Has having a child with SN changed your politics?

[donkeyderby]

I hate the Coalition but I am definitely more right-wing! I try to be tolerant but I find it hard to hear statistics such as those that reveal that youth offenders have much more spent on them than disabled children. And I get narked at lefties who throw themselves into predictable causes such as Palestine, Iraq and Amnesty International but look at our children as if they were shit on their shoes. My area is very middle-class and PC but people are appallingly embarrassed and fearful of disability.

Am I becoming a horrible right-wing reactionary?

I've always been right wing conservative with a softy Christian center

I believe that people should have the basics in life, that we should all have health care and access to education in whatever form is suitable, we should take care of the vulnerable be they the elderly and/or people with disabilities and/or special needs. And I believe in having a welfare system that can only be accessed for short periods of time and is given out according to need, not some archaic paltry formula.

But that's where my soft center ends. I don't believe in welfare and benefits as a lifestyle choice. Having DD with autism has not changed my political beliefs one bit...except to say that, for the most part, they are all full of sh*t and couldn't give a monkeys about our kids. Of that I am certain.

i couldnt give a damn, they all suck, you'd think a leader with a child with SN would understand better, but no joy there either

Always had the same political views.
Lisa problem is DC never had the money worries most parents of SN kids have.

Always had the same political views, just better at Fighting The Man now.

'statistics such as those that reveal that youth offenders have much more spent on them than disabled children'

Did it occur to you that many youth offenders are the disabled children of yesterday?

Or the kids of disabled adults who were failed as kids?

The thing is, when failed children grow up they are more distructive and noticable. The voter wants to know 'what is going to be done about them' and lives in fear of them.

When they are just ickle children who's only life they are making hard is their parents, no-one gives a shit!

And that's all the parties.

'Did it occur to you that many youth offenders are the disabled children of yesterday?'
starting afresh that's an excellent point

Actually it may please you all to know that raising awareness of this was a major outcome of the Bercow review. It's a really hot topic amongst the SALT profession now, the issue of how maNY YOUNG OFFENDERS FOR EXAMPLE have communication needs.

Therei s an excellent booklet being distributied on it
Here
Trouble is, an excellent booklet is one thing. Having peopel read it and act on it is another altogether.

If anything, having kids with SN has consilidated my left wing tendencies. I was more right when I was younger, but just living got rid of that. I saw and experienced the effects of enough "market forces" and "trickle down" to realise that it was total BS and did more to encourage a culture of greed, selfishness and entitlement than any fair benefits system could possibly achieve.

And agree with StartingAfresh. Watching cops with cameras and shows like that, I frequently think "oh my god, the way that kid is reacting to the police simply talking to him, that could easily be DS1 in a few years."

Yup, it changed my politics, not least because I'd always get a polite responsible answer re disability issues out of the leaders of one party, and a complete brush-off (to use an expression) from the other main party.

Yet to find a party that i can agree with. Left on some issues, right on the other, but i don't sit on the fence either!
A recent tragic case in our area of a lad convicted of murder, had an interesting comment from his parents. They had to go to court to get help needed for their DS. By the time this had gone through and they had won, he was too old to access it. The LA commented that they had been offered help but refused it.
I don't know the ins and out, and my sympathies lie also with the victims family, but i can understand this lads parents frustration. How many of us have refused what has been offered as it is not right for our DCs and taken action/tribunals etc to get what is right. How many years has it taken as well.
This lad is now serving many years at Her Majesty's. I hope he gets the proper help that was missing in his youth