Dark Places...

       I have been reading with great interest comments about the George Hodgins (murder) and Elizabeth Hodgins (suicide) which recently occurred in Sunnyvale, CA.  George was an autistic 22 year old man who was rather severely involved, behaviorally and cognitively.  He was non-verbal.  Elizabeth, his mother,  cared for her son and searched for a day habilitation placement when he aged out of school.  Nothing appeared to work out. No supports, no plans, no real assistance...she decided that their lives should end together.  It's commonplace to refer to this as a :murder-suicide. This is one story of many which follow the same theme....severely disabled child-loving parent!  These stories are legion.

       Many people, especially in the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) community on Facebook, are outraged over the focus which the media has placed on an over-wrought, emotionally depleted care-giver mother.  Commentators focused upon the lack of attention given to the killing of a disabled child and the murderous act of the mother.  Writers and bloggers believe that yes, there was a paucity of services; yes, the mother was over-wrought and that she should be identified as a perpetrator and murderer.  Comments abound that the killing of a disabled child is a heinous action and that it can never allowed to happen again.

       Could there be another side to this very tragic story?  Is the world so black and white that no other explanations are possible nor plausible?  Could, in their dark place, the hidden recesses of the human psyche, there be a place for an act like this to be a act of love?  The murder of a severely disabled child is a heinous event if the parent lives, becomes unburdened and is freed from an impossible life without supports.  Is the scenario  identical when a severely disabled child and a loving, care giving mother leave together?  There are no blacks and white, no absolutes and above all there should be no judgements by those who do not know.  The dark places in our souls can reveal truths no one wants to hear.  So let's explore this further....

      My son is totally disabled and a medically complex human person (sorry, Amber).  My wife and I alone know his body:  how he needs to be fed, how he needs secretions cleared, how his bowels need to be stimulated and retained urine released.  We know how he signals pain and how he signals peace.  We know how to get him to sleep and when to re-position him.  We know how to clear his lungs.  We know how to prepare his pureed meals and provide a host of supplements and feed him over an hour's time.  We know when he is ill.  Doctors depend on us to tell them what is wrong and what needs attention.  Left to modern medicine, he would have his g-tube replaced and a trach inserted with regular suctioning.  We know how to manually release his spasticity.  We know his soul and his body as he is totally dependent upon us.

     Our dark place is that he will outlive us and if he does he will be alone.  Children/adults like Adam (who is now 26, 14 years post accident) usually have one option:  nursing homes, which are cesspools of germs, staffed by some people who are under-paid and blatantly indifferent.  Nursing homes for the severely disabled are rank with neglect, with abuse, with indifference and patients are prone to being sexually abused,  Placed in a nursing home with people of all ages, many of whom have lost their minds and spirits, is a death sentence.  Don't kid yourself!

       My dark place is that my son will outlive me.   My dark place is that no one else knows him, his body and his spirit; and that few really care...they all have to get on with their lives so they can enjoy their brief stays on this temporal planet.  In a nursing home or a residential placement, Adam would die and it would not take long, and even that length of time would be marked by horrific abuse and indifference....yes, that indifference that reduces people to an abstraction.  No one really cares about abstractions!

       My dark place leads me into the fear that my son will be alone and aloneness is worse than death.  He can never be alone, in life nor in death.  He has a father and a mother who love and protect him from the indifference and harm of the world.  My deepest darkest place is my son's aloneness...he does not deserve that nor will I allow it to happen.

       

       Would you condemn us or judge us if we left this plane together?  Would you understand our need to express our love to be together?   Would you mock our belief in the beyond?  Many people believe that their companion pets will meet them at the rainbow bridge and cross over together.  Can we extend that same belief to humans?  Would you condemn us as murderers of a disabled person is if we chose to be together at a point in time?

       Bloggers and newscasters who are  righteous and condemn Elizabeth Hodgins have usually not cared for a severely disabled, medically complex son or daughter and committed their lives to that task.  Black and white judgement is very, very easy to come by. It requires no effort nor an ability to "see and hear" that which is not apparent.  Judgement of others and their decisions is perhaps the greatest of sins, just behind human indifference.  What dark places to you venture to?  Our stories are legion!

My Nomination for Asshole of the Century...Del. Bob Marshall

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” said Marshall, a Republican.

“In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

Every century and every civilization has its idiot!  Here is a pseudo-human who has just announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for  U.S. Senate from Virginia.  It's bad enough that: he claims "homosexual behavior undermines the economy";  DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) jeopardizes our relations with Muslims; introduced legislation to ban gays from the Virginia National Guard; called the "Affordable Care Act" criminal and an attempt to steal your "soul"; thinks that the best way to end school violence is to allow faculty to carry handguns on campus; advocated bills to allow Virginia to disregard laws passed by Congress; and is known for using the racial slur "macaca". Here's a list of other Marshallisms as a delegate.

       All of that is bad enough to banish the dude to an island with no people, nor food or water.   Several years ago, he claimed that abortions by parents correlated to the procreation of disabled children later on  because it was "nature's vengeance". He also babbled about some studies he read.  You know that the OT says the first born should be dedicated to the Lord, so if they are aborted there is an exacting punishment:  disabled children.  Actually, the OT has areas which suggest the first born as a sacrificial offering to the angry god...simply gut them on a stone altar. 

       In all due justice, he is now claiming his words were taken out of context and defending his statements as media manipulation on his facebook page   (suddenly the page with hundreds of comments disappeared and was replaced by a political ad where you can not post comments )when comments against him are running a zillion to one.  In the most hypocritical gesture he plastered his face with a cutesy CP kid :

      As of about 2:43 PM EST, about 23 hours after posting the pic to cover his Republican ass, he had 2 likes (probably his aides) and about 63 negative comments and growing.  Now I have a severely disabled kid and I have repeatedly requested an apology from him on his sites...no way.  He loves disabled kids and suddenly views them as a gift from god.  "It" (I was told by a dear friend that I have to refer to god as it) gives such nice gifts to all its friends.

        Well, if you buy the gospel according to the running candidate for Republican position of U.S. Senate from Virginia, we parents of disabled kids fucked up something so bad that nature is wreaking vengeance on us.  Also, all my son's gay therapists over the past 13 years, who have pure hearts of gold, are ruining the economy.

        I know that he issues repeated statements that his words were out of context, but here's the actual tape of his talk.  He mumbles so you need to turn your speakers up...

   I'm not misconstruing, are you?  My condolences to all my Virginia friends, but we need to beat this man down by bringing his words of hate to light.  Calling for his resignation is this facebook page.  Feel free to nail 'em.

      

Sustaining Life....

       Not a day passes by me without a serious reflection upon what sustains life in our severely disabled children and adult children.  Against all medical and mathematical odds, they survive and thrive.  Against the backdrop of a society which stigmatizes the compromised, they survive.  In the world of western medicine, despite cutting, implanting and medicating, which are commonplace routines, they survive.  In the myriad of strangers and others who blow in and out of their lives, the disabled face people who look away...the other way, they survive.  In a system of dwindling resources and respite for their care givers, they survive and live.

       There is suffering, floating in and out of consciousness; bodies deformed by spastic contractures; bodies incapable of many controlled basic functions; bodies which are probed and examined and invaded; spirits which could be crippled by the indifference of people who should care and do not.  There is deep suffering in their cellular awareness that the outside world perceives their lives as not worthy of life itself.  There is suffering in the spiritual knowledge that mom and dad may not be around forever, and that no one has stepped up to fill these voids.  There is an intuitive belief that they may be a burden, that their needs are overwhelming.  Yet life sustains itself, and always with a smile...that smile which sustains the caregivers and that smile which itself is sustained by the unconditional love of the parent and the care-giver. There is no indignity when care is given because of that love.  Unconditional love requires nothing in return...unconditional love is a gift particularly reserved for the disabled.  This love sustains life because it permeates the very core of being; it is sensed at cellular levels and allows life to pursue life.

       I often view institutions, hospitals and group homes as places devoid of this level of love.  Great care, great medicine, great homes never communicate the level of unconditioned love to those who need mom and dad forever.  The greatest  fear of parents is that their children will be alone, alone in living and alone in dying.  We are the mechanism of sustaining that life force in our kids; kids unrecognized for their contributions to the evolution of human consciousness.

      I am amazed that people worship a man who suffered for several days, was betrayed by friends, was given up by supporters to an indifferent government, beaten and killed over a course of three days.  Myth has it he rose a few days later.  Yes, he suffered and yes, he died.  Does the suffering and the betrayal of the Christus compare to the suffering and social and betrayal of our kids?  Not for three days, but for 3 years, for 13 years for 60 years...suffering more intense and more prolonged than that endured by a man who others claimed to be a god.  Perhaps, he did not experience that unconditional love that children have; maybe that's why he folded?  Lessons to be learned? I, perhaps, believe that our children, disabled and pure of spirit are gods.

       I remember a lifetime ago (just after Adam's accident) receiving a card from one of the parents of a boy who played hockey with Adam and who had just seen him.  He said that it "was like looking at the face of god."  The comment has never left me..

      The lost gospel of Mary of Magdala (the supposed wife of Jesus and mother of his two sons) was discovered in Nag Hamadi in the 1940's.  She, of course, was in a power struggle with Peter, who denied the lord. This misogyny continues 2000 years later.  Perhaps that's why the gospel was suppressed?  The fragment found contains her final words which she learned from her lord, "Know ye not that ye are all gods?"  I believe that our vulnerable are gods and their life sustains because of unconditional love, something which was not active in the life of the Christus.  So many lessons to be learned, so much knowledge to be unearthed.  I believe that the source is in our midst and is sustained by unconditional love.

       We can never allow our most vulnerable to be exposed to care and homes without deep unconditioned love; this is a death sentence.  We sustain life; there is no single more important task or event that any parent can share in.

       Of course, I have long abandoned the notion of a personal deity and I believe that religions poison everything. (Hitchens, 2007: "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything)  Religions also stigmatize and devalue the disabled.  How few churches/temples have ramps and are really accessible!  How many religions still believe that disability is a punishment for someone's sins?  How many religions believe that disability is taken on by a "victim soul"?  How many religions believe that the disabled are here waiting to be healed by a miracle because they are less than perfect?  How many disabled kids are viewed as "pillow angels"?  Without religions, we can fully honor their sublime divinity and full humanity.

“Those of us who write and study history are accustomed to its approximations and ambiguities. This is why we do not take literally the tenth-hand reports of frightened and illiterate peasants who claim to have seen miracles or to have had encounters with messiahs and prophets and redeemers who were, like them, mere humans. And this is also why we will never submit to dictation from those who display a fanatical belief in certainty and revelation.” 

― Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

N.B.and P.S.     Hitch (Christopher Hitchens) died a few days ago at age 62.

A recent blog tribute to Hitch written by neuroscientist Sam Harris  HERE

“What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.” 

― Christopher Hitchens

Ozzie the Duck: Murdered in Westfield, MA

Ozzie, the duck

       I have recently read numerous posts by fellow bloggers about the invisibility of the disabled and the continued stigmatization of people with handicaps.  I wondered why. Various theories and models are spun in a genuine search for understanding and a thirst to educate the general populace.  Today, I was struck by a bolt of something.  Ozzie, the Westfield Park resident Muscovy duck,  was murdered by some teen morons.
       Don't get me wrong!  I think that this was a totally detestable action which cannot be explained away by youth.  These teens were neither endowed with intelligence, nor compassion, nor any other positive human quality.  I believe they should be apprehended as quickly as possible and castrated so that their mutated genetic material cannot be passed on to anyone with whom they may unfortunately copulate and ultimately inseminate.  Just cut their balls off!
       Now do get me right!  This story is three days old.  It was in the Western Massachusetts papers, local and statewide television stations and New England Regional Newspapers (Boston Globe).  Police are out in force looking to apprehend four idiot teens and now there is a reward being offered for information. People are aghast!  The media blitz is ceaseless. Now people have established an Ozzie Fund.
       The park ranger told us about how Ozzie took up residence three years ago and never migrated to Mexico, like he is supposed to.  Everyone fed the fella!  The teens are accused of venting "blood lust"; "taking advantage of the trust of an innocent animal"; and,  "oh, my god, the poor baby!".  I know that a Facebook page has been created for Ozzie to get the duck justice.  And, on and on, new television shows, new articles in the media and wailing and crying continue daily.

       Then I thought about some of the outrageous crimes directed at the disabled that I have both written about in this blog and continue to read about.  Usually, one page hidden away, usually no follow-up, usually no outcry for justice!  What the fuck!  Something is wrong with the media and something is wrong with people in general.

• My post about abuse and rape of the disabled in New York group homes.  Outcry, follow-up, sanctions, tv specials, etc?   Nada.
• A guest post on my blog about parents who are out-raged because their precious kids have to take small precautions to save the life of a child with a severe peanut allergy.
• The disabled are the most likely population to be the target of serious crime
• An autistic boy is murdered by his care giver in a New York group home.  No follow up stories or great sense of outrage!
• Or, if you like, 50 stories of abuse of the disabled from a single source.
• Or a 26 year old with CP who had multiple fractures from his care givers in a nursing home in Florida.
• And other references are available ad infinitum on the web. Just google "abuse of the disabled."

       So why is the world in an outrage about a duck and not repeated instances of abuse of the disabled?  The disabled are also innocent, trusting, responsive to kindness and susceptible to abuse by strangers.  I am plagued by the indifference of the media and the general populace.  I am plagued by this dis-ease of invisibility.  I am plagued by the lack of rational explanation for this pervasive injustice.

        This post is a partial purge, interrupted by a lack of explanation or model.  I am hoping in the follow-up post to examine some principles of evolutionary psychology in an attempt to explain the unforgivable...the invisibility of the disabled and the indifference of the general populace.

Social Justice: USA NearThe Bottom of the Heap

        We have not, as a country, taken care of most vulnerable people in our nation.  It is interesting that in the glamour of our electoral process, no one is addressing the fact that the "greatest nation in the world" fails miserably despite our abundance of resources.  Is it a wonder that the disabled are kept at bay and invisible?  Could this be the unstated mission of the Occupy movement and other unrest?  I somehow doubt that those concerned about the unequal distribution of resources are advocating the cause of the invisible disabled in the USA.  Who will speak for our kids?

          This was underscored in a report released on Thursday by the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation of Germany entitled “Social Justice in the OECD — How Do the Member States Compare?” It analyzed some metrics of basic fairness and equality among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and ranked America among the ones at the bottom.

         

     Someone needs to save us from ourselves!

Communicatin': Without Words, Clicks, Blinks, Twitches . . .

Adam, in all his glory!

     Now, if you have a severely disabled kid (Adam's 25 but he's still my kid) and you had one wish, what would it be?  Releasing hand and foot contractures? Straightening his spine?  Moving that old pelvic floor into proper position?  Magically curing the olde incontinence and digestive stuff? Having the boy walk and grab for stuff?  Or, could it just be communicatin'...telling you what hurts, telling you when he needs to be repositioned, telling you when he wants the channel on the tv changed, telling you when he wants you out of his face?  I would probably opt for communicatin' (although I have not discussed this with my wifey).
      Adam does communicate with a grimace, with a groan, with a spit, with a closing of his eyes and he's getting better on closing his eyes on command.  He also contracts more tightly when he's irritated.  I want more...that's my wish!  Of course, I want the other stuff, and the daily ABR is addressing the structure of his body.  I want more!  So I keep searching.

       I have been closely examining and talking with researchers at Brain Gate which is a collaborative effort of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brown University.  Clinical trials have been on going with certain populations who are essentially "locked in" since 2006.  The technology is not quite there but remarkable progress is being made.  Here is a brief description of this type of Brain-Computer Interface:

       A long-term goal of the BrainGate research team is to create a system that, quite literally, turns thought into action – and is useful to people with neurologic disease or injury, or limb loss. Currently, the system consists of a “sensor” (a device implanted in the brain that records signals directly related to imagined limb movement); a “decoder” (a set of computers and embedded software that turns the brain signals into a useful command for an external device); and, the external device – which could be a standard computer desktop or other communication device, a powered wheelchair, a prosthetic or robotic limb, or, in the future, a functional electrical stimulation device that can move paralyzed limbs directly. The following link described in detail the latest research: Here.  Or here's a New York Times article about a man using thoughts to control a robot. Also a "60 Minutes" episode about using thoughts to control movement.

   The sensor which is implanted is about the size of a baby asprin.  They are presently working on a wireless technology and refining the computer algorithms which translate thought via the electrical signals of the motor cortex into action.  Thought, plain and simple intention, can control computer screens, appliances, and robotic arms which may be near the kid.  An example of the technology would be if Adam wanted a drink, he thinks of his hand picking up a glass of beer and bringing it to his lips.  His nearby robotic arm would be directed to perform the action.  If he wanted to be left alone, he could think the thought, thoughts read by computer to display a keyboard and he could think letters or pictures or commands.  
     The technology is not here quite yet, but steady progress is being made to make it a reality.  This is the stuff of which dreams are made and the technology is not in the very distant future.  It is around the corner.
     The clinical studies are pretty much limited to brain stem stroke, ALS, muscular dystrophy, cervical spinal injury and motor neuron diseases.  The unit is expecting to seek FDA approval in the near future to include other "locked in" populations.  A limitation is that you have to reside within 3 hours of MGH...thankfully we are an hour away.  So contacts have been  made and we're on a list for future clinical trial consideration.  Just imagine the potential!
      Remember when we folks marveled at Buck Rogers, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells (younger parents won't have a clue about these guys).  I really believe that the future is here and will open up worlds for the disabled which were unimaginable yesterday.

       

Pond Slime...Scum to Slime: Fleecing the Disabled

 

And now for the good new 9/25/2011:  Barranco FIRED!

The long rise and hard fall of John Barranco

He found big money in an unlikely place — a regional agency serving disabled children. And then investigators closed in. 9/18/2011 (The Boston Globe)

John Barranco

        In June, 2011, I posted the story of John Barranco, a former school superintendent in Massachusetts, the director of a special education collaborative and director of a related  non-profit education center who allegedly fleeced school districts and taxpayers for an excess of $10 million dollars. Some published estimates exceed $30 million.

       The allegations dealing with this man and his buddies come at the expense of the most vulnerable population on the face of the earth, disabled children.  Hell is reserved for people who abuse and neglect the disabled children.  Fleecing money from their services is abuse! In the words of G.K. Chesterton"...the young demand justice; the rest of us beg for mercy!"

       The story exposes outrageous salaries and bonuses of $500,000 a year, no show jobs for friends, trips with friends to the Kentucky Derby, expensive cigars, parties for directors where the average person has 8 drinks, gifts to his daughter. Of course, he hired his live-in for an outrageous salary and had his fellow buddy superintendents placed on the boards of both organizations he ran. The allegations are pages long and referenced in my June 2011 blog. The allegations boggle the mind.

      So now he has two vacation homes (Florida and New Hampshire), paid for in cash and he is unresponsive to requests for comments. His cohorts are also silent. The disabled drool, sit in wheelchairs,  and cry for a response.

     "To win the approval of the two agreements, Barranco and Clisbee relied on overlapping boards of directors at the Collaborative and the Center to push them through, Sullivan’s investigation concluded. Because of the overlap, five superintendents voted twice to approve the pacts, once on behalf of the Collaborative and again on behalf of the Center, another conflict of interest.

Moreover, Barranco later awarded three of those board members high-paying jobs at the Center: James McCormick, now the superintendent of schools in Mason, N.H.; Robert Calabrese, who is dead; and David Hawkins, who appears to be still working for the Center.

The MEC Board of Directors

The fourth of the five board members, Richard Moser, attended the Kentucky Derby with Barranco - at the Center’s expense - a year before casting his votes for the two agreements.

None of these individuals returned numerous calls from the Globe." Boston Globe, 9/18/2011

So Barranco is non-communicative. The local Superintendents who sat on the Boards? Well, some were were handsomely rewarded by jobs upon retirement from the public sector. Others were wined and dined in style. Were they simply unknowing dupes? Superintendent of Schools are usually not known for blatant stupidity ( I realize this is a generalization but I personally know several who are really stupid.). Were they collaborators in a scheme which rewarded them handsomely? Did they approve tuition rates and fiscal contracts which screwed the disabled and resulted in needless school spending resulting in higher taxes and staff layoffs. Did they know the effects of the money allegedly fleeced from or  by  them? I am sure that they will be investigated as there are multiple state and federal investigations in progress.  Do these guys even care?  What would be the honorable thing to do?

(1) Let's start with an admission of responsibility and greed?  Quickly followed by an apology!
(2) Let's have an acknowledgement of the pain endured by society's most vulnerable?
(3) Let's return the money and gifts to the disabled and the taxpayers?
(4) Let's apologize to the teachers who were laid off because of your greed?
(5) Let's divulge all the facts in truth:  who knew, who helped, who benefited?

In the long run, repeated silence and denials will only succeed in costing taxpayers more money in investigations, prosecutions, trials and appeals...money already allegedly fleeced from the disabled and citizens. Of course, the Massachusetts Department of Education (DESE) deserves no kudos for its oversight of special education collaboratives, but they will defend their incompetence on budgetary bases. No one is ever responsible, only the vulnerable suffer.  For once, Mr. Barranco and conspirators, simply do the right thing.

All details, subpoenas, audit reports are referenced in my June blog with additions.

Life is Short and assorted other Bullshit"isms"

       Life caring for a severely disabled son is not a cake walk, nor a stroll in the park.  Neither is it analogous to caring for an old dog, a rebellious normal teenager, or a demented, elderly parent.  Why might you ask?  Well, old dogs are supposed to be incontinent, regular kids are often all-consuming pains in the ass, and the old folks are supposed to act like old folks.  A twenty five year old who is non-verbal and non-ambulatory and a lot of other "non" stuff falls into a totally different category which defies typical definition.
       People who should be sociologically close often avoid all attempts to be useful or helpful.  They view you as strong, and capable and able to handle any emergency, be it a long term or short term emergency.  Their view is skewed in this inept direction because it provides a convenient rationale for never stepping up to the plate.  The one thing that these "people who should be sociologically close"  have and readily offer is a litany of platitudes and meaningless expressions which serve only to piss ya the f..k off.  Here are some of big offenders:
       Pray for miracles & Ask and you shall receive:  Yeah, right!  First, you have to believe in a personal god and I don't.  Second, you have to believe in miracles, and I don't.  Did you ever hear about the miracle where god re-grew an arm that was amputated above the elbow?  Or how about the eye that was poked out by a stick and re-grew?  And the asking/receiving thing?  I've been asking to hit the big lottery for years even promising to give money away...haven't received anything yet.  Is 13 years of asking not long enough?
       I don't know how you do it, they'd have to put me in a rubber room:  You do it because you love your son and because it's the right thing to do.  You sociologically close people could learn to do it for a few days, so that we could get away without the kid for a weekend.  We could teach you, you could learn, it's not rocket science.  How's this: Get Over It! Stop being a marshmallow 'fraidy cat and step up, we deserve  a weekend off every thirteen years.  Don't we, sociologically related people?

       Well, it could be a lot worse!:  You're right on this score.  The kid could be more crooked than he is, he could never smile, he could seize and vomit all day!  So right, it could be worse, but still it's pretty tough for parents in their 60's.  We could have had to make a decision about pulling a plug, but didn't have to, although some people have said it would have been better if he just checked out.  A preponderance of idiots on a small planet?  This paper if just for you. (on the right!)

       Calm down, Time heals all wounds, Life is short!  The trinity of phrases which are often offered when people's blatant indifference toward you and your son rankles your soul.  You either confront them or walk away from the negative energy. Everyone wants everything to be mellow and superficial.  Well, I have not the time for mellow, superficial folk.  I have no time to gossip or spread rumors about sociologically bonded people.  I will not calm down in the face of indifference; time will not heal the wounds of indifference; and, life is not short...it is endless.   So be a part of the journey and move forward with us or get the hell out of the way.  Help, be positive and be supportive.  If you can't do all three, stay away.
       God helps those who help themselves!    Not true....
       You need to get more help!  So right, my sociologically bonded unit...so get off your ass, come down for a week and take care of us so we can take better and more relaxed care of Adam. You have no idea about finding, hiring, training, trusting someone to care for a kid who can't move nor speak.  Applicants are often dirty, stupid and chronically unemployed and chemically dependent.  It's easier to get a dog-sitter, but not by much.  We have gone through more care-givers than you have moles.
       I know how you feel! I know what it's like!  Unless you are part of that .05% of the population who walks in "our shoes" or "moccasins" you do not have a clue nor will you ever.  I would, however, like to give you a brief experience.  Please ask.....
   

       Blood is thicker than water! Blood means family and relatives, I guess.  Well, blood coagulates, blood thins, blood clots, clots cause strokes, blood gets infected, blood gets sucked by vampires (real or psychic).....water, on the other hand just gently  flows....I'll take a long, cool drink of water, thanks.
       You should join a support group!  Ok, will you mind my son while I am commiserating with other parents of severely disabled kids?

        Every cloud has a silver lining! Look on the bright side! Yes, I have become a deeply spiritual, god-fearing, humble, loving, compassionate human being because of the depth of my experience.  Actually, my silver lining is the development of a keen bullshit detector with regards to the hearts of others, especially my sociological unit.
        Get over it! Get on with you life!  Up yours, and I wouldn't trade my life for anyone's. I am moving on with my life daily.  I could just use a periodic reprieve.  We all need a break from ourselves.
         I'm sure that parents of severely disabled kids have faced these and many other platitudes as excuses for avoidance of involvement with people like us.  It's probably better to say nothing that to say something which triggers and irritates.  So just to be on the up and up, this is a partial list.  You can help me by adding more.

The following are my rebuttals to those who have incensed me with trivial statements about life:

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
 Bible - Proverbs 26:11

Every ass loves to hear himself bray.
 Proverb of Unknown Origin

    

     

Pond Scum...updated AUGUST 31, 2011

LATEST BLOG UPDATE ON BARRANCO, MEC, MSEC and ITS LEADERSHIP, CLICK HERE!

Dr. John Barranco, Ed.D

UPDATE: August 31, 2011    Here is another update.  The 10 million dollar alleged fraud could actually be as high as 37 million.  Let's trust Sped Collaboratives and Superintendents to care for the most vulnerable school aged populations and not line their pockets.  Anxiously waiting for indictments!!!  Are school systems places where Sped students are valued and cared for or are they secret bank accounts for school superintendents!  The filth in Massachusetts makes me want to vomit!

UPDATE: AUGUST 18, 2011 Here is another update where pond scum becomes slime.  A big conflict of interest between John Barranco, MEC and a convicted lobbyist.  They are, of course, both in hiding.

UPDATE: AUGUST 10, 2011 
     HERE is a newer update from the state auditor...up to $30 million of bogus charges.   Booze, lavish parties, hotels, etc.  at the expense of the most vulnerable people in society.  Every Superintendent and Administrator on the Board of Directors and higher up employee should be FIRED and JAILED.  They should have known as it was their job. The high life at the expense of disabled kids...no wonder everyone is hiding and not speaking.

UPDATE:  AUGUST 9, 2011

     HERE is a copy of the grand jury jury subpoena for payroll records for our superintendent friends in the Merrimack Education Center scandal....see who is being looked at.  These people were supposed to be the guardians of tne most needs....as GK Chesterton said: "...the young demand justice, the rest of us beg for mercy.:

     HERE is the news report of the federal district court investigation of pond scum...betrayers of the children with special needs.  Many more chips will fall!

       Special needs students are the most vulnerable population in schools and in society.  They appear imperfect in their physical appearance, in their motor skills, in their cognition, in their ability to get voted "most likely to succeed" .  They compete for scant public dollars with Advanced Placement programs, meterology courses and school musical productions.  In the educational scheme of things, special needs programs should be fully funded first and then regular education students should receive a fair share.  It's not the way things happen because special populations have NO voice.  Parents and students are so beaten down by life and non-responsive agencies that they have little fight to give them VOICE.

      Then, along comes a piece of dog-shit like John Barranco, the former head of the Merrimack Education Center and the Merrimack Special Needs Collaborative in Northeastern Massachusetts.  He is accused (good word) of fleecing money from special education funds to the tune of over $10 million dollars
over the past years.  That would buy a hell of a lot of diapers and g-tube sets.

      Some years he received a half-million in salary and bonuses, some years he was a no show, some years he hired his live in girlfriend as a director for one hundred grand , some years he hired his superintendent buddies on his board to six figure positions.  Some years he fixed up his vacation homes, some years he paid for days at the Kentucky Derby with cigars, many years he hosted lavish parties and paid for all his gasoline with the center's monies.  Some years, he bought his daughter a mahogany table for a present.  Oh yeah, and there was a robotic swimming pool cleaner.  He also hired Richard McDonough as a no-show lobbyist/PR person for $80,000.  Oh, by the way, McDonough was just convicted of theft of honest services, etc with the former speaker of the Massachusetts House (Sal DiMasi) a week or so ago for pushing a software contract with Cognos and getting a kickback.  Guess which software the Collaborative and Center use.

       Yes, there is outrage in Massachusetts from the Governor, the Attorney General, the Inspector General, the State Auditor and every other hack in government.  Who was minding the store and providing oversight for the past ten years?  And what about the kids?  With the fleecing of 10 million, what needed services did handicapped kids not receive?  What services were not provided in schools as local districts paid an additional 10 million for nothing....And, people had to know.  Boards of Directors?  Accountants?  Bookkeepers?  Directors of Programs?  They are all equally responsible and equally guilty.  Frankly they should all be fired and all jailed.  Every penny of their assets should be liquidated and given to programs for kids with special needs.  Their indifference is reprehensible.

      So my humble opinion leads me to believe that Dr. Barranco is a piece of shit which needs to be rapidly flushed because the stench pervades the surroundings.  Frankly, I wish that his "privates" would drop into my VitaMix.  Of course, the Center has hired a PR firm to mitigate the blow-out...things, they say in the  Inspector General's report are inaccurate (but, they aren't specific).  Ok, they weren't real Cuban cigars and the amount wasn't 10 million, it was 9.99 million.  I hope Dr. John rots.
     Oh, here's an update: three local superintendents who help steer the money to the Merrimack Ed Center that olde Dr. John headed were rewarded with lucrative jobs there upon retirement.
      "The superintendents who approved the money transfers -- former Billerica Superintendent Robert Calabrese, former Tyngsboro Superintendent David Hawkins and former North Middlesex Regional School Superintendent James McCormick -- were rewarded with six-figure jobs at MEC and extravagant bonuses, according to state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan.

"The superintendents taking part in his scheme betrayed the trust of parents, students and taxpayers," Sullivan said in an emailed statement to the Lowell Sun."

Read more:http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_18336940#ixzz1QIEl8xPI

And more filth rises to the surface;

 
And, more detail of the filth within:  who knew and when did  they know?  why did no one report the abuse?

Article from Massachusetts Non-Profits

Perhaps we should start an ex-education superintendents WALL OF SHAME.

      

All facts and data are from Boston Globe, Boston Herald, NECN and the Lowell Sun (links are in body of blog text); opinions are mine!

Crimes Against Humanity ... "I don't luv NY!!"

      I am a voracious reader.  I am the parent of a severely disabled child.  I would never, ever allow him to be cared for in a state-operated facility.  While I am aware that neglect and a lack of care is evident in a multitude of settings which provide care for the disabled, none rival the recent report in the NY Times concerning the abject physical and sexual abuse of the fragile.  You cannot read this report based upon a year long study without feeling nauseous and vomiting.  Shame on the state of  New York!

      Forty years after New York shuttered it's warehouses for the developmentally disabled, small group residences emerged to serve people with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autism.  New York created these homes with scant oversight and virtually no accountability for employees who perpetrated indescribable crimes.

      The New York Times investigated these placements over the past year and found widespread and unaddressed issues (crimes?) in many of the 2,000 group homes.  There were 100's of cases of clients who were sexually abused, beaten and taunted because of their disability.  In many of the cases, employees (those trusted with the care of the most fragile people on earth) who committed these heinous offenses were transferred, rarely terminated.

       In 2009, there were 13,000 documented allegations of abuse in state operated and licensed group homes.  A mere 5% of those allegations were referred to law enforcement.

       In a review of 399 disciplinary cases involving 233 workers who were accused of 1 of 7 serious offenses, the state was only successful in terminating 30 workers.  Most offenders received fines, short suspensions or loss of vacation time.  The reason: unionism.

       The state of  New York has no educational requirements for employees of groups homes for the disabled.  Even some employees with criminal backgrounds were not disqualified from employment.

       There is much blame to be spread.  A lack of regulation and oversight by the State and a lack of adequate funding are probably contributing factors.  Employment policies which allow people to be hired who shouldn't even be walking our streets are absent.  First and foremost in the line of blame are unions who represent these employees.  Any union which defends a person's employment status when they are accused of abuse of a disabled person is anti-American, anti-labor, anti-humanity.  While I reluctantly respect the rights of unions to bargain for wages, hours and a limited number of conditions of employment, I know that unions defend (almost to at the death) the right an an employee to keep their job without consequences.  I have seen it happen regularly in education where I was a high school principal for 30 years.  I see it more clearly in the New York Times report where unions protected human garbage from loss of employment.

        The very actionable offenses against the disabled are tolerated and defended because of the inability of the disabled to speak for themselves.  The abuse and its defense is not a minor issue, it is a high crime against humanity.  I have never really believed in capital punishment, but today I do!  There is no place in a civilized society for any person who would abuse in any manner a disabled person.  If I believed in a god who would judge and punish, I may feel a long-distance sense of relief in cosmic justice.  Since I don't believe, it must be incumbent upon humanity to dispense justice on behalf of the disabled.  That justice must extend to those who created this system, to those who have abused within the system and to those who protect the abusers and allow them to re-abuse.  Yes, there is a place in our society for a public hanging in a very public square.

        You can read the entire five page report at the following link, only if you have a very strong stomach or access to a bottle of tranquillizers:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13homes.html?_r=1