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As a parent of a slow child yourself, I find it unbelievable that you would try to label someone as such just to make a (feeble) political point.
I wasn't trying to make a feeble political point. I was being literal. I'm pretty sure I stressed that enough for most people to be able to understand. I do, literally, believe that Bush is a mentally challenged individual. Literally, not to make a point or to exaggerate.
I too am the parent of a "slow" child and as I said, it isn't a word I like to use. It is a word stretching back from my childhood, when "real" labels didn't exist the way they do today, and as I stated in my post, every, and I mean EVERY time I see or hear this man that is the word that jumps into my mind.
I wasn't kidding about the ears, either. They do literally look to me like something genetic happening. (Or having happened.) No, I am not a medical doctor. Did I say I was? Did I not say it's my own opinion, my own idea? Several times, in fact?
I did not make the judgement against *him* politically. In fact, I stated (did you actually read the entire post?) that I believe it is *other people* who have done the damage. I do not fault anyone for having genetic damage, alcohol-induced damage (who the heck knows???) or whatever the case may be with this person. I do not step back from my feelings on this matter. No matter who says what about this person (including Yale--oh please--loads of bought "gentlemen's C's"), as I said, every time I see him, I get that gut feeling that he is not on par mentally with the average person. Yes, a mentally challenged person could certainly be pushed through a school, any school. No, he or she is not required to do the work correctly in order to receive certain grades--enough to pass and manage to earn the degree, anyway. I feel that's pretty naiive once you're getting into big money.
And again..I could be wrong. I never said this is the definite answer. I said it is my own very strong feeling.
Let me just explain something here before I bow out.
First of all, as the parent of a mentally challenged person, *I* take offense at people deciding mental delays are a horrible thing, an insult, stooping low, etc. Mental delays are not the worst of the worst, and little more than an insult. They are a part of a person.
I am not stooping. I am saying what I honestly feel and believe when I see this person and hear him speak.
I used a very, very general term. In the world of delays, there is no "one" cause and no "one" diagnosis. Spunky, as the parent of a person with delays, you above all should understand this. I am NOT a medical doctor, obviously. I couldn't say I believe this person has X, Y or Z.
There are many, many degrees of intellectual delay. MANY intellectually delayed people hold jobs. Many have families. There are also different *types* of intellectual delay. I didn't make a judgement on which it could be. I couldn't possibly.
The term "slow" is obviously no longer used, in the medical community. At one time, people with various types of delays were written off. Today, it is considered just one aspect of a person, and every person with a delay is afforded the possibility of advancement within his or her own capacity. Just as non-delayed children are offered advancement according to their own capacity.
To react with horror, anger, disgust, to claim it's all a hideous indictment on my part to slander this person by suggesting mental delays is itself fairly insulting. Then again, I'm pretty much used to individuals who have no special-needs family members not understanding.
This IS my belief. I DO believe this person has some form of intellectual handicap. It is not a slam in order to make the person appear "bad". I do not think intellectual delays make a person "bad" or "less than".
It is hard for the neurotypical community to understand, but parents of special-needs children, while we do see their delays, do NOT think of them as the worst possible thing. We do come right out and talk about them on occasion. We have to (not in front of the children, obviously). If we never addressed special needs, we would never understand them. And that helps nobody.
I do feel this person has been a tool for those who would see someone they view as moldable, and those are the people I take to task. I stated so clearly in my original post. But people see a reference to intellectual delay and they freak out...because that's "the very worst" possible thing. I think we can consider ourselves mutually offended.
You will notice that I never said Bush is the worst president in history. It seems that here, it is much less insulting to say a person is a hideous murderous criminal, than to suggest intellectual delay. In my world, that's a little backward, but that's just me.
When someone stoops so low as to say the President is "slow" and states he believes he has a genetic defect I do not think defending him is silly. Why let posters get away with this, it just encourages them to continue. Maybe if people are called on it they will think twice before posting such nonsense.
Or maybe, if we are strong-minded, we will rise above our fear of not being accepted and say what we're actually thinking. I never said you may not defend the president. You can defend anyone you wish to. I do "think twice" before posting, but for me it is not nonsense. People are stating that this person is a criminal, a warmonger, etc., etc. The question in fact is whether he is the WORST president in history! That's pretty deep. My theory actually lets him off the hook.
I don't know who your little dig was aimed at, I don't consider myself a "follower." I just don't like to see people take cheap-shots at others. But I guess on this board that is too much to hope for.
I don't know who your little dig was aimed at, I don't consider myself a "follower." I just don't like to see people take cheap-shots at others. But I guess on this board that is too much to hope for.
Wait a moment... isn't it cheap shots that you're aiming at people here?
Care to post a picture of yourself so we can check your ear size and placement
Shoot, I figured I was done with what I needed to say but I didn't see this. Let me point something out very quickly here.
I think my children are the most beautiful things on earth, of course. We parents always think that. To me everything about them is beautiful.
Well, when my son still wasn't talking at the age of two--and then three--and was delayed in other areas, at some point my husband and I began to question his hearing. We decided to take him to an ENT. The doctor quite casually let us know that his "odd facial appearance" could be adenoid fascies, a condition where the face begins to look "pulled down" due to the adenoids swelling and beginning to deform the face.
I managed to get the children home and in a different room before I broke down sobbing. I could not, COULD NOT believe ANYONE could make a judgment about, of all things, my son's looks. First of all, shouldn't that be the last thing on anyone's mind? I didn't care what he looked like, I cared about getting him the right help for his delays. Second of all, I never, and I mean never would have thought his looks odd or different. In any way.
My son did in fact have adenoid fascies and had his adenoids out. I got over my sorrow that anyone else on the planet could fail to see his beauty. I got over it because *something important was going on* and *his particular look was the indicator*.
If there is in fact what is known as a marker (a physical sign) of something being wrong, it is in fact worth looking into. I did make a judgement about Bush's ears. I do in fact feel, personally, that they look like a marker. I should probably have left that one out, in retrospect. I guess it wasn't necessary. Again, I was being honest. I was actually defending the man and making him less accountable for "his" decisions and actions, but did so in a way that was bound to offend people. Again--I live in a different world from most people. I'm not allowed the luxury, with my own son, to overlook things. To do so can be to his detriment. Because of this sometimes I forget that the lucky people in the neurotypical world can be more politically correct than I.
George Bush is actually a very nice-looking and very fit man for his age. Again, I find it incredible that you would stoop so low as to go after his appearance. Care to post a picture of yourself so we can check your ear size and placement, while you dust off your diploma for Amazon John?
I'm still waiting for YOUR pic hon
Howzabout showing us all what a conservative Diva looks like?
~T
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