MysterionMuffles Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Hey everybody, George Stromboloupoulos posted on Facebook this article about parents who have abandoned their autistic son. To sum it up, these parents have tried for years to get government support and they failed to properly jump through beuracratic hoops (surprise surprise!) in order to receive any extra money and services that could help them out. They got fed up with him, as I would imagine taking care of a child with autism to present extra challenges than that of a "normal" child, and were becoming unhealthy mentally, physically and emotionally in the process. Under the Facebook comments, I stated that it was inherently immoral for the parents to do what they did, and any dysfunction this man would have at the age of 19 would be due to their failure to teach him otherwise in all the time that they had him in their care. As you could predict, I got attacked (though not too agressively which I am thankful for) for being on the moral high ground out of arrogance and that I wouldn't know what it's like until I was in that situation. My rebuttal? I accepted that there would be challenges, but I wouldn't find it in my heart to abandon someone who is that dependant on me and I would have spent most of his childhood on instructing him to become self sufficient to the degree he can handle. I also argued that it would take a lot of self knowledge and self care as a parent to not lose their head, and live their own lives once in a while so that the care of this child would not be so tedious as they make it out to be. They are right to some degree, since I do lack some patience in my self, but since I'm a caregiver all week long for an elder, and a babysitter on the weekends, I think any situation that calls for patience would inevitably TEACH patience if one is open to the idea. I will post a screenshot of my debate with people on Facebook later since I don't want to overwhelm you guys with too much reading material (as you can see in the two other board topics I linked to []), and in the meantime would love to read your thoughts first.
Formelyknown Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 The ethical thing to do is to ask someone else want to take care of this child if nobody want it, kill the child. There is no virtue of taking care of a19 year old baby with a defect you are not responsible of. I approve of the parents behavior. Forcing someone to pay for a 100 pound cucumber is just evil.
MPStewart Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 Isn't that murder? When do parents stop being responsible for the children they bring into the world? Should all parents brace themselves for the possibility that their child might need care beyond the usual age of independence?
SimonF Posted May 2, 2013 Posted May 2, 2013 People need to get insured against this kind of outcome and if they are not it's their responsibility. It's nothing to do with anyone else. I guess given that the government would prosecute for abandonment/neglect and of course infanticide if it came to that, then desperate parents will turn to the state like this.
MysterionMuffles Posted May 2, 2013 Author Posted May 2, 2013 The people I've been arguing with on Facebook, as well the article, say that the guy is basically a 19 year old baby with a 2 year old brain. Now, don't tell me if this is an insult to the education system, but is he not wearing a graduation gown? Does that not account to some degree of intelligence to comprehend concepts taught in school? Because from what I recall, the special needs kids in my high school were there looong before me and some of them are still there long after I've graduated. Only the select few who have demonstrated a competent level of indoctrinated education become free to find simple jobs to undertake.
Stephen C Posted May 3, 2013 Posted May 3, 2013 This reminds me of the movie 'Artificial Intelligence' except in the movie the mother at least had the decency to leave her son all by himself in the middle of the woods and not with the state.
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