The Horror Continues

It seems the horror of abuse and even torture of children and adults who experience disabilities will never end. Just last week I blogged about the "Fight Club" Everyday there seems to be new stories. Yesterday my husband gave me a link about abuse in the public schools and Kev Leitch posted Autistic man tortured

I don’t think that we will totally eliminate abuse against people with disabilities anymore than we will totally stop the abuse and murder of vulnerable children or others who don’t experience a disability. However, there are things that will help protect our children.

I have often written about awareness versus what I see as true acceptance that will make a difference in the life of an individual. See Awareness that Brings Acceptance, The Awareness Controversy , and Community Bulding and Awareness.

I initially started what I came to call “creating a community” for Billy Ray because of difficulty we had in his acceptance in public environments such as stores and restaurants. I laughingly refer to it as creating your own Little House on the Prairie even in large metropolitan areas. You will have only so many stores, restaurants, recreational establishments, etc. that you go to with your child or adult child. That way your child and the people in those environments get to know each other better than if you go to new environments each time.

It takes times to establish those relationships (outlined in Chapter 14, Parenting Your Complex Child) but they bring comfort and security to both your child and those in his community. Thinking about this post while we were having lunch at Billy Ray’s favorite restaurant today, I looked over at the cook and imagined if Billy Ray and a friend were having lunch there and someone harassed him. I could picture him coming out of the kitchen to intervene for Billy Ray in a heartbeat because of the affection he demonstrates for my son. The same with the clerks in our local grocery store and BiMart because he is someone they know and look out for.

A recent interview question was about how parents can find the time to build relationships for their kids. It certainly can take time but it is vital to your child’s happiness and protection. Some of the effort can be done while you are doing things you would normally do such as grocery shopping. Building relationships with the neighbors is not only friendship for your child but they will be more likely to watch out for him.

The more people involved in his or her life the more likely that his community of friends will be there to protect him when you can’t be.

Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
Blogs: Parenting A Complex Special Needs Child , Amazon Author Connect and Lighthouse Parents

Websites:
Parenting Your Complex Child, Lighthouse Parents and Peggy Lou Morgan.com

Follow me on Twitter
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Parenting Your Complex Child Yahoo Group

A Horrible Reminder to Plan for Protection of Your Adult Child

In Parenting An Adult with Disabilities, I talked about assuring that support would be there for your adult child when you can’t be. It doesn’t matter what level of functioning your son or daughter is. If they are living independently in their own home or some facility, they could be abused in some way and terrified to report it.

I walked through the living room in the middle of a piece on a Fox News program and then searched for the story on the web about the “Fight Club” at Corpus Christi (TX) State School for the Mentally Disabled. One of the commentators called it “human dog fighting”.

Disabled residents were forced fight each other by night staff at the facility and it was filmed on cell phones. One of the alleged ringleaders apparently left his cell phone at a hospital and it was turned over to police to find the owner. Police found video of the Fight Club on the cell phone. That is how this terror was discovered. I wonder how long this whole terror for the residents had been going on and would have gone on if the phone had not been forgotten.

According to the ABC News story “One resident is seen on the video trying to run away from his attacker and a large group of employees and residents tracking him through the halls. When cornered, he wails and moans and tells the employees, "I will behave."

This story is horrifying but is an important reminder of why it is so important to plan someone (or multiple friends) who can be trusted to stay involved and check on your adult child regularly when you can’t . Someone visiting the residents regularly would surely have seen bruises, etc.

Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
Blogs: Amazon Author Connect Blog, Parenting A Complex Special Needs Child and Lighthouse Parents
Websites:
Parenting Your Complex Child, Lighthouse Parents and Peggy Lou Morgan.com
Follow me on Twitter
My Wellsphere Page
Lighthouse Parents on Tangle
Parenting Your Complex Child Yahoo Group

Parenting an Adult with Disabilities or Special Needs Receives Award

I am so honored that Radical Parenting found my book to be one of the 50 best parenting books.

Until next time,

Peggy Lou Morgan
for a complete list of my sites www.peggyloumorgan.com