I think she was trying to politely point out the hypocrisy of what Gina said back then and what she said in this thread. If Jty and her ex have to be solely responsible and have foresight for what kind of child they have then the same should apply to Gina and her brood when it comes to seeking/applying for food assistance. If you're going to claim purity in the independence dept. you really should practice it in real life. I myself have never applied for or gotten help from any government agency whatsoever{i've always went out and gotten a second job when things got tough} but i don't impune folks who do need it on one occasion or another as long as it's not abused. I think what is more disturbing in that thread is how some folks think Special Ed kids should be treated.
I didn't want to get on a special eds kick because I knew it would be an easy distraction, but Toasted is right, if we can't claim independent purity on lesser things like putting food on the table then we probably shouldn't speak to those in extraordinary circumstances who seek and need help whether it's via food stamps, public schools, etc. I can well prepare for knowing I'll need to feed a mouth I bore(although sometimes things do happen that make it difficult as I said before I don't begrudge seeking help), I can not well prepare for the fact that I will have a child with a serious disability. To suggest such when you need to seek help for providing basic needs for NORMAL children is not really an admirable position. It just isn't. And I hated to bring this up, but the double speak and double standard does get tiresome. And we as conservatives should ahve some little voice in us that makes us better at detecting our own deficiencies in these things. I guess I expect more from 'our side'.
As for the special needs issue, perhaps the problem here is some of you have never been around a REAL autistic person. My son qualifies as what one would think of as classically autistic ie very little except rote communication, difficultly carrying out daily tasks because his brain does not know how to apply something he's learned in a different circumstance, etc. He cannot do the things you or I would expect of a normal 11 year old boy and his 7 year old brother is quickly surpassing him on many things because of his deficiencies. I toyed with putting up some ipod videos I took of one of his fits not long ago, but in the interest of his privacy and my family's, I'm not going to do it here. If you are interested in learning more, others here have me on facebook and I'll put the videos up when I can get them moved from the ipod to the computer. I'll be happy to take more video in the interest of showing you his traits and behaviors. I'm all about educating really so if there is genuine interest in learning and growing, feel free to pm me.
I know that Toast as someone who works around these children AND who knows my son personally has tried to appeal to some here about how special needs kids are. I know he's probably made little progress. It's ok, I didn't understand these things before God blessed me with a child like this either, nor did I care too. Pardon my absence, real life and in the office quite a bit lately with retirements. I don't have time now to read further, but wanted to clarify quickly on a couple that I did.