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I am listening to Palin speak in Ohio right now and she surprisingly spent a bit of time talking about how she'll fight for special needs children (she has one and says she relates to the challenges the parents face). She has presented no plan on how she'll do this but I can see how exploiting her personal situation and talking about this issue could help her garner voter support.
I have special needs children in my family and when last I researched the topic (a while ago now), a scary-high number of about 1 out of 100 children born these days are developing autism or other special needs. I wonder if others with special needs children will hear this and want to vote for her and McCain just because of this topic? I've never been a 1-issue voter, but I know there are people who are. Although the challenges of raising special-needs children hit me close to home, I feel like there are so many issues to consider that voting for a candidate based upon their stance on just one is a mistake.
Spending money on social welfare is not a hot item for the Republican ticket. Election year rhetoric vs. years of history prove this. Special needs mother or not, Palin is a Republican.
I believe this is what special needs children and parents need. Someone with their own experiences leading the way at a top level. There are some great programs out there that need the backing and aren't getting it and the parents are either broke or going broke with no assistance for these children. Our son has asbergers and when he was a child, it wasn't understood. Today, we have a better handle on it and now that he is an adult, he understands his social anxieties and works with them. Had we been in the same position today, the kid would be doped up all the time.
Right now I believe autism is in the range of 1 in 150.
There are a few reasons for this. One could easily be the broadening of the criteria when the DSMIV came out.
My middle son (age 5) is autistic. Autistic-autistic. As in, non-verbal until last year, now has a vocabulary of about 50-60 words with a severe speech impediment, continuous vocal stims, etc.
No, I do not believe Palin's desire to see more happen for special needs children means more will be done for special needs children. I think the huge wave of expense for our kids during the past decade isn't coverable economically as it is. Where will all the money come from? I don't know. More importantly, where will the money come from to support our kids between the age of 21 and death, about 40-50 years later? That I really don't know. And the lack of willingness for the conservative reich to "just hand out money" to "special interests" REALLY scares me. Therefore...having a special needs child means I definitely WON'T vote Republican.
Sarah has no experience with special needs children! Her child is 6-months old; all babies are special needs at that age. Speaking form experience as a special-needs parent, it will be years before she knows what she is up against. It's insulting for her to pretend to know.
Sarah has no experience with special needs children! Her child is 6-months old; all babies are special needs at that age. Speaking form experience as a special-needs parent, it will be years before she knows what she is up against. It's insulting for her to pretend to know.
I have to disagree with that analyzation. Normal children have needs yes, but children like hers and others' with down syndrome need more. It starts at day one not years from now and I don't understand how you can say it's insulting.
I am listening to Palin speak in Ohio right now and she surprisingly spent a bit of time talking about how she'll fight for special needs children (she has one and says she relates to the challenges the parents face). She has presented no plan on how she'll do this but I can see how exploiting her personal situation and talking about this issue could help her garner voter support.
I have special needs children in my family and when last I researched the topic (a while ago now), a scary-high number of about 1 out of 100 children born these days are developing autism or other special needs. I wonder if others with special needs children will hear this and want to vote for her and McCain just because of this topic? I've never been a 1-issue voter, but I know there are people who are. Although the challenges of raising special-needs children hit me close to home, I feel like there are so many issues to consider that voting for a candidate based upon their stance on just one is a mistake.
What is everyone's thoughts on this?
my sister worked in the san antonio school district as a special needs teacher. she thinks that palin will get those votes of special needs kids because the parents are basically crying for help all of the time. i'm glad to hear from you that not everyone will vote on this single issue when so many issues affect americans.
As a parent of a special needs child I don't think she has a clue what she's talking about. I know that I had no clue until we started school and I realized what challenges were in front of us. I see it as her needing to garner votes and she is using her child to do that.
I think it's a bit sad that it's only a concern of hers now that she's directly affected by it. If her child had turned out perfectly "normal" do you think she's be advocating on their behalf? I don't think so .
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