Torchwood really got me down

[lou031205]

I know it is fiction, but I wanted to cry when they were discussing 'selection', wondering if DD1 would be considered expendable

As the mother of an SN child this never crossed my mind.

it a TV show, nothing more nothing less

KIMI - TV shows reflect prevailing cultural thought. TV shows are driven by ratings, ratings are influenced by public opinion.

Do you see many threads about the selection criteria seen in Torchwood on MN? No. How many would you see if it had been "select the non-white children" or "select the girls"? Outrage!

Almost by definition children with SN find it difficult to access the education system, and even those who are exceptionally bright may underachieve because of other barriers. Statistically, they would be more likely to feature in the bottom 10%.

TV shows are never just TV shows.

What got me down was the knowledge that if such kind of thing ever happened - the government would do exactly that.

me too Hecate

the Harriet Harman-type woman who suggested it was way too convincing a character

horrible sad thought

me too Hecate

the Harriet Harman-type woman who suggested it was way too convincing a character

horrible sad thought

If aliens ever landed and wanted to get high on children I would know I had been drinking too much

yup. In reality, we're all expendable to them as individuals and small groups. What matters to them is keeping power and control. So it's screw us all and spin spin spin.

Well of course that is highly unlikely! But it's not the situation itself, it is the knowledge that the attitude displayed in that piece of fiction is the attitude they have in real life - we are expendable.

Hecate, exactly

SWC are you being pursued by morons or mormons?

plenty of morons about.

KIMI it wasn't about aliens - it was about the prevailing view of society, as represented by government officials, that our children are less important and more expendable than high achieving children.

OH I thought it was make believe about aliens

Social Commentary, RTD's speciality

And even if it ahd been tis still very valid to discuss ensuing issues, no?

Anyway.... wasn't the aliens demanding the bottom ten per cent schools was it? Nope that was the humans, the aliens weren't discriminatory, just junkies

Sadly some people will always see a throw away society in all kinds of places.
If it had been adults then it would have been empty the prisons, go get the people on benefits, the gays, women, Muslims and on and on and on.

I think what ever demographic they had chosen there would have been problems.

I did not think oh no they would take DS1 who is SN

Some of us did though Kimi, and its valid to talk through those feelings

I felt absolutely tehy'd take mine- they do after all cost a lot in school places, DLA, statements etc

I know we are a PITA in those ways to the Government.

DS1 has a statement, I have never really bothered to think how much it cost the school and so on, I pay my Taxes for this.

I did get very upset in the war museum at the holocaust exhibit, as DS1 would have been strapped to those tables and experimented on

I think i'm probably in the worst palce for this as well which doesn't help. We had ds3's letter of dx finally, 6 months after it was posted (don't ask) and instead of saying Diagnoses: autism in the manner of ds1's, it says:

Problem: autism

I know its silly but it feels like he was been diagnosed as a problem IYSWIM.

Chuck in a few letters from the local geneticists, 3 X IEP meetings over the last week or so and a mini regression in ds4 (though thankfully he has caught up again as it turned out illness based) i'm noyt the strongest atm in all truth.

peachy.

DS1 is in the autism spectrum, its not a problem it is part of who he is

I felt sick when watching Torchwood. DD has SEN, and I have been told that she is in the bottom 2% for educational attainment, so she would have been packed off to go!

I know it is only a TV programme, but still very disturbing. Having a SN child makes you feel excluded and different from all the other parents at the school gate, guess even watching TV is also a different experience.

Why complain?
It was portrayed as an abominable decision by the soulless political elite.
The goodies opposed it.
Perhaps it has made a few people, not connected to the 'lower-achieving schools' or sn, think about uncomfortable possibilities and how they'd deal with it.
Well done Russell I say.

Mine has cost the Council / Govt approaching 1/2 Million so far in special residential educational placement, benefits etc.

It serves them right for failing to dx his condition earlier - a few extra quid spent following a correct dx and they could have saved themselves a fortune.

As he now has a recurve bow and an air rifle he would no go quitely either

To think we've wasted all this time trying to socialise them. Good job it's a veneer that rubs off under stress eh!
Mine has a bow too, and has to be restrained from going feral on woodland excursions.

I'm not complaining about the plot. Just saying that as a parent of a child with SEN, it made me feel uncomfortable.

Totally agree that the politicians where portrayed as a soulless political elite; in fact, the monsters were the politicians, not the creature in the tank.