Recent Comments

• Johanna Allen: Congratulations on the milestone, Pat! What in the world would we have done without you this past election season? Thank you for all you do and get some well-deserved, much-needed R&R. Happy Thanksgiving!...
• joanne: Congrats on the success of the BLOG,,,2.5 million views is a great accomplishment. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family! Enjoy:)...
• Amy Allison: 2.5 million page views is an impressive milestone Pat! You definitely deserve the week off. Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving....
• abby: The only brighter side of this scary notion is that perhaps, if this sort of testing is expanded, more people will look at it with increased scrutiny. It is "easy" to push one group of people aside, but a lot more people are touched by autism and "other conditions" than by Down syndrome, so perhaps it will become harder to ignore the ethical implications of this sort of testing....
• Suzanne: Good for the school board. Ms. Portillo is definitely in the wrong line of work....Maybe she can go to Hollywood and find a job writing for Ben Stiller!...
• amymdmom: This is truly scary....designer babies for all. I wish that Harry and Charles of Sequenom, Inc. could just spend a little bit of time with some of the "birth defects" that they wish to profit off the extinction of....Perhaps they could develop a prenatal test to detect orphans and widows as well....
• Nancy Iannone: I think what disturbs me is a "cashing in" on the solidarity many people feel in their negativity towards parents facing a difficult situation like fighting for classification. It's a camaraderie based on ignorance –- where readers can finally find someone who is “telling it like it is” -– a straight talker who is really just recirculating misinformation. I’ve always wondered why people can feel such negativity towards people and situations about which they know so little. That’s...
• Sarah: Poor Denis Leary needs some publicity to sell his pathetic, new book....
• Carlene Mattson: Anyone terminating a pregnancy simply because a diagnostic test reveals Down syndrome may miss one of the greatest joys of a life time. Those of us with family members who have Down syndrome know the world is a better place when they are present. Those who do not have this vantage point are often misinformed by the myths and misconceptions about the syndrome. While I fear that Sequenom's new test has the potential to increase the termination rate of an amazing group of people, my hope is that...
• Elisabeth's Mom: In the early 80s, my husband and I moved next door to a group home of 4-5 adult males and befriended them (as their caretakers) as we would any neighbor living next door. I can tell you that relatives and friends were a little uneasy with the situation deeming it unsafe in some cases. For example, one time my sister-in-law became quite upset about the "pacing" behaviors demonstrated by one of the men who came out on the deck to get some sun while we were having a Mother's Day BBQ. I as...
• Pamela Wilson: When my son was a sprout, I wrote letters in support of group homes being built in our neighborhood and nearby cities so that he could live in the community where he grew up as an adult. After a great deal of neighborhood input and compromises, a lovely home was built just a few blocks from our house. It still moves me to this day to remember that when only a few of the adult sons and daughters of the parents who advocated for these opportunties became residents, one mother told me that we m...
• Kathy Ratkiewicz: I agree with Mr. Barone. And 'joking about a prenatal diagnosis is insulting to your family",,yet aborting said child would be a 'choice', and therefore ok? Ah, the logic of liberals....
• Mary: I'm with Bloop....
• Lisa Vipperman: Dear Patricia: Last night I was watching TV and I saw an ad for Tropic Thunder- apparently it is now out on DVD. It reminded me I should let you know how things went. In early September I asked you for permission to use your piece about Tropic Thunder and the R word with my 7th grade Language Arts class at Highland Junior High in Ogden Utah. We read the article together, then discussed the views you held. Students then wrote a response. Typical responses were along these lines: "i nev...
• Sarah: I am surprised that agencies that serve disabled individuals are still using that "group home" model. Why so many adults living in one house? I thought the trend was to be a bit more realistic which includes single apartments or condominiums with one or 2 people. I can't imagine that adults would actually choose to live in a house with so many other adults, sounds like dorm living to me. Don't get me wrong, I loved the dorms in college as a teen and as a YOUNG, 20 something adult but as I got...
• Jackson: Okay, two cents. I am what the conservatives out there would refer to as "disgustingly politically correct" (to use a more politically correct term for it, of course). I never intentionally use racial slurs, I do not refer to people as "retards," I do not use "gay" to mean "stupid," and to boot, I challenge other people when they do. And yes, I even challenge humour that does the same, no matter how many big time actors are in it. Do I have a problem with some of the things Tropic Thunder ha...
• Regina Sarno: I hear what the Mom before me is saying, but I do have to say that parents with special needs children do need a public political figure to support them. In my mind, who better than a Mom with a child with Down Syndrome herself. We have become a world of "Idealogues", not necessarily doers. I happen to be a person who admires doers as do many people and parents out there. There is No better example than people who walk the walk so to say as opposed to people who can talk the talk. Vot...
• BeckyinMO: Bloop, it seems to me you confirm what Barone says, and accurately reflect the way Palin, the most popular governor in America, has been portrayed in the media....
• Jeff Goble: In regard to Professor Stanley's remarks, I just wanted to point out that the children are already there, and they, too have and will contribute to Australian society, not just their parents. The parents are not the ones being discriminated against....
• Bloop: The media attacked Palin because she is a horrifying nut case. The thought of her in the white house litterally gave me nightmares....
• Anna Blanco: I just viewed this and it made me sick to my stomach. I have a 34-yr-old cousin who is bipolar. Having someone in the family who is mentally ill can be frustrating at times, but because we understand the disease, we learn to have patience and ignore the erratic behavior. But for an adult to take it upon herself to choke a child ... I am disgusted. Even more disgusted with Deanne Hullender from the school district. What a callous, impersonal human being. I wonder if she has children and wonder ho...
• Pamela Wilson: Mr. Barone was far off the mark and his 'jest' is an insult to individuals with Down syndrome and their families. I applaud the audience members at the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges in Chicago who booed and walked out in protest of this characterization of jounalists and parents of children with Down syndrome. If anything, journalists have shown great respect for the decision that Sarah Palin and many other pro-choice and pro-life parents have made. There ...
• Heather: Whether his comment was in jest or in all seriousness, I believe that Mr. Barone is not that far off the mark. Just look at the online comments to any of the recent articles cropping up in media about Down syndrome. Not everyone supports the decision of those who choose to continue their pregnancies after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. We continued our pregnancy when we found out our child would be born with Down syndrome...no reserve, no retreat, no regrets....
• Amy Allison: I applaud Geraldo Rivera's efforts to gather first person accounts on the devastating effects wait lists can have on families in need. I am sure the episode will be difficult to watch, but hope it will be the call to action we need to rally legislators and voters to reduce or eliminate wait lists....
• Pamela Wilson: We can already see it Barack Obama's commitment to people with disabilities in his voting record as a Senator, at National Council on Independent Living The Candidates on Issues of Importance to People with Disabilities http://www.ncil.org/VOTE2008.html We must continue to be in contact with all our elected representatives, Republican, Democrat and non-partisan positions, educating them and advocating for ourselves and our children who have disabilities. President-elect Obama's cam...
• MIke Abbott: I have an aggressive form of Parkinsons myself, caused by a genetic disease. In the course of this disease I have run out of resources, money, and other means to deal with this disease. The disease even resulted in a loss of my family due to the financial hardship. You lose your health insurance, your employment, and the government makes it so hard to get any assistance you cant manage it. Dying with some dignity is the last bit of dignity some of us in this situation have left. If you aren'...
• William L Freeman: I am ashamed, and madder'n'hell. Ashamed of some people in my own health care profession -- some hospital officials and fellow doctors. Madder'n'hell about what happens to people with a disability and poor and of a different ancestry. The only saving grace is that other people in my profession oppose this practice....
• John: We will see. We will see, indeed....
• Susie Sumners: The use of so-called "time out rooms" (a closet sized padded room without windows, in which the child is locked for a prescribed amount of time) is a cruel form of punishment for any child. I would rather have my child spanked. It is hard to believe in 2008 that we would permit teachers, or more often teacher's aides to place a human being in a box and expect them to calm down....
• Sheree: I am a Georgia citizen, voter, and mom of two children (my son has severe behavioral difficulties due to fragile x syndrome and autism.) Georgia's Governor Sonny Purdue has neglected and abandoned children and adults with special needs on a continuous regular basis. First he cut the Katie Beckett Medicaid Waiver dramatically. The first cuts were those children who have childhood mental illnessess such as- schizophrenia, Bi-Polar disorder, High functioning Autism, Downs Syndrome etc. When...