Entertaining????!!!

Why are we failing as a society, a society in which a child in special education is set on fire by regular education students at his/her school?

New Port Richey Student Set On Fire

How can a middle school student, and 11 year old student, ever think that is ok? What are we missing? What in society even plants such an idea into a child's brain?

The article states that the two students who set the other child on fire have disciplary records at the school. What has been done in the past? How were those displinary issues handled? Where along the way did the two students think it would be 'entertaining' to set another child on fire, a child who may not have seen the danger in the situation?

These are all rhetorical questions, but this whole thing just makes me ill...

Bring Them Together

A week ago, I wrote about a father who beheaded his son with disabilities. The father said the constant and ongoing care made him look at his son as an object rather than a person. Today in the news is the story of a mother who dropped her baby from a parking garage. The baby had an orthopedic condition that was correctible, but the mother was overwhelmed by the way the child looked. And, my blog is full of other similar stories.

In each of the cases, the offending parent is usually prosecuted and convicted. But I really wonder – does it have to get to that point? What if the parents had support early on, support that would help them learn coping techniques, support from someone who has ‘been there, done that.’

Obviously something is not working in our society when it comes to caring for a child with disabilities.

Many, many parents, probably even most parents, when confronted with raising a child with disabilities, will buckle down, educate themselves, and become even better parents than initially thought possible. The provide love and encouragement, care and consistency. They provide a future for their child.

And then there are the parents who do not.

I wonder if bringing the two together could make a difference. Would having a parent in a similar situation, a parent who has developed coping techniques, who has learned to bury the dark thoughts, who has become an advocate for their child, a parent who could serve as a role model for the new and/or overwhelmed parent begin to save lives?

I was lucky. I found a group of supportive parents who could be there for me. Parents who could help me navigate the systems which so often lack the understanding and compassion we and our children need. But in the beginning I did feel an intense isolation. I believed no one understood what my life was like, and I believed that everyone was judging me. It took action on my part to find my circle of parents, and I wonder if the overwhelmed parents are even capable of taking that action.

I don’t know who could connect the two. I don’t know who could set up a mentorship program that provided support when it was instantly and desperately needed. But I think it is an idea that should be tried.

I’m tired of reading about children who die – children who could have long happy lives.

Tears

The child’s father said that he took care of his son for many years and that he just started to look at him as no longer his son, but rather just an inanimate object.

The child was seven years old and had cerebral palsy as well as some other unspecified disabilities. He was fed through a G-tube and was unable to speak.

The child’s father took a hacksaw and decapitated his son and then purposely left his son’s head in a position that his wife would discover. Before the wife, who was out running errands, returned, a volunteer firefighter drove by and spotted the boy’s head by the side of a city street. When the police arrived, the child’s father was standing on the porch and told the police that it was just a crash test dummy and that he had done it as a joke. The police found the rest of the child’s body in a white trash bag nearby.

The boy’s name was Jori.

His father, in my humble opinion, should rot in hell.

I’m so sorry, Jori. I wish you could have been my little boy.

Louisiana Child Killing

Truth and Horror

Today I am going to give you a link to an investigative report about a woman who was injured in the institution in which she lives. It's difficult to read, and you will want to stop after just a few pages. But, it is worth your time.

It's so easy for all of us to forget, or maybe not even know in the first place, that the things described in the report are real. And to know that it happens just around the corner from our daily go-to-work, love our families, pretty good by comparison lives makes it all the worse.

I could particularly visualize the woman in the report that was injured. She could have been my Ashley when she was younger. The way they described her was similar to the way Ashley was before she received the supports to become the intelligent, vibrant child she is today.

The contents of the report sickened me - they made me cry - and they made me want to bring home the woman that was wronged. But, I'm glad I read it, and I am very glad that there are organizations like my state's protection and advocacy agency to stand up for people like the woman in the report.

SEVTC Investigative Report