Parents please do not allow yourselves to be bullied by people who tell you that your opinions about your child or opinions about services your child is receiving are wrong or that your concerns/opinions are false. This is crap! You have the right to your opinions. You are your child’s biggest advocate.
I would like you to read the comment by “Anonymous” in response to my previous post about kids club.
Please note a couple of things:
1. The person doesn’t have the courage to identify herself, that says a lot right there, 2. Notice how long the comment is, if my post is nothing but “nonsense” why did the person write such a long, detailed, response? 3. Why does this person think that they have the authority to tell me and others that I am not speaking the truth? How would they know? 4. Notice the tone from the very beginning – the person starts out with insulting me – definite anger issues there – people do not like it when you tell the public the “ugly” truth.
This is called an intimidation tactic – a threat to try to bully me into thinking that I am wrong and to try to convince my other readers that I am just full of it. Parents like myself are usually subjected to this type of ignorant behavior because it is very easy to label us as “wrong” or “crazy” simply because we are full time care givers to very challenging children.
Organizations will never admit their shortcomings or mistakes, so it is easier to blame the parent and bully the parent into thinking that they are right and they are the authority. Wrong! Those organizations provide your child a service, they are working for your child. You have the right to voice your opinion and concerns.
This is not a dictatorship Anonymous – I can speak my truth! You have NO right to tell me what is true and what is not true. I was there, were you? You obviously don’t have the courage to identify yourself, so I will assume you weren’t there and weren’t part of the meetings where we discussed all of this. I don’t know autism? Really? Are you serious? I have been raising an autistic/MR child for 12 years!
I will NOT be bullied by someone who doesn’t even have the courage to identify herself. It is sad and pathetic that you attack the parent, that is typical of organizations because that is the easy way out.
This is why nothing gets better for our kids – we allow people to do this and it must stop. Organizations/State Services, etc. need to be held accountable for the mistakes that they make. The only way this will change is if parents speak up and refuse to be bullied and intimidated. I understand this is just one comment, but the point that I am trying to make here is much more important – do not let people tell you that your opinions and/or concerns about your child and/or their services are wrong. Do NOT let them bully you into “keeping quiet”. Many parents suffer with this and I hope parents will find the courage to stand up against behavior such as this.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.“ Martin Luther King
Well, as I posted on facebook, I hope my “fan club” at least has the decency to get jackets – preferably pink – since that is my signature color! Until next time…
As an assistant teacher to autistic children…EVERYTHING IS BASED ON COST.Not on what the CHILD REALLY NEEDS, OR DESRVES. We as teachers want the children to be able to become independent using whatever means nessesarry.HOWEVER money issues prevent state and fed government from HELPING THE CHILDREN. It is a shame that a parent who wants the BEST FOR THIER CHILD HAS TO STAND ON THEIR HEAD WHILE JUGGLING TO HET ANY ANSWERS….THEREis something Wrong with this picture.
I’m sorry, but I did chuckle when I read about going into a room with 10 others staring you down. Had a flashback to several school meetings regarding my son, while I’d go to the meeting with usually just my case manager and BSC, the school had everyone and their brother around the table. Once I started to laugh and commented to my case manager, am I that intimidating? Without skipping a beat she replied,” YES!!” LOL I may go into one meeting with guns blazing and the next like Mary Poppins, it’s fun to keep them guessing. But one thing is absolute, you mess with my child and I will unleash hell, simple as that.
Thanks for sharing Jami! As you can see it is a very controversial topic…Keep in touch!
Ms. Goff, you are very much entitled to your opinions. Unfortunately for you, dictatorship or not, you are not entitled to your own facts. You called the Kids Club a “cash cow”:
However, Adams-Hanover Counseling Services described itself as “a not-for-profit organization working on a limited budget”. Are you implying that they are making money and, somehow, remaining a non-profit?
Further, you complain that you are the one being accused of having a problem, that no one seems to be listening to you:
At the same time, you write about your rants and your raves. You randomly capitalize words in your posts, which signifies screaming. (Emphasis is achieved through bolding.)
One more example. You wrote this:
Ms. Goff, I don’t have the body of your email in order to evaluate it. However, based on your depiction of what happened, I too would ask you to leave me alone.
Your critics are not allowed to state what is in your mind, but you can state what is in the mind of organizations.
Do you see why your posting was met with antagonism? Would you agree that your writing style invites this kind of response?
Again with the money. Not-for-profits don’t care about money, Ms. Goff. If they did, they would be for profits.
Tip: If you write this way at people in emails, they’re pretty much going to ask you to leave them alone. And, no, you can’t be sued for your opinions, but you could be admonished for unfounded statements of fact.