(Locked) Sarah Palin - worst advocate for children with special needs?

[Jimmy Higgins]

(Locked) Sarah Palin - worst advocate for children with special needs?

Sarah Palin gave birth to a child with Down's Syndrome a number of months ago. For some reason, she thinks having a baby with Down's for a few months makes her an expert on children with special needs, so she has noted she will be an advocate for them....

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.

link

...which would be nice, if she actually was a competent advocate for them.

On October 24, this past Friday, Palin made these remarks:

In a McCain-Palin administration, we will also fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. To his great credit, it was President Gerald Ford who signed the legislation that became the IDEA -- establishing new standards of respect and inclusion for young Americans with disabilities. From that day to this, however, the federal government's obligations under the IDEA have not been adequately met. And portions of IDEA funding have actually decreased since 2005.

This is a matter of how we prioritize the money that we spend. We've got a three trillion dollar budget, and Congress spends some 18 billion dollars a year on earmarks for political pet projects. That's more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA. And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good -- things like fruit fly research in Paris, France, or a public policy center named for the guy who got the earmark. In our administration, we're going to reform and refocus. We're going to get our federal priorities straight, and fulfill our country's commitment to give every child opportunity and hope in life.

link

Typical anti-science, anti-intellectualism from Sarah Palin. We spend money on fruit fly research, that must mean we are wasting money. But wait... this isn't the universe that tilts to the ideologies of the Republicans... it is the real world and in the real world...

Now scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for these nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.

....

Previous attempts to study these proteins in animal models have been challenging. In vertebrates such as mice, three different genes code for the production of certain neurexin proteins. Deleting just one of these genes causes no adverse effects in mouse models, while removing all three is fatal. But fruit flies have only one gene for neurexin, and when Bhat and colleagues deleted the gene, the flies survived — barely.

link

Now this study is not the same study that Palin is referring to. However, to criticize a program that one knows nothing about, especially when these studies have helped lots of people in the past, is ignorant and dangerous. Why not start having Palin repeating the long debunked vaccinations cause autism lie?

Just in case if you were wondering, funding for the study on the flies?

The research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute of Mental Health and funds from the state of North Carolina.

As noted previously, this isn't the same study to which Palin refers (though still funded in part by public funds), however, I doubt Palin has a clue what the study is for. So Palin is blanketly criticizing funding for studies that could have beneficial value to children with Special Needs. Go figure.

I can't wait for Sarah Palin to disappear back into Alaska. Children with Special Needs deserve having better advocates!

 

[candybar]

special needs

What the hell would you know about special needs kids? I have a child with autism. 22 years i have fought for him. Now someone is standing up for them and you want your monies to go to fruit flys? Dont you dare come around and try to take that away from me or him .

 

[sarahmarah]

Jimmy Higgins do you have a family member or someone in your life that is special needs?
Anyone with a loved one that has special needs is an advocate, not perfect, but an advocate. #1 we don't criticize those that have one, just having Sarah Palin in the news helps bring awareness to the special needs/mentally disabled people. And frankly it seems you are just trying to find things wrong with Sarah Palin. The fact that she didn't abort her special needs child says a lot in this day and age. It is clear she values life...any life.

I have an autistic brother who is very precious to me. Children with special needs need a lot more men and women out there standing up for their rights and being an advocate, then having other people come and dismiss those who do. I don't know all the research, etc. going on, does that mean I am not an appropriate advocate for my brother? Who are you to say who is and isn't?

The definition of advocate is: one that pleads the cause of another or one that supports or promotes the interests of another.

Sarah Palin is not perfect and no one is saying she is...Vote for who you believe to be the right candidate. But don't just find reasons to tear someone down. And don't you dare say that a mother of a special needs child isn't a proper advocate.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

What the hell would you know about special needs kids? I have a child with autism. 22 years i have fought for him. Now someone is standing up for them and you want your monies to go to fruit flys? Dont you dare come around and try to take that away from me or him .

You didn't read all of my post, did you? Because a bunch of genetic testing on flies helps develop understanding for human genetics and disorders. Kinda like the study that I linked an article to.

Palin is outrightly bashing a study that may help your kid or someone else's kid in order to seem like a fiscal maverick. You don't have a problem with that?

Jimmy Higgins do you have a family member or someone in your life that is special needs?

Yeah... so bug off on that red herring will ya? No where did I claim that Palin didn't love her child, but rather Palin is speaking negatively about stuff she has no idea about.

I have an autistic brother who is very precious to me. Children with special needs need a lot more men and women out there standing up for their rights and being an advocate, then having other people come and dismiss those who do. I don't know all the research, etc. going on, does that mean I am not an appropriate advocate for my brother? Who are you to say who is and isn't?

Well, if a person was running for Vice President and put on the Special Needs sash, they better not be denigrating scientific study which is being done to help people who are suffering. That is the big problem. Palin doesn't understand what this study is for. That doesn't stop her from waling that it is wasteful spending.

Sarah Palin is not perfect and no one is saying she is...Vote for who you believe to be the right candidate. But don't just find reasons to tear someone down. And don't you dare say that a mother of a special needs child isn't a proper advocate.

She has had a child with Down's for months, not years. I don't want to hear about how she "gets it". In a few years, she can talk about how she has gone through the motions. She appears to be using her baby as a political tool, not seeing her baby as her child.

 

[sarahmarah]

You know what Jimmy Higgins? I shouldn't even had responded to your post.

...you obviously are one of those people that always has a comeback, always looking to argue your point, always seeking out how you can one up somebody...I am not. I am a simple wife and mother who loves her family and who values life. I don't have time for people like you!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

You know what Jimmy Higgins? I shouldn't even had responded to your post.

...you obviously are one of those people that always has a comeback, always looking to argue your point, always seeking out how you can one up somebody...I am not. I am a simple wife and mother who loves her family and who values life. I don't have time for people like you!

If you didn't want me to respond, maybe you should have asked me fewer questions then. By the way you shouldn't mistake willful ignorance for simplicity.

 

[rainstorms]

The most important one is to "Respect forum members, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts or personal attacks"
We all come from different backgrounds, please respect others if they do not have the same views as you.


:ignore:

 

[Spoofee]

This post obviously offended many members so locking.

Jimmy Higgins, please be careful.