Jump to content
IGNORED

Fundies and Down syndrome


isarhenne

Recommended Posts

I wonder about autism thing also.

The very thought of a child with autism being born into a Pearl-method using hardcore fundie family makes me cringe. :cry:

How high the estimated number of unreported cases likely might be?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The very thought of a child with autism being born into a Pearl-method using hardcore fundie family makes me cringe. :cry:

How high the estimated number of unreported cases likely might be?

That's what concerns me about a fundie family having a child on the autism spectrum, especially if they used the Pearl method. It's possible that there are more fundie families who have a child on the spectrum, but they're not likely to be diagnosed or to be given therapies to help the individual learn to cope with the disability. It's possible that those on the more able end of the spectrum just learn on their own how to avoid being beaten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fundie church I was raised in has a "home for the handicapped" opened in 1971 to care for members' adult children with disabilities. (I'm sure they also accept plenty of non-members and have changed their name to something more PC, but I can't think of it.) This facility is in my hometown, so I grew up going to church with many of the residents with more minor disabilities such as Down Syndrome and Fragile X. They were very accepted and welcomed in church. When I was very young and asked about their differences, I was told that God made them that way and they served a special purpose. I certainly don't think I ever thought of them as "less".

However, "normal" mental illness is not recognized or accepted at all. My mother was in extreme denial of my brother's ADHD and he wasn't diagnosed until he almost dropped out of college because he was so depressed. He was then sent to a Christian counselor for video game addiction but we were not to speak of it with anyone outside the immediate family, including Grandma. If you were suffering from depression, you needed to pray more. When one man who had suffered depression for ages committed suicide, it was just never discussed and he has basically been forgotten. I feel terrible for his wife and adult children. It's just very strange because the majority of the members are wealthy and many are even medical doctors. They would NEVER skimp on medical treatment for cancer or heart disease or whatever, but mental illness doesn't exist. Well, it exists, but only because the victim isn't faithful enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you mean? :-)

It's just a medical disorder, like any other chromosomal mutation, right?

When has logic or science made any difference to how fundies feel about anything?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When has logic or science made any difference to how fundies feel about anything?

Fundies and science/logic go together like stripes, plaid, and polka dots all in the same outfit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During my predocotoral internship, I had a inpatient consult with a fundie family. Their adopted DS child was in for heart surgery. I was called in because the parents were making comments that the child was not taking responsibility for her her health and did not want to be a member of their family (the child could not remember her chore list). The mother referred to the child as "spiritually and morally dark". I wanted to report them to CPS, but my supervisor indicated there was no evidence the child was abused and assigned some multicultural journal articles to read and present on during group supervision because I apparently was disrespecting the families belief system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're kidding! I'm sorry to hear you wanted to do the right thing and got punished for it. Unfortunately, a lot of people still don't recognise emotional or spiritual abuse as a thing - they'd have probably had to beat the crap out of her or worse before anyone did anything about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Their adopted DS child was in for heart surgery. I was called in because the parents were making comments that the child was not taking responsibility for her her health and did not want to be a member of their family (the child could not remember her chore list). The mother referred to the child as "spiritually and morally dark".

Please, please tell me it wasn't a black child? Because I've seen that happen on fundie adoption blogs and it's heartbreaking. They'll refer to the only black child of the family as being "spiritually dark" or from a "spiritually dark country." Or they'll reference something about how Jesus can make you "white as snow."

Yes, I get that the Christian bible used lots of color imagery and that a lot of Westerners probably think our color imagery (e.g., dark = bad) is universal. But it's not universal. And even if it's in the Bible, use some common sense, folks! I feel sad for those kids :-/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During my predocotoral internship, I had a inpatient consult with a fundie family. Their adopted DS child was in for heart surgery. I was called in because the parents were making comments that the child was not taking responsibility for her her health and did not want to be a member of their family (the child could not remember her chore list). The mother referred to the child as "spiritually and morally dark". I wanted to report them to CPS, but my supervisor indicated there was no evidence the child was abused and assigned some multicultural journal articles to read and present on during group supervision because I apparently was disrespecting the families belief system.

1.) Your supervisor obviously is a utter idiot.

2.) Did you, by chance, ever learned about the further fate of this child?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

During my predocotoral internship, I had a inpatient consult with a fundie family. Their adopted DS child was in for heart surgery. I was called in because the parents were making comments that the child was not taking responsibility for her her health and did not want to be a member of their family (the child could not remember her chore list). The mother referred to the child as "spiritually and morally dark". I wanted to report them to CPS, but my supervisor indicated there was no evidence the child was abused and assigned some multicultural journal articles to read and present on during group supervision because I apparently was disrespecting the families belief system.

That is just wrong!! What the hell was wrong w/ those people!! Even some kids without DS could forget their chore list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is Brianna Heldt in Denver. Brianna is a Catholic convert. IIRC, she converted when she married her husband. They have 8 kids, 4 of them are adopted. Two of the adopted kids have DS.

briannaheldt.com/about-2/#sthash.bJQ5aNrF.dpbs

She and her husband actually converted together a few years ago, several years after she started her blog. Protestant fundies are usually so anti-Catholic, so it was interesting to see one convert to Catholicism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In response to the questions regarding my DS consult:

The little girl was white. Her parents did not/would not understand that she had a intellectual disability. I don't know what happened to her because I was pulled off the case as I insulted the parents, when I attempted to explain that the child was not being manipulative, but rather did not understand what was expected of her. I have no regrets about approaching my supervisor about reporting the parents to CPS and would do it again.

I worked with a number of fundie families during my internship year as the setting was a Southern Baptist hospital. In retrospect, not a good match for a single parent. It was the longest 52 weeks of my life. I was glad to get the hell out of there and do post-doc in a heathen clinical setting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dale Evans and Roy Rogers had a daughter with Down Syndrome back in 40s or early 50s. IIRC, Dale and Roy were encouraged to institutionalize Robin at birth and to not take her home. Instead, Roy and Dale took their little girl home to be loved. Robin died around the time of her second birthday. Dale wrote a book about Robin Angel Unaware which takes its name from the verse in one of Paul's epistles about how "we have entertained angels unaware". The Rogers's helped change a lot of attitudes about people with Down Syndrome. The training center for mentally and physically challenged people in Oklahoma City was changed to the Dale Evans Training Center in her honor.

Roy and Dale were big Western stars back in the 30s through the 50s, even into the 60s. Lots of us of a certain age we devotees of The Roy Rogers Show. Dale and Roy were also evangelical Christians with a lot of fundie fans.

ETA: And a lot of non-fundie fans. I wanted to be Dale Evans when I was five.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know several families personally, of varying fundie varieties, who have children with Down's Syndrome. Some have a bio child with DS, others have adopted a child with DS.

There was a blogger who died suddenly a few years ago (aneurism I think), and whose name I'm completely blanking on, whose last bio child has DS, and who then adopted I think three more boys with DS. That was her particular passion, supporting special needs. Big into Montessori. And I cannot for the life of me remember her name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know several families personally, of varying fundie varieties, who have children with Down's Syndrome. Some have a bio child with DS, others have adopted a child with DS.

There was a blogger who died suddenly a few years ago (aneurism I think), and whose name I'm completely blanking on, whose last bio child has DS, and who then adopted I think three more boys with DS. That was her particular passion, supporting special needs. Big into Montessori. And I cannot for the life of me remember her name.

I'm so sorry, I know I'm about to sound completely annoying, but it's actually just Down syndrome, no apostrophe s. That just drives me bananas. And I always feel (or at least hope) that people would want to say it correctly. Okay, end of PSA ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what concerns me about a fundie family having a child on the autism spectrum, especially if they used the Pearl method. It's possible that there are more fundie families who have a child on the spectrum, but they're not likely to be diagnosed or to be given therapies to help the individual learn to cope with the disability. It's possible that those on the more able end of the spectrum just learn on their own how to avoid being beaten.

A Pearl-style fundie family would have been the absolute worst thing for my nephew with high-functioning autism.

My sister figured out relatively early that something was up, in part because she and my BIL work in the special needs field. My nephew looks perfectly normal, he's verbal and he's quite affectionate, so it wasn't as obvious as a more severe case. It would have been easy - too easy - to label some of his behaviors as naughty or sinful. There's the sensory stuff - he'll put his hands over his ears if there's too much noise, get obsessed with certain textures, and do hand flapping. He won't always pay attention to an entire conversation and set of instructions. Plus, he likes to experiment with stuff, but doesn't always realize the consequences. So, the answer to "what happens if you flush half your toys down the toilet?" was "toilets break and parents need to pay a lot to the plumber", the answer to "can I put daddy's bus pass into the DVD machine?" was "yes, but then daddy can't get to work", and the answer to "what happens if I eat a rubber band?" was "you get taken to the hospital.". Luckily, my sister and BIL are extremely calm and tolerant, and have a good understanding of what my nephew needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm so sorry, I know I'm about to sound completely annoying, but it's actually just Down syndrome, no apostrophe s. That just drives me bananas. And I always feel (or at least hope) that people would want to say it correctly. Okay, end of PSA ;-)

It used to be Down's syndrome. It was named after the doctor, John Langdon Down, that first described it in 1866. I don't see why they felt the needed to change the name when they didn't change the name of Alzheimer's disease or Lou Gehrig's disease which is still used for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) at times. I don't think anyone means offense when they call it Down's syndrome.

Reading some stuff on DS on Wikipedia led me down a rabbit hole which led me to some info I need to post on another thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a blogger who died suddenly a few years ago (aneurism I think), and whose name I'm completely blanking on, whose last bio child has DS, and who then adopted I think three more boys with DS. That was her particular passion, supporting special needs. Big into Montessori. And I cannot for the life of me remember her name.

Yeah, that was Barbara Curtis of mommylife.net - I am probably hypersensitive after 7 years as a disability rights attorney, but the way she talked about/fetishized her kids with DS made me awfully uncomfortable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A scary number of scarily unprepared and woefully underprepared fundies have taken up acquiring kids with DS from overseas, using other people's money, via ethically-challenged adoption "ministries" like Reece's Rainbow.

Amanda Unroe has 21 kids, 20 adopted with SN from Ukraine & Bulgaria, at least 6 of whom have DS:

Godsrainbowsinourlives.blogspot.com

(The Unroes? Aren't a family. They're an unlicensed, unlicenseable group home. The kids likely received more individual attention in the bad orphanages they came from!).

Kim and Fyodor Emelyentsev adopted 2 Russian baby boys with DS circa 2008. They beat little Nicolai to death a month later, the other boy & their biokids ended up in foster care & were eventually adopted. Both Kym & Fyodor were convicted and are still in jail.

Shelley Burman adopted a ton of kids with DS, via Reece's Rainbow in a very short period of time -- "triplets" with DS from Ukraine, a girl w/DS & another w/spina bifida from Ukraine & 4 more boys w/DS from Serbia:

Carringtonscourage.blogspot.com

Adeye Salem adopted 4 kids w/DS from Ukraine & Bulgaria:

Nogreaterjoymom.blogspot.com

Autumn Winkle adopted 2 boys w/DS from Ukraine w/Reece's Rainbow, got the then-fully refundable $26k adoption tax credit (2 x $13k per kid), kept the money & kicked little Yuri to the curb barely 6 mos later:

Noknots.blogspot.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.