A Note from a Republican Mom

I got this nice note from Barbara, the lead blogger and creator of RepublicansforObama.org:

"Thank you so much for putting this blog together. My son is profoundly handicapped, missing a chromosome. He's 7 years old, non-verbal, non-ambulatory, and with a seizure disorder. He functions at about a 9-month-old level.

"My friends (having perfectly normal, healthy kids) have been angry with me over the way I've discussed Ms. Palin and her son. They think it's totally inappropriate for me to wonder if her son is being used by the McCain campaign for political gain. But the truth of the matter is, with Trig being only 4 months old, Palin still doesn't know what it's really like to be a 'special' parent. She's never had to negotiate early intervention plans (EIPs) or independent education plans (IEPs). She still hasn't taken her kid to Wal-Mart and watched all the kids stare and the parents avoid eye contact. She's never had to fight to procure services that are denied. She's never seen first-hand how many programs have been hurt by the shift of our budget priorities toward national security.

"I have to say that I'm happy that we have disability in the national dialogue for once. But on the other hand, I think it's silly to automatically assume that a McCain-Palin administration would advocate for special needs, or, frankly, that either one of them even knows what that means. The truth is that the Republican Party's record in this arena is just awful.

"So I'm just really appreciative that there's someone else out there like me that's not afraid to tell the truth, even if all the other special-needs parents are frustrated or even horrified that we'd be willing to criticize the politics of one of our own."

Thanks, Barbara!