[blparent] an update (kids & meds)

[Jo Elizabeth Pinto]

It's really awful.  Once your kid gets the label in the neighborhood as a 
bad egg--even if some of it is deserved, which I won't deny--then he gets 
blamed for everything.  My stepson has been blamed for graffiti that we know 
he didn't write because he was with his mom in another city when it 
appeared, and eggings we know he didn't do because we weren't missing any 
eggs, and where else would he have gotten them from?  Some of the parents 
won't let their kids hang out with my stepson, some of the other kids have 
bullied him, and now, some of the younger parents won't even let their kids 
play with Sarah, even though my stepson is only in our house part-time.  It 
started out as some parents not letting their kids come over to our house, 
but asking Sarah to play in their homes instead.  Then the judgment took on 
a life of its own, with some parents not letting their little ones associate 
with my daughter at all, and now, because of parental attitudes, some of the 
kids run when they see us walking down the sidewalk.  But nobody will come 
out to my face and say anything directly.  I've just heard it through the 
grapevine that some of the parents are worried about their kids because they 
fear that ADHD has been linked to inappropriate interactions between the 
sexes, which is completely unfounded as far as I can research.  My stepson 
did commit several acts of minor vandalism, and I'm not saying that's okay, 
but he didn't (and wouldn't) act inappropriately toward little girls.  I 
still trust him with my daughter because being with her seems to bring out 
his best, most responsible side.  But like I said, once parents find out 
there's a disorder, then your kid becomes public enemy number one.

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of 
the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of 
these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Sheila Leigland" <sleigland at bresnan.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 7:35 AM
To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] an update (kids & meds)

> Hi jo Elizabeth well said. A friend of ours that has since moved away had 
> a child on adhd meds. She felt like she was always under a microscope. She 
> wasn't blind either. She felt judged for everything that she tried. One 
> sunday i mentioned my concern about our little one sitting close to him in 
> church. She thought that I DIDN'T WANT OUR CHILDREN TO BE TOGETHER BECAUSE 
> OF HER CHILD'S ADHD.
> THAT WASN'T THE CASE. I JUST DIDN'T WANT HER SON IN TROUBLE BECAUSE OF 
> MINE Mark loved to play and so did her son. That was when she told me 
> about how hard it was for her to feel so judged.
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/jopinto%40msn.com
>