BellaOnline Forums Family Special Needs Children Sarah Palin and Down Syndrome Awareness

�These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will,� Palin said...

... Palin will be accompanied by her husband, Todd Palin, and the couple's baby son, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome. On Friday morning, she also will attend a private breakfast event hosted by SMILE on Down Syndrome, a local group that provides resources and support for people with Down syndrome and their families. Citing security concerns and Palin's desire not to politicize the event, SMILE on Down Syndrome has declined to announce the breakfast event's location. ...

Saying she remains an advocate for people with developmental disabilities, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared at two disability-related events in New York over the weekend. The appearances were seen as possible first steps toward a Palin campaign in 2012.

Resigning Palin cites �mean-spirited� attacks on son with DS
July 3rd, 2009 Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly announced today that she is stepping down as governor, fueling speculation that she is preparing a 2012 presidential run.
In a hastily arranged press conference near her home in Wasilla, Palin said she would step down on July 26. ...

From Patricia E. Bauer's Disability News site: Palin appears at NY disability events; Start of next campaign? - June 8th, 2009

July 4th, 2009 - Jawanda Mast Says:
Appalled doesn�t even begin to describe my reaction to Nelson�s remarks . This isn�t about Sarah Palin. This continues to illustrate the much deeper ignorance and insensitivity of the general population toward individuals with cognitive disabilities. Ironic that as we celebrate our freedoms, individuals with disabilities still are not part of the �we the people�. May God have mercy on all of us, starting with Mr. Nelson

There was a sweet picture of Trig Palin at a July 4th parade, in a double stroller with his sister's baby, in follow up stories about Gov. Palin resigning.
From Patricia E. Bauer's Disability News site:

Wall Street Journal - Writer: Palin reacting to �indecent� treatment of Trig, Bristol July 7th, 2009
James Taranto writes in the Wall Street Journal that Sarah Palin�s resignation was prompted in part by her anger at �such indecent treatment of her children.� An excerpt:
For whatever reason, Palin-haters have been unusually uninhibited in their cruel mockery of the governor�s children, particularly Bristol and Trig. ...
... Last September the Onion published a fake op-ed attributed to Palin ...
... A post about Sarah Palin�s resignation speech, focusing on her comment that the world needs �more Trigs,� was posted and removed from the Daily Kos website on July 5, 2009 (by �Kwaidan�). The title: Just don�t accuse me of �going full retard�. ...

I was so impressed by this reaction to the Erik Sean Nelson article that appeared briefly on the Huffington Post webpage:

Opinion: Palin squandered opportunity to help
Patricia E Bauer - Disability News July 7th, 2009
Harold Pollack, writing in The New Republic�s The Treatment blog, says Sarah Palin�s decision to quit has let down some important constituents: people with cognitive and developmental disabilities and their families.
An excerpt: "Governors have a huge opportunity to improve and shape programs, and to protect the most important efforts in a time of retrenchment. ..."

From Patricia E Bauer's Disability News website:
Opinions: Were Palin�s children ridiculed?
July 9th, 2009
When Gov. Sarah Palin announced her intention to resign, among the reasons she cited was her family�s concern that her 14-month-old son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, had been �mocked and ridiculed by some pretty mean spirited adults.�
Was this an accurate account of what took place? Commentators offer their opinions.
YES. Heather Robinson in the Huffington Post
... Personally, the whole matter has left me feeling a little like I did at the end of seventh grade, after a year spent passively watching bullies ostracize and pick on one of the only black girls in the school: sick, and embarrassed for all of us.
Whatever your passionate opinions, whatever your disagreements with her views, this woman and her family were savaged in a manner that went beyond any reasonable standard. She is a public figure, but her husband and children are not. That did not stop certain members of the media and blogosphere from ridiculing them in vicious fashion, even long after the election was decided. President Obama, to his credit, spoke out against it ...
... Then there is the matter of how the media treated Mrs. Palin's family, especially her children. How sad that normal people may no longer wish to run for or hold public office due to this horrific sort of exposure, including abuse of their children. ...
... am I alone in feeling that ridicule of a disabled infant ... represent(s) a new low? How intensely cruel and hypocritical this behavior was, often coming from "feminists" and "progressives" who probably don't realize how many conservatives they are helping to create, as anyone with a moral compass is likely to figure that, if that's how liberals argue, maybe they'll consider conservative ideas, thanks. ...

NO: Sally Quinn in the Washington Post/Newsweek On Faith blog
... I don�t believe it for a second ...

YES. John Fund in the Wall Street Journal

Everyone in the family was weary of endless personal attacks, including mean-spirited suggestions on liberal blogs that all of her children should have been aborted and that she would run on a presidential platform promoting retardation.

YES, BUT: Katherine Mangu-Ward, Los Angeles Times

... her constant complaints about unfair attacks made her look, at best, like a whiny girl.

YES: Ben Voth in the American Thinker