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Originally posted by wagnerian21
Nice. So far I`ve been called a sadist, 'biggoted' (Perhaps you mean 'bigoted'?), insecure (funny how I predicted that one would be thrown out there), guilty (I can assure you I feel no guilt whatsoever for holding and expressing my opinions, nice try though), and childish. Nice.
Another poster inferred my 'ignorance' was a violation of the ATS T+C of Use.
Apparently this person has confused the posession of a dissenting opinion with the state of ignorance.
Oh, and I know I said I was going to respond only to Chissler here, but to the individual who said
that that "Most 'retarded'/handicapped people do not sit in homes drooling"....I beg to differ. I might be willing to accept that proposition had I not seen it firsthand.
I`ve seen them walking the streets, incomprehensible, babbling, and yes drooling. Ever lived near one of them that some government buearucrat decided was 'capable of being independant'? Ever heard him or her come outdoors late at night, screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs, for no reason, at nothing (because there`s nothing there)? Ever watch them drool on their lapel as they do so? I`ve seen it many times, and I trust my eyes more than I trust your assertion.
Originally posted by wagnerian21
and I do want you to know Chissler that I appreciate that.
Originally posted by wagnerian21
I might be willing to accept that proposition had I not seen it firsthand. I`ve seen them walking the streets, incomprehensible, babbling, and yes drooling. Ever lived near one of them that some government buearucrat decided was 'capable of being independant'? Ever heard him or her come outdoors late at night, screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs, for no reason, at nothing (because there`s nothing there)? Ever watch them drool on their lapel as they do so? I`ve seen it many times, and I trust my eyes more than I trust your assertion.
Originally posted by wagnerian21
Ever watch them drool on their lapel as they do so? I`ve seen it many times...
Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
Nice little rant there, but you neglected to address my question? Would the same rules you espouse apply if you were suddenly flattened by an incapacitating injury or disease? Or worse, if your child were born with spinal bifida, or Down's syndrome, or any of a myriad of conditions that could restrict them from living a so-called 'normal' life...would you pony up all additional costs yourself, or give thanks that you live in a society whose ethics are a tad less Darwinian than your own?
Can we get a response to that?
Originally posted by chissler
I'll be honest, after I read your post the first time.. I was spitting bullets. However, I reread your post a few times and I noticed something.... I do respect you as a member here for how you approached this.
Originally posted by Chissler
Have you ever worked with one of these men or women?
Originally posted by Chissler
I understand where you come from.
Originally posted by Chissler
You say you are frustrated because your money goes towards someone who's life can not improve. Again, that is so incorrect.
Originally posted by Chissler
If you've got a problem with how your money is being spent, look to your government....It is not right when our hard earned money is taken from us, and our own children are forced to do without. I agree and I am willing to stand by you on that fight. But pointing the finger at these individuals is not the way to go about it.
Originally posted by wagnerian21I`m an artist. I`ve told my loved ones numerous times that should I ever become mentally incapicated and unable to continue creating, there would be no further purpose to my existance and I would not wish to become a burden to them or society at large. Those are MY ethics, and I have the right to them.
There is your response.
Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
I think that western society is very compassionate toward the disabled.
Originally posted by chissler
I believe western society has come to understand the norms and now know how to mask their ignorance.
Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Can you explain what you mean?
Originally posted by chissler
To that, all I have to say is September 11th. People did the right thing, because it was the right thing to do. The implication that in the wake of a tragedy, all moral obligations to our fellow man are thrown out the window, I sincerely beg to differ. Has it happened? Yes. Does that mean it is the way the world operates? No.
"In 1851, a Louisiana physician and American Medical Association member, Samuel A. Cartwright, published a paper in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal wherein he described a new medical disorder he had recently identified. He called it drapetomania (from drapeto, meaning "to flee," and mania, an obsession), and used it to describe a condition he felt was prevalent in runaway slaves. "
ADD As a Social Invention
By Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
(Originally published in Education Week, October 18, 1995)
www.thomasarmstrong.com...
"Interestingly, research suggests that children labeled ADD do most poorly in environments that are boring and repetitive, externally controlled, lack immediate feedback, or are presided over by a familiar, maternal-like authority: in other words, the typical conservative "back to basics" classroom (a classroom that currently seems to be undergoing a resurgence in popularity)."
..."Several studies, especially those by Sydney Zentall at Purdue University, suggest, in fact, that just as the amphetamine-like substance Ritalin may help stimulate manv of these kids to an optimal level of arousal, so too can stimulating learning environments also help to focus and calm. I'm reminded here of the canaries that were kept by coal miners deep in the mines. If the level of oxygen fell below a certain level, the canaries would fall over on their perches and die, warning the miners to get out fast. It's possible that children who have been labeled ADD are the canaries of modern-day education; they may be signaling us to transform our nation's classrooms into more dynamic, novel, and exciting learning environments. ADD may, then, be more accurately termed ADDD, or attention-to-ditto-deficit disorder."
ADD As a Social Invention
By Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
(Originally published in Education Week, October 18, 1995)
(c) Thomas Armstrong, 1995
www.thomasarmstrong.com...
"Therapists, who uncritically follow the DSM medical model, are likely to place undue emphasis on individual emotional problems as causal factors rather than opening to the larger possibility that the individual is symptomatic due to familial, political or societal system dysfunctions.
Social psychologists call such exclusion of social factors and excessive focus on individual pathology the "fundamental attribution error."
The focus on individual pathology leads to individual based treatment, suggesting that the DSM markets the concept of individually and biologically based social discomfort."
DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power:
Summary of the Critique of the DSM
By: Ofer Zur, Ph.D., and Nola Nordmarken, MFT
www.drzur.com...
"...Homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the DSM until 1974, when gay activists demonstrated in front of the American Psychiatric Association Convention. The APA's 1974 vote showed 5,854 members supporting and 3,810 opposing the disorder's removal from the manual...Voting on what constitutes mental illness is truly bizarre and, needless to say, is political and unscientific."
..."External political pressure can result, apparently, in the inclusion of a diagnostic category. For example, PTSD was included in the DSM-III as a result of massive lobbying on its behalf by Vietnam vets and their supporters. Prior to that, PTSD sufferers were routinely diagnosed with character disorders."
..."Due to a deadlock in gender politics, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) was placed in the Appendix.
DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power
Summary of the Critique of the DSM
By: Ofer Zur, Ph.D., and Nola Nordmarken, MFT
www.drzur.com...