To think a lot of MN are ableist?

Absolutely.

2 more which were aimed towards me/my disabled child:

Horror at the thought my incontinent child is allowed to attend mainstream primary school because it's ''disgusting'' and he clearly belongs in special school.

When I explained that even if I wanted my son to go to specialist provision, he has very little chance, no places and his needs aren't high enough etc I was told that I should go to the school every time he needs to be changed and change him myself.

and one just a few days ago who told me that if she had a disabled child and couldn't work, she'd just move to a basic house in a cheap area so she wouldn't need to claim UC. Of course, that is one of the few threads that actually got deleted due to the comments and I never got to ask her how that would work if her imaginary disabled child was a wheelchair user like my son.

Swap disabled for anything else, and it would be swiftly deleted. I wont even name examples as it would probably be deleted and against talk guidelines.

I know!!!!!

It’s really shocking. The moderators are dreadful and do nothing. You’re lucky you got a reply, I just get “we'll look into it.” I don’t think half of them actually know what ableism is or maybe they do but just don’t care.

It is depressing and relentless and the MN mods just do not care. I and others reported the thread advocating for the forcable removal of disabled children and adults from their homes and families and subsequent incarceration in large state run institutions thread you mentioned above. I was told it was merely an unusual suggestion, rather than a horrifying one and that posters could challenge the OP if they wanted. The thread remains undeleted.
I also recently reported a poster who said that disabled children were of lesser value and should be terminated or killed at birth to save the country money. Apparently these comments were just fine by the MN authorities too.
It is obvious that MN is just fine with even the most extreme hate speech aimed at disabled people, even children.

MN has been an absolute cesspit for shitty comments and ableism surrounding disabled people recently.
Many such comments would be deleted if they were made about any other sector of society, but the disabled are fair game and the powers that be leave the comments up so they can be challenged (so they say), regardless of the distress they cause people.
Some I have seen in the past few months (sorry if they upset anyone, but these have been actual comments on here) -

• a suggestion that mobility scooter users should be forced to engage in weekly walks (yes, be removed from their scooters) in the local park to "build up their fitness so they can get a job"
• disabled children be removed from their parents and placed into institutions residential care. That was a whole thread
• cars on the Motability scheme all have to be white with a logo on so the public can see they are Motability vehicles
• that the benefits for disability should be just about enough to survive on. Apparently buying steak is not allowed. If "they can afford steak, they are getting paid too much"
• any autistic poster who admits they don't work gets piled on with loads of questions and assumptions. Lots of "if you can post on MN you can get a job"
• any parent who is on PIP has either their parenting abilities questioned, or their eligibility for PIP questioned. Oh, and one I saw recently was wondering how someone can claim PIP and also manage dating and relationships
• someone asked why the anorexic DD of a poster would need benefits as "they have no food costs"
• autistic adults being told they should stay at home if they have meltdowns in public. Also being told they they should have grown out of meltdowns.
• that unless healthcare/therapy means someone can join the workforce, it is pointless and a waste of money

There are loads more but the above have stood out, and a couple are from the same MNetter.

Act you’re probably right, although she has been pushing the idea pretty strongly for someone who is being satirical. I’m not impressed with her derailing of a serious thread either way.

Don't worry, I fell for it too and was actually trying to reason with them before I realised they were doing a comedy bit.
It's been very amusing but I hope this poster will retire their character now as they're in danger of derailing a serious thread about ableism on MN and in wider society. I'm hoping there is a comedy section on MN that they can post on as it would be a shame for their skills in parodying appalling and completely idiotic bigots to be wasted.

Sorry, feel as if I fell into the poster’s trap here, responding as if they were serious and thus potentially making them look more ‘credible’. Apologies.

Don't worry, I think this poster is being satirical so the gaps in their silly suggestions are meant to demonstrate how incredibly stupid and poorly considered such proposals are.
I sincerely hope I'm right, if this poster is for real then I am very scared indeed!

Lots of people already have private health insurance in this country. What do you think BUPA and the like are for. The only thing you can't go private for nowadays is A&E. Surely not much of a leap to see how they could privatise that too.

Well I’m no NHS fangirl, but this is just not correct. Huge swathes of the country (poor areas) have no private facilities. There is no private maternity unit outside London and no private paediatrics in most of the country. One of the - many - problems with the current NHS system is that we don’t have anywhere near the amount of private facilities to properly run the kind of self-pay system we appear to be hurtling towards, nor have we regulated the health insurance market properly (or at all, really).

I would happily have used private general paediatrics to speed up DS’ diagnosis, but other than ASD/ADHD assessment, SALT and OT, there was nothing available clinically, certainly no paediatric consultant, and this is in a “naice” bit of the NW. As it was, I spent £30k of net income - which we could easily afford, but it did lead me down a “why am I paying so much tax for this shite excuse for children’s healthcare?” rabbit hole.

And how does she propose that law and order is maintained without taxation? The police, justice system and prisons are all funded via taxable. Is the suggestion that there will be no crime if people don’t have to pay any tax?

The government itself is funded through taxation. How would this work without any public funding?

Don't worry, I understand and I admire your commitment to maintaining the grotesquely comic character you have created here.
Pretending to believe that taxation is some bizarre and ridiculous economic experiment that the UK has only adopted in the last few years rather than a concept which has under-pinned the vast majority of world economies for centuries is a very amusing touch, well done!
My only criticism is of the post in which you suggest putting down disabled children, as though they were animals. I assume this was a clever reference to Swift's masterful 18th century satire 'A Modest Proposal', but I wonder if it does cross the line into poor taste a little.

i'd love to know what ANY of this ridiculous, pie in the sky conversation has to do with Ablism on MN.

Talk about a thread hijack.

In America, yes the - hugely inefficient and expensive- healthcare system
is insurance funded, with some getting access to the best of everything and many getting access to little or nothing despite paying expensive premiums. I have not noticed the number of children born to poorer families being dramatically reduced as a result? Nor have I seen any suggestion that the model is planned to extend into other ares of rubbish collection, education, school transport etc etc.

Thanks to everyone who has posted. I understand people fearing a new system but whether we like it or not the UK is broke. How long do you really think we can keep borrowing each month to pay our bills.
How long before we are downgraded again. How long before our bond interest is so high that it takes up all the income just to pay this.
What do people think is going to happen.

Rich are leaving. (thus the exit tax planned for the budget). A huge number are not working or retired. A huge amount of those working are getting benefits as well. The debt of the UK is getting bigger each month. We have nothing left to sell. Everything is already owned by China.

The budget is the latest it has ever been. Of course changes are afoot. If they don't change things they will be forced into it which will be worse.

The thing is, I do not exist in isolation.

I need others to eg grow my food; wire my house; run the sewage plant and give me clean water; make tyres for my car; teach my children; nurse my elderly parents etc etc etc.

So I need others to be educated, to be trained, to be socialised, to be housed, to be kept well, in order to fulfil all the jigsaw pieces of my life that I cannot do for myself.

If I refuse to pay taxes for schools, how can I expect an educated workforce to be available? If I don’t want my streets to be populated by the homeless, sick, dead and dying, I need there to be healthcare for all. If I want children not to be abused or starved or assaulted, I need there to be police, social care and funding for the poorest families.

It is ludicrous to assume that, if you withdraw payment for anything other than your direct personal benefit, everything will carry on as before, providing everything you want and maintaining a civilised society.

ADHD meds are among the most thoroughly studied medications in psychiatry. Stimulants have been used since the 1950s and have decades of safety data. The vast majority of children tolerate them well, and for many, they prevent future issues like school failure, depression, substance use, and low self-esteem.

Side effects do exist like with anything but claims that they are causing widespread psychosis or cardiovascular collapse simply aren’t supported by actual data. The studies you’re referring to show correlations in small subsets of people with pre-existing vulnerabilities.

Interesting. Although I don't think I have too. I think i can just sit back and watch what happens in the UK when they can't keep borrowing anymore and all the wealthy have left.
Appreciate you posting though.

Wow. It’s pretty easy to guess which posters have no experience of disability. I need to stop reading these threads because I worry enough as it is about my disabled DS.

I didn't mean to focus on the insurance it's just people kept asking about how it would work.

I'm pretty sure it works exactly like this in America or very close to it.

Our NHS is already being privatised whether you like it or not. Do you think it's an accident that GP appointments are so difficult to get but private GP's are springing up everywhere. Do you think it's an accident that ambulances take so long to come and A&E is the mess it is. Do you think it's an accident that waiting lists are so long. Of course not they know people that can pay will go private and the people that can't ......well I guessing if the goverment was honest with you they would say they don't really care about the people that can't.

Lots of people already have private health insurance in this country. What do you think BUPA and the like are for. The only thing you can't go private for nowadays is A&E. Surely not much of a leap to see how they could privatise that too.

The goverment does not have the balls to say we are scrapping the NHS. So instead they are making the service so bad and unusable that people will naturally go private until the nhs quietely disappears.

You don't think poverty exists in countries without benefits or social housing? Of course it does, children just go hungry and are homeless.

It's never that simple though, is it? Or I wouldn't have American parents of children with cancer in my group who do have insurance in tears frantically worrying over what insurance will cover, co-pays etc.

I didn't decide for my child to get cancer or to be disabled as a result of it which means that I can't work. In your world my child probably wouldn't even be able to go to school as he needs 2:1 support which I'd never be able to afford myself because I can't work.

I also grew up in poverty in a chaotic household and was consequently disruptive in school but thanks to one teacher taking an interest in me and keeping me behind to help me with homework my behaviors changed without the need for any medication - thankfully, there was no mention of ADHD at that time, certainly not in working-class areas.

My young relative grew up in a much smaller but equally chaotic household again without the benefit of routines and structure. However, she has been caught up in the ADHD fad promoted by big Pharma to increase their bottom line and I am calling out that it did not work in her favor, on the contrary.

Drugs like Ritalin etc are not miracle drugs - studies are starting to emerge that link long-term Ritalin use to cardiovascular issues and psychiatric problems such as anxiety and psychosis.

Other common medications taken on an habitual basis for decades (such as antihistamines) are now being linked to dementia, so how anyone can be complacent about giving mind-altering drugs to children whose brains are still developing until they reach the age of 25, is beyond me, particularly when you know that just 4.5% of American children were diagnosed with ADHD in 1969 and this rose to 11% in 2022 and is still rising...

Are we really saying that 1 in 10 children has ADHD and needs medication or is something else going on?

I'm being completely serious. Not sure why you think otherwise.

Why is the plan to do that more weird than handing over part of your wages to a stranger you have never met. Do you go into a coffee shop and say oh hi there stranger I don't know you but I've just been paid so let me pay for your coffee. I don't know you or care about you. I doubt I will ever see you again but I desperately want to give you some of my money.

No of course not. You pay for your own and they pay for their own.

Nothing about what I said is a 'plan'. I suggested something which should never need suggested because it's so logical. A suggestion isn't a plan. It would obviously have to be thought out and implemented. Could it be any worse than what we have just now with the UK going into more and more debt each month and papers reporting IMF bailouts. I mean to me that is a mad way to run a country.