even though she HAD to work two jobs to support us, we were her #1 priority and she was home with us whenever she wasn’t working. I feel this is how good parenting should be. People on here say “your life doesn’t end when you have a special needs child.” True. But having that child is a commitment, and should be made your priority. Sarah Palin had a CHOICE whether to run for VP. Considering how exhausting the campaigning, not to mention the learning curve and figuring out “what a vice president does”, she is not going to have a lot of extra time to spend with that child. What happens down the road, if that child needs heart surgery, or speech therapy, or special education? nothing can replace the presence of good parenting in a child’s life, i know this from my own family experiences. Having access to good doctors and specialists means nothing if the parents aren’t around to support the child. What happens if, God forbid, there’s another 9/11, or if somethiing happens to McCain and she has to take office? This is a BIG responsibility we’re talking about, people. There’s a difference from her decision to run for vice president and the average working mom. She should not have made the decision to run for an office she isn’t even qualified to begin with. Furthermore, it makes me sick that some of the people on here are suggesting that this is a way to get exposure for the disabled. This is a child we’re talking about! Sorry, those just aren’t my kind of values.
How Senator and Mr. Palin chose to raise and care for any of their children is really not any concern for me, nor do I think its an appropriate topic for public discussion. We, as parents, all do the best we can for our children individually and our collective families. We all juggle. All the discussion around who is staying home and caring for their infant just makes me want to scream, “keep your eye on the ball” I’m appalled that this has become an antiquated discussion about ‘a woman’s place’ rather than asking if we, as a community, want this woman to speak for us.
My first reaction to her kind offer was, ‘this woman has been a parent of a child with special needs for about 3 minutes, what does she possibly know about what I need.’ Then I hear, ‘well she knows someone with a special needs child – - a sister’. I think to myself, ‘Oh. So she has been an advocate. She has used her standing as a governor to activist for children within the special needs community” and then I research and find that I was mistaken. Gov. Palin is not an advocate for anyone with special needs. She never never has been. Then I find myself back to my original question, ‘what kind of person would trot their newborn out on a national stage and proclaim to the nation that they are suddenly interested in being an advocate for something they know absolutely nothing about?”
The author has an interesting perspective and there were many excellent, passionate comments. As a parent of a child with autism, I, too, was thrilled about the prospect of having an advocate for special needs in the White House, but then I started researching.
Someone commented that we shouldn’t give up this opportunity, however, Obama also includes this advocacy position in his disabilities platform that could be filled by someone who is more qualified.
There are many things to consider about Gov. Palin assuming this official advocacy position. I wrote a blog about it here.
As a mother of a specially abled child I feel compasion for the road ahead of the Palin family. I would never imply that she couldn’t know what it feels like to live years with a specially abled child so I won’t. We all remember the moment our children are born, at that moment we join in with other families to advocate and care for our kids. The Palins are now part of this family, our family. There is no way of knowing if she will stay true to her word but there is no way to know if the other camp will either.
Trig is going to need what every child needs love and yes, he will probably need a lot more, and I hope he will get all he needs from his family. I hope she can balance being a mom and VP, I wouldn’t want the job.
So whether you like her or not, if she’s elected or not she and her family will face all the trials and anguish of having a specially abled child, we’ve all had them. It’s up to her to find a balance between family and career. It’s never easy. She and her family have joined the family and I won’t fault her because it’s only been 4 months. I still remember when I joined the family and I needed all the help I could get, and I’m not refering to votes.
i have a 52 year old sister with special needs and our mother advocated for her during the 60’s when there were no laws to protect or help anyone with any kind of handicap; physical or cognitive. my mother also looked after my ailing grandmothers and worked full time… so why should sarah palin’s not be running for vice-pesident? would this even be a topic for discussion if sarah palin was a man? my sister and i had TWO parents and so do the palin children!!! i read a research study in university that found that men, in some respects, actually make better primary caregivers simply because when mothers get home they tend to mother and fathers do not.