Friday, 10 December 2010

• National Special Needs Parents Day: What's your Vote?

  

  
  
  Congress is considering a resolution that would establish a national day of recognition honoring parents of special needs children, and I was surprised to see some of our fellow SN parents get up in arms about this. 

  Now I've been known to work myself up into a lather over the internet-outrage-du-jour when I don't even have a dog in the hunt -- I'm still chapped about TSA pat-downs and those fee-laden Kardashian Kards -- so I was all ready to get in on the action.

  But I gotta say...I don't see it with this one.  Righteous indignation is practically my status quo, but sometimes you have to heed the Hulka and "Lighten up, Francis".  Stripes, y'all!   In this case, I choose to believe the best in people (WHAT!) and take things in the spirit in which I think they were intended.

  Here are some of the anti-resolution arguments that I've read: 

   

  We don't need no stinkin' pity

  Here is exactly what HR Bill 1576 says:

  ...active and supportive parents serve a critical role in the development of special needs children and in preparing them to succeed in school and in life, and...deserve annual national recognition for their selfless dedication, compassion, and sacrifice...

  Funnily enough, my first reaction to this is not so much "Stop pitying us!" as it is "HELLZ YEAH!!"

  The bill is sponsored by Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, who has a grandson with autism.  I'm guessing that pity is not exactly what he is going for, and that he is motivated by nothing more than his daughter and the challenges that she has faced as a special needs parent.

   

  Send money instead

  Count me in on hand-outs of free money to special needs parents, but I'm pretty sure that that was not on the table as an alternative.  I don't think that any of us in the special needs community would argue that there is much that could be done to make our lives easier.  They could start with getting our insurance companies to pay for our kids' therapies and go from there. 

  But having a national day of recognition for us doesn't cost the government anything, and doesn't preclude us from continuing to fight for everything else that we want.  I really doubt that someone was in a smoke-filled backroom going "I know they want ABA coverage, but we'll throw a Hallmark holiday at 'em and that oughta shut 'em up."

   

  Doesn't Congress have anything better to do?

  You clearly have not been paying attention.  They are doing absolutely nothing.  So they might as well get busy kissing my ass.

  For the record, here are some other recent congressional resolutions:

• Commemoration of 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway
• Congratulating the championship UCLA men's tennis team
• Acknowledging the on-premise sign industry for its contributions to the success of small businesses

Aren't special needs parents at least as important as the guy who painted the sign for your local BJ McSkankly's strip club?

 

We already have Mother's Day.  We want to be treated like any other mother and not singled out.

I'll bet that the special needs moms who oppose the resolution for this reason get showered with gifts and slathered with praise and adulation on Mother's Day.  I, however, usually get stiffed, so if the government wants to throw me a bone it'll be one more than I usually get.

Imagine the person who proposed this hearing about a backlash in the special needs community:

"Sheesh, we were just trying to do something nice.  God, these people are a-holes."

"Who are you calling a-holes?  We're parents of children with special needs!  Show us some friggin' respect!"

"I thought you wanted to be treated like everyone else and not singled out."

* *

"Oh yeah, and I heard that Oprah's doing a special "Favorite Things" episode with nothing but the parents of special needs kids in the audience.  I guess you don't want in on that."

"Squee."

Aaaaand scene.

In summary:  I'm not going to exactly organize a march on Washington in favor of it, but I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it either.  Now I gotta go write a social story for my autistic daughter before I drive her to another therapy appointment....


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So what is your vote, Yeah, Nah, or Meh?
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