Washington Post Article - Disability

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this the same woman? The Washington Post profiled a child sex offender? And didn't realize it at all?

http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/MO826226/Kathy-Francine-Strait.html

I have to believe the Post knew this -- but I guess it wasn't relevant to their story.

[Anonymous]

Email the reporter. (They didn't allow comments on the article itself on the Post website)

[Anonymous]

It is hard to believe the newspaper would have run the article if this is the same person, and they were aware of it. Terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is hard to believe the newspaper would have run the article if this is the same person, and they were aware of it. Terrible.

I agree. The story drew the readers into these people's lives and the uphill battle they are facing....and what a detail to find out after the fact. Geez.

I'm done reading WaPo for good.

[Anonymous]

One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

Maybe Franny was in love and wanted to get pregnant. She's 32, should she be forced to use birth control?

[Anonymous]

Data: It's what's often missing (or misinterpreted) in articles.

http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/real-story-disability-look-data

[Anonymous]

What baffles me is that keeping your legs closed is that difficult. Stop blaming that the poor don't have access to birth control, etc.

Unless a woman is raped, she decided to sleep with Tom the bum and get pregnant. Sex = baby and No sex = no baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What baffles me is that keeping your legs closed is that difficult. Stop blaming that the poor don't have access to birth control, etc.

Unless a woman is raped, she decided to sleep with Tom the bum and get pregnant. Sex = baby and No sex = no baby

So what we should do is ensure that this woman and her offspring are punished? Maybe make sure they starve to death? Cut off their access to health care? Look the other way when they're abused? Get outraged when they turn to substance abuse?

This is what your post, our culture, our politics and our policies see as the answer to women (and their children) like the one in the story.

We call it Freedom, to give ourselves an acceptable excuse to do nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

Please.

The mother had every chance to keep her daughter from getting pregnant int he first place, and failed.

Does it hurt to take so little personal responsibility for your bad parenting decisions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What baffles me is that keeping your legs closed is that difficult. Stop blaming that the poor don't have access to birth control, etc.

Unless a woman is raped, she decided to sleep with Tom the bum and get pregnant. Sex = baby and No sex = no baby

This. I didn't have sex until I was married at the age of 31. I couldn't have emotionally dealt with a baby before that. It's NOT that difficult, but it does require some sacrifice, which most aren't willing to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

Please.

The mother had every chance to keep her daughter from getting pregnant int he first place, and failed.

Does it hurt to take so little personal responsibility for your bad parenting decisions?

Please see question above at 13:10. Is punishment for this woman and her offspring an acceptable public policy response?

Does public policy have any role in these outcomes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What baffles me is that keeping your legs closed is that difficult. Stop blaming that the poor don't have access to birth control, etc.

Unless a woman is raped, she decided to sleep with Tom the bum and get pregnant. Sex = baby and No sex = no baby

So what we should do is ensure that this woman and her offspring are punished? Maybe make sure they starve to death? Cut off their access to health care? Look the other way when they're abused? Get outraged when they turn to substance abuse?

This is what your post, our culture, our politics and our policies see as the answer to women (and their children) like the one in the story.

We call it Freedom, to give ourselves an acceptable excuse to do nothing.

The answer is not to have this entire family on disability. The answer is to get them on appropriate social programs, such as medicaid, snap, HAP vouchers or low income housing, IEPs for the twins, parents classes and support for granny, an education for Franny, physical, occupational and behavior therapy for franny and the twins, nutritional counseling, financial counseling etc. and get them off the opioids.

But disability is not an ATM or substitute for welfare if they can't get money by other means. Throwing money at them via unwarranted ss disability payments doesn't help them, it doesn't address their actual problems. it keeps them stuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

Please.

The mother had every chance to keep her daughter from getting pregnant int he first place, and failed.

Does it hurt to take so little personal responsibility for your bad parenting decisions?

Please see question above at 13:10. Is punishment for this woman and her offspring an acceptable public policy response?

Does public policy have any role in these outcomes?

You can break the cycle. Uneducated, poor people make bad decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing that baffles me in this thread is a repeated complaint that the woman "allowed" her developmentally disabled daughter to get pregnant.

Are we forgetting how much we as a society "allow" access to family planning be cut off to large swaths of the population - paricularly the poor?

I can't get over the way the focus has been on critiquing the life choices of people with very few options, say nothing of decision-making which is a learned skill they haven't been taught. Then that dearth of very basic life skills are passed down to the next generation, who likely face trauma-filled childhoods followed by adulthods dependent on public assistance and very likely substance abuse.

At what point do we stop moralizing about bad decisions and start looking at policy that can break this cycle? For the most part, our culture and politics are to blame. Provide free and ample access to birth control. Teach life skills in every school curriculum. Provide pre- and post-natal care as a minimum-level requirement for pregnant women.

We're just creating zombies.

Please.

The mother had every chance to keep her daughter from getting pregnant int he first place, and failed.

Does it hurt to take so little personal responsibility for your bad parenting decisions?

Please see question above at 13:10. Is punishment for this woman and her offspring an acceptable public policy response?

Does public policy have any role in these outcomes?

You can break the cycle. Uneducated, poor people make bad decisions.

Decision-making pre-supposes options.

Thinking of the minor children who can't make decisions for themselves, isn't this story - at a minimum - a good case for making access to family planning and health care a minimum requirement of public policy?