The Gaytheist Agenda

That’s the simple yet critical lesson of this video . Please be warned that this piece contains some adult language and brief violence.

Yes, they stink for endless reasons, such as the way they’re anti-union, pay their employees sub-par wages , peddle cheesy Chinese goods,put whole towns out of business through sleazy business practices, etc. But that’s not the topic of this post; Debbie Shank is.

Debbie Shank breaks down in tears every time she’s told that her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, was killed in Iraq.

The 52-year-old mother of three attended her son’s funeral, but she continues to ask how he’s doing. When her family reminds her that he’s dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.

Shank suffered severe brain damage after a traffic accident nearly eight years ago that robbed her of much of her short-term memory and left her in a wheelchair and living in a nursing home.

It was the beginning of a series of battles — both personal and legal — that loomed for Shank and her family. One of their biggest was with Wal-Mart’s health plan.

Eight years ago, Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart’s health and benefits plan.

Two years after the accident, Shank and her husband, Jim, were awarded about $1 million in a lawsuit against the trucking company involved in the crash. After legal fees were paid, $417,000 was placed in a trust to pay for Debbie Shank’s long-term care.

Wal-Mart had paid out about $470,000 for Shank’s medical expenses and later sued for the same amount. However, the court ruled it can only recoup what is left in the family’s trust.

The Shanks didn’t notice in the fine print of Wal-Mart’s health plan policy that the company has the right to recoup medical expenses if an employee collects damages in a lawsuit.

The family’s attorney, Maurice Graham, said he informed Wal-Mart about the settlement and believed the Shanks would be allowed to keep the money.

“We assumed after three years, they [Wal-Mart] had made a decision to let Debbie Shank use this money for what it was intended to,” Graham said.

…..

In 2007, the retail giant reported net sales in the third quarter of $90 billion.

…..

The family’s situation is so dire that last year Jim Shank divorced Debbie, so she could receive more money from Medicaid.

Jim Shank, 54, is recovering from prostate cancer, works two jobs and struggles to pay the bills. He’s afraid he won’t be able to send their youngest son to college and pay for his and Debbie’s care.

“Who needs the money more? A disabled lady in a wheelchair with no future, whatsoever, or does Wal-Mart need $90 billion, plus $200,000?” he asked.

…..

Of course after all of the negative media publicity Wal-Mart changed its mind and decided it wouldn’t be such a good idea to exploit Deborah Shank to recoup their health insurance payout. The power of the press was on the victim’s side this time and Deborah Shank will be able to keep her small settlement (which is, from what I’ve read, barely over $400,000 after legal expenses and other fees).

 

I’ve discovered that in addition to being a sexist, racist pig, Howard Stern has been exploiting a developmentally disabled man on his show for many years now The man, Gary Loudermilk, has Down Syndrome, and is known as “Gary the Retard” to Stern and his listeners.

He is frequently antagonized by Artie Lange, who often merely has to say “RETARD!” to elicit an angry tirade from Gary. On August 12, 1998 he was scheduled to appear on the show but got lost at the airport. A listener who worked at the airport eventually found him and called the show. In 2003, Gary was a member of the show’s weekly football pool along with Daniel Carver, Gary Dell’Abate’s son Jackson, and a chicken named Sanders. Gary the Retard picked the Seattle Seahawks to win every week. They seem to be the only NFL team he knows. He works at Burgerville, USA and recently claimed to have a girlfriend who was just released from incarceration. It has been indicated that the woman has been taking advantage of his handicap to get money and access to the show.

Right, and the dirtbags on the show just keep right on doing what they do, and letting others do what they do because it hey, it keeps the ratings up. Who cares that a disabled man is being exploited by them and by their listeners with their assistance and consent. And why aren’t any people who live and work near Mr. Loudermilk advocating for him? Wouldn’t they want somebody to do so if it were them or someone in their family in his shoes?

 

Gary is also frequently tormented by The Retarded Flu. Early in 2005, staff member Sal “the Stockbroker” Governale, pulled a prank phone call on Gary, using an assumed name and informing him that a flu was in his phone line, coming to “get him” and that he would have to repeat the phrase “Shoo, shoo, retarded flu!” in order to keep it away. In doing this, the flu would be weakened. Gary was warned to be careful though - the flu could disguise his voice. Since then, the “retarded flu” prank has been pulled on Gary numerous times, including at live appearances, and he always falls for it, chanting “Shoo, shoo, retarded flu!”.

Stern, everybody associated with his show, and the listeners who enjoy what he peddles are sick, twisted freaks. Exploiting people with disabilities is disgusting and indefensible. That this has been allowed to go on for so long astounds me, though considering what I know of the history of disability rights it really shouldn’t…

Today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day. Autism is just one of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders that also includes Asperger’s Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Did you know that currently 65 out of every 10,000 children will be diagnosed with Autism in the US. That’s 1 out of every 154! This fact sheet from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke offers details such as common signs of Autism, diagnosis criteria and other helpful information.

Those who have followed TGA for any length of time know I worked with adults who had developmental disabilities, including Autism, for many years. I know the challenges faced and presented by individuals with this disorder, and the joy they bring to all of the lives they touch. That is why awareness and education are critical.

You can join the Virtual Walk for Autism by going here. Donations to your favorite local non-profit that provides supports for people with Autism would no doubt be greatly appreciated. For anybody who hasn’t noticed I’ve had the link to Atheists for Autism Research in my Orgroll for some time now. They’re yet another way to contribute to a worthy cause.

Now get out there, make yourself aware, get involved and contribute to the cause!

Addendum. A comment has arrived. Ebon said:

 

My youngest brother is autistic. Thank you for helping to publicise this event.

 

You’re quite welcome. As I mentioned, I spent many years working with adults with developmental disabilities so this is a topic that is near and dear to me.

That is the only way I would describe the type of people who would abuse a disabled person, particularly one they were supposed to be providing care for. After reading this story I don’t know whether to cry, vomit, scream or do all three at once.

ALTON, Ill. - Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.

Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where prosecutors say housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.

They torched what few clothes she had, authorities say, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.

Dixon — six months pregnant — died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.

“This is heartbreaking,” police Lt. David Hayes said. “It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison.”

Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.

Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom’s death.

“I’ve never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse,” Hayes said. “It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying.”

Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley’s 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley’s 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile.

…..

Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three-bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble.

“Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative,” said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley’s powerless minions.

“She was angry, vicious,” added Brandt.

Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley’s feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said.

“Being in their house was like being in a prison day room,” Hudson said. “They just sat around the kitchen table and fought.”

There was little question that Riley ruled the roost.

While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley “barking orders” at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back.

“She didn’t laugh about it at all,” Atkins said. “Obviously, I hit a nerve.”

Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself “but was always nice when she spoke to you.” He saw no hints she’d been suffering or tortured.

“I would have never, ever suspected something like this,” he said. “It’s definitely shocking.”

Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn’t say under what conditions. Hayes didn’t know who the father of Dixon’s fetus is.

Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn’t identify. The next day Woods found her dead.

Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body — her face, her chest, her arms and feet — and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.

None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby.

“The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down,” he said. “It was not capable of fending off any more.”

In the rental home’s basement, Atkins said, he found spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer.

“It’s disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was,” he said. “She didn’t deserve to die the way she did. It’s just terrible, senseless. It’s just a total shame.”

Having worked with adults who have developmental disabilities for many years I feel a special outrage when people like Dorothy Dixon are subjected to neglect or abuse, particularly at the hands of their so-called caregivers. There is no excuse whatsoever for such behavior. I hope the perpetrators, if found guilty, are made guests of the state for a long time. It’s the least they deserve.

Addendum: A comment has arrived. Marcus said:

Thank you for bringing further attention to this story. What this poor woman Dorothy Dixon endured should not be allowed to “fall through the cracks” as her young life did. She had no advocate, nobody checking up on her. It is so tragic that with her innocent heart she was preyed upon by monsters instead of having the luck to fall in with decent people who would have helped her and her son. These people even deprived her infant son of food. I can only hope that 1. this little boy goes on to recover from his lack of nutrition and care and goes on to live a happy life and has no memory of what he has been put through and 2. the people involved in hurting this poor lady over months and months get the harshest sentences permitted.

I agree. As I noted I worked with disabled individuals for many years and we had multiple regulatory agencies reviewing us continuously. Every scrape, bruise, illness and other issue experienced by our clients had to be reported by us and followed up on to the nth degree. How they let Dorothy’s “caregiver” go unmonitored to the extent that they did is unconscionable.

Considering how young Dorothy’s son is it’s likely he’ll not remember any of the negative incidents that he’s experienced if he is quickly put into a healthy, happy home. He may, however, suffer lingering effects of the malnutrition. Sadly that can have detrimental effects on the brain and body of an infant, particularly a newborn. Only time will tell how he’ll ultimately come through this.

A few days ago I posted a story from The Daily Mail about Ophelia Kirwan. The story in The Daily Mail claimed that Ophelia’s parents were considering cosmetic surgery for the toddler, who hasDown’s Syndrome, so that she might fit in better with her non-disabled peers. Being a staunch disability-rights advocate I came out very much against that idea.

I have been contacted by Mr. Laurence and Mrs. Chelsea Kirwan and they have stated that the story in the Daily Mail was entirely false and obtained under false pretenses. Here is their e-mail as follows.

I would recommend that you read Chelsea’s and my comments in response to the Mail
Article. Please see Ophelia’s web site Ophelia My Life So Far where the comments are posted. You can also read my interchange with the ‘Mail on Sunday’ writer, Bonnie Estridge prior to publication of the article. As a friend of mine with a Down syndrome child said, ‘the only thing you can believe in the Mail is the date!’ This article by Amanda Cable infers that she had an interview with the Kirwans prior to writing the March 10 piece. Neither I nor Chelsea has ever spoken to Amanda Cable. We never stated or implied the title. Ophelia is reported as living in Knightsbridge
whereas the Mail commissioned her photographs at her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. All of the interviews between Bonnie Estridge of the ‘Mail on Sunday’ and Chelsea were held by transatlantic telephone calls.

We have never recommended or even considered cosmetic surgery for Ophelia. We are far more interested in her health, as well as her physical and mental development. Of course we love Ophelia as she is.

The decision to have surgery on a child with congenital anomalies is a complex one taken between the parents and their surgeon. We should leave that decision to the individual family and their medical advisors to decide on its own merits. Reconstructive surgery for congenital anomalies of all kinds has improved the quality of life of millions of children. As a plastic surgeon I have spent my life correcting congenital deformities in the USA and in Third World countries, as part of charitable missions

Please take the time to read our comments on Ophelia’s web site as well as her diary which documents Ophelia’s progress over the last 2 years and our emotions during that period.

Lastly, Chelsea and I were assured that this was a mother daughter article for Mother’s Day without any mention of me or plastic surgery. If we had known otherwise we would never have been a party to this shameful article which is a disservice to all individuals with disabilities and to the Down syndrome community in particular. We have always championed research into Down syndrome and that is why in the original article of March 2, Bonnie Estridge gives the names of the charities we support. Neither charity has any interest in cosmetic surgery but is primarily concerned with developmental progress and quality of life issues.
Laurence and Chelsea Kirwan

Thank you for your letter, Mr. and Mrs. Kirwan. I’m pleased to discover that you love your daughter just as she is and wish you well in your dealings with The Daily Mail.

Why, you might ask? Because they believe it will help her “fit in better” with others if she looks more like her non-disabled peers.

Ophelia Kirwan is a beguiling toddler with wide eyes and a mop of blonde hair. At the age of two, she’s too young to know that she has Down’s syndrome, or to understand why this makes her different from other little girls.

…..

At the weekend, her parents - a world-renowned plastic surgeon and his surgically-enhanced wife - admitted they are considering altering their daughter’s appearance with surgery in the future to help her become more ‘accepted’ by society.

Laurence Kirwan insisted that he would make that decision if Ophelia - who is two this month - reached the age of 18 and was being unfairly judged on how she looked.

The procedure, he explained in the blunt words of a surgeon, would correct “eyes slightly wide apart, flat nasal bridge, thin lips, tongue that sticks out, thick neck”.

But would the decision to erase these tell-tale features of Down’s syndrome be made with their daughter’s happiness in mind? Or would it simply be an attempt to mould a child into a society which cares more about looks than vulnerable children?

Her mother Chelsea said: “It just isn’t right that Ophelia and others like her should be judged on how they look - particularly if they are turned down for a good job that they could handle.

“It’s a matter of self-esteem: if you’re not happy with yourself then why shouldn’t you fix something? All I want is for Ophelia to be happy.”

I get the impression from her words and from the picture that accompanies the story that Mom is much more hung up on appearance than many people are, and Ophelia will ever be. The fact that she herself has gone under the knife for vanity only reinforces my suspicions.

At least one other couple have already gone ahead with radical and painful cosmetic surgery to alter their daughter’s Down’s syndrome “appearance” to help her “fit in” with her peers.

By the time Georgia Bussey was five, her parents Kim and David, from Pimlico, South-West London, had put her through the ordeal of surgery three times.

In the first procedure at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, her tongue was reduced to stop it protruding. Then, folds of skin were removed from the inner corners of her eyes to take away the “slantiness” characteristic of Down’s syndrome. Finally, she had surgery to stop her ears sticking out.

The couple - who deliberated for a year before arranging for their daughter’s face to be surgically altered - claimed, like the Kirwans, that they were simply motivated by love for their child.

I don’t call subjecting a child to multiple painful and potentially deadly surgeries to take away the appearance of a disability “love”. The disability itself is still there, and erasing merely the outward features of it does nothing but feed into the notion that surface perfection is of utmost importance.

Kim insisted: “We live in a society that judges people by the way they look. Society is not going to change overnight - so Georgia has to fit into society, rather than society fitting into the way she is.

“The people who criticise us are usually people who don’t have Down’s children of their own. They don’t see the teasing that goes on and the problems Down’s children have. I just want to give Georgia a helping hand - an “edge” to get on in life.”

I worked with people who have developmental disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome, for over 20 years. We never did anything to try to hide or change their appearances, nor did we attempt to hide them away from the world. Instead we worked to change societies misperceptions and increase acceptance.

Moreover, there are many parents with Down’s children who are horrified at the idea of somehow airbrushing their children’s appearance, as though having the condition is something to be ashamed of.

Some claim that the procedures - on a child who could scarcely comprehend the pain they were suffering - were tantamount to child abuse.

Rosa Monckton, the wife of former newspaper editor Dominic Lawson and mother of 12-year-old Domenica, who has Down’s syndrome, agrees.

“What these children bring to our lives is something so deep and extraordinary, it is humanity stripped to the bone,” she says.

“It is not about how they look, but who they are. First and foremost, they are our children, children to be loved and cherished - not tampered with and altered because they look slightly different.

“It’s a sad indictment of what our must-have society has become - the expectation is for something perfect. Anything which isn’t aesthetically perfect - be it breasts, bodies or the faces of children just out of babyhood - must be fixed until it is. These are grotesquely skewed values.

“Our natural instinct as parents is to cherish and love our children. Not to gaze at the faces of toddlers and wonder what we might change surgically later on.

“The thought of allowing your own child’s face to be cut open in an attempt to make them more ‘acceptable’ to society is appalling. Perhaps these parents are struggling to come to terms with the shock - and it is a shock - of finding out that your child won’t be exactly as you expected.”

I couldn’t agree more. To complain that society expects perfection while you feed into that by cutting up your child is obscene. If it allowed the child function better–helped them walk or grasp objects better–it would be a different story. I can even understand correcting significant deformities, but normal features of Down’s Syndrome do not fall into that category.

Children and adults with disabilities have long fought perceptions that they’re imperfect and demands that they change to please others. The inability of some parents to accept their children’s disability has led to abuse and even murder. Will parents who can’t even tolerate their child’s appearance of disability be able to tolerate the other manifestations of the child’s disability?

I truly feel for Ophelia, should she be forced to endure this nonsense, and for the others like her.