McCain remarks on autism win disapproval among families
October 20th, 2008During the debate last week, Sen. John McCain praised Sarah Palin as someone with strong expertise in helping “very special needs children,” and someone with more understanding of autism than “almost any American that I know.” (See earlier post here.)
Newsweek reports that those remarks have “backfired” among some parents in the autism community who believe he is “pandering for their vote.”
Newsweek interviews Kristina Chew, a parent and an assistant professor of classics at St. Peter’s college in Jersey City, NJ. Her blog is Autismvox. An excerpt:
What did you think of Sen. McCain’s debate comments?
Kristina Chew: Very puzzling. It seemed that he was conflating autism and Down syndrome. Certainly, parents of kids with autism and Down syndrome have tons of overlap in our concerns, but they’re very different conditions. I found that troubling. And the comments he made about autism, they seem to betray a lack of knowledge or understanding about the kinds of things that autistic children need. It almost seemed to be a rhetorical statement. To be really cynical, it’s as if he’s playing a sympathy card. He’s sentimentalizing the children, but not looking at how we can help them, how we can teach them, how we can make things better.
But Palin does have a special needs child.
His statement that Sarah Palin understands the challenges better than anyone else, I thought that was very unfortunate for him to say. It’s just incredibly presumptive. I don’t think we really have a sense yet of how Palin understands special needs children.
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October 21st, 2008 at 10:49 pm
While it might have seemed that Senator McCain had a bit of a lapse over autism and Down syndrome, I wonder how many Americans hear either of the terms and picture children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida or other unrelated conditions. With all our awareness activities and media interviews with celebrities, families of mainstream kids still don’t seem to make the differentiation between disabilities until they meet and get to know one person with a specific diagnosis. Educators and even medical professionals may have the same difficulty.
While some complain that Trig Palin having Down syndrome has made October ‘Sarah Palin Awareness Month’ and find fault with Jenny McCarthy’s perspective and outspoken opinions about autism, we should not lose sight of the relative inexperience our neighbors and politicians actually have with childhood disability and the challenges our children face as they grow up.
Our sons and daughters will be adults far longer than they are children, and the issues of aging parents advocating for adults with disabilities should not be overlooked. There are too few discussions of stories like the 67 year old mom looking for a family for her grown son with autism because she feels group homes are businesses that will shuttle him from place to place, and the Disability Services administrator who says there is a waiting list of about 2,500 individuals with disabilities for services.
And what about the single or widowed moms who have limited or no resources for their own retirement years because they have willingly provided support and care for their adult sons and daughters without regard to their own self interests?
I remember reading Democrats’ disability-related platforms back in January and we are certainly hearing more about Republicans’ interest in our community now.
Instead of bickering about details why are we not going to the candidates with questions and information about the spectrum of services and concerns we have about our families, as well as our sons and daughters with disabilities? This is a teachable moment and an important opportunity for us to educate voters and politicians who really don’t know the differences between the diagnoses we know so well.
The candidates should be showing that are consistent, well informed and supportive of Americans with disabilities in general and share specific knowledge about disability issues with their constituents. When democrats point out that Barack Obama has specifics on his web page and John McCain’s website falls short, we should all be demanding that McCain catch up and remedy the oversight.
Parents of children with disabilities often have not grown up with the disability that inspire us to be advocates. When my son was small I read an article in a TASH publication that pointed out that parents may burn out, be coerced, overpowered and defeated, or ‘join the other side’ as time goes by. I believe many may be so busy or often overwhelmed by the basic responsibilities of raising a family that they do not have the time or energy to ‘fight the system’ or search for support and resources.
In this economy, with families across the country sending loved ones off to war, facing struggles with healthcare coverage and uncertain retirement investments, mainstream parents may feel almost as overwhelmed as we do.
After the election, we will need one another again. Those families who are not fortunate enough to be able to be effective advocates are depending on the rest of us to raise awareness and have higher expectations of our candidates. I hope that we can do that as if our children’s lives and quality of life depend upon it.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
This Newsweek article left out a few pertinent pieces of information.
First is that when McCain said that Palin knew autism, he was not referring to Palin’s son Trig, but her nephew. Sarah’s sister, Heather Bruce, has a son with autism. Bruce will be interviewed on Autism One Radio tomorrow, Oct 22.
Second, Ms. Chew is not necessarily representative of all parents with autistic children. She is a strong opponent of the vaccine autism connection, which John McCain has said he would investigate if he became president.
The Newsweek article was negligent in not adding these to important pieces of information.
I am an autism mom blogger who will be endorsing John McCain. He has focused more attention on our children this year in his campaign than any other national political figure has, other than Dan Burton, who has a grandson with autism.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I agree that not all parents are good advocates.
I believe that if you choose to have a child knowing that he will have a disability, you are well on your way to being a strong advocate.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Being the parent of a child with a disability does not automatically a good advocate make — many parents are great advocates for their children, but many others are mediocre, and some, unfortunately, are flat-out hateful about their children and their disabilities.
“Raising awareness” via public parenting, in and of itself, means very little. Jenny McCarthy has done plenty of “awareness raising”, but the sheer ableist vitriol in some of the stuff she’s allowed to be published is a type of “awareness” that we’re frankly better off without.
While Palin has not done anything to give me cause to doubt that she’ll be an advocate for Trig on a personal level, I’m concerned as to how much she’ll be able to accomplish at a national level, given that she’s tied to a candidate who consistently opposes funding programs like IDEA and the Community Choice Act and who makes promises to parents (and only parents, never adults with disabilities) out of one side of his mouth while selling a freeze on spending out of the other. Unless McCain dies in office, any efforts she would support as VP would be subject to his veto.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
It seems that many parents of children with special needs, of which I am one, want to look a gift horse in the mouth by picking apart any statements that McCain/Palin make on the subject of special needs.
Our causes are getting more attention than ever before and we can’t seem to appreciate it.
Senator McCain said that Sarah Palin understands more about autism than almost any American he knows.
Maybe that is true.
He didn’t say she knows more than anyone.
How many people do you think John McCain knows in the autism community?
Regarding Palin, as far as I’m concerned, she proved herself as an advocate when she had her son — something that 80-90% of the population wouldn’t have done.
I would imagine that she’ll continue to be her son’s biggest advocate — regardless of the outcome of the election.