A news story about the Naugler family of Kentucky has been going viral this week. Headlines from sites like infowars.com and Off the Grid News state that CPS “seized” the family’s ten children simply because they live off the grid on several acres of Kentucky land and homeschool, and are therefore being unfairly persecuted for their lifestyle by local government authorities who are in disagreement with the family’s values. It is not my inclination in writing about this story to make anyone feel stupid, or to say that CPS is completely right, but rather I am irritated at the sensationalistic angle being taken on the internet that is perpetuating the viral nature of a story in which there are many components that the average reader is unfamiliar with, but those who study the Christian Patriarchy movement know all too well. Also, what is the place of disability in this story?
Off the Grid News writes: “An off-grid homeschool family of 12 in rural Kentucky was raided, the mother arrested, and the 10 children seized simply because the government disagrees with their lifestyle and their educational choices, family members and friends say.”
It is not surprising that adult friends of the family and the Naugler parents themselves are taking this protective angle and making the issue seem like unfair lifestyle persecution, therefore turning the outrage squarely on authorities and distracting from the realities of this case. It has been extremely effective, hence the viral nature of this story, and certainly appeals to American ideals of freedom from unwanted government interference and regulation. The heart-wrenching image of an innocent pregnant mother trying to keep her children from being taken away by cops is also shocking and compelling.
The Naugler family also has been asking the public for money in order to fight CPS. So there is more than an angle for sympathy here, the parents do have a financial agenda in presenting the story this way. As for the “news” sites, interviewing adult friends of the family who are likely of the same ideology and have a motive to protect the Nauglers is not unbiased reporting, and portrays an ideological and financial agenda on the part of both the websites and those interviewed for this story.
The ones who are unable to speak in this case are the children. It is important to remember that.
This paragraph has been repeated on several sites:
“The family may be off grid, but they aren’t anonymous. In fact, they have Internet, as well as a Facebook page dating back to 2012 where they frequently post pictures and videos of their children, animals and their off-grid life. A May 5 post showed a video of a toddler, Mosiah, learning to walk. An April 24 post showed a happy family, gathering around a campfire, roasting marshmallows.”
The picture used in articles decrying any possibility of abuse or neglect.
How sweet, Mosiah was learning to walk, and everyone was toasting marshmallows. The video of Mosiah walking can be viewed on the Facebook page. This doesn’t provide evidence of a non abusive family. Anyone can carefully select a photo from a happy event and post it online. This photo does not indicate abuse one way or the other, but it is being used by biased websites and Naugler family supporters as evidence of no wrongdoing.
Another pro-Naugler image that for some clearly indicates no abuse or neglect.
There is a social media presence, yes, but this does not mean that the parents are being completely free and open about everything, or that the images are not controlled and selected to perpetuate an ideological agenda. People tend to think that child abuse always happens behind closed doors and that an abusive family would never have children that look happy in any circumstances, nor would they have a public Facebook page. Abuse is much more complex and subtle. Many abusive families have public blogs, write books and have Facebook pages full of smiling children, particularly in the Christian Patriarchy movement, which the Naugler family is a part of. It doesn’t mean either way that they are abusive or not, but public interface can be an aspect of promoting Christian Patriarchal Homeschooling and controlling public opinion of what can amount to a pretty oppressive lifestyle and set of beliefs.
So what about these photos?
The cabin, although I would refer to this as a shack or a shanty.
This is the family’s homestead, referred to by them as a cabin. It is up to reader to make their own inferences from these photos, which are not being widely publicized on sites like infowars.com or Off the Grid Living. These images can be found on the family’s Facebook page. Those who know about Kentucky can attest that this type of off the grid lifestyle is not uncommon there. It is also not the reason that the children were taken, nor is the fact that they are homeschooled. As noted on the site Homeschoolers Anonymous, homeschooling is legal in Kentucky and many people flock there due to the extremely lax homeschooling regulations. Also included in the recent article linked on that website titled “Here Are Seven Surprising Things You Need to Know About Joe And Nicole Naugler” are testimonials from community members who also unschool and who know the family personally, and state that the parents are troubled. Mr. Naugler is described as violent and “scary”, and so is Mrs. Naugler by a few people who claim to actually know them.
The original CPS complaint, posted on Facebook by Nicole Naugler herself, states that piles of garbage, broken glass and nails litter the property; remember little Mosiah learning to walk? In the video he is barefoot and walking on a dirt floor. Threats of violence had allegedly been made to neighbors by Mr. Naugler, a pond without any type of barrier around it was another issue, no septic or running water and a complaint was made that Mrs. Naugler was giving birth unassisted in a tent. These issues led CPS to conclude that the children were unsafe on this property. It was not because the parents homeschooled.
The outside of the cabin, which is not fully enclosed.
What is the Christian Patriarchy movement?
You may have heard of the popular TLC television show, “Nineteen Kids and Counting”. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are Christian fundamentalists who follow the large family, no birth control, strict gender binary, homeschooling patriarchal culture of Quiverfull, although they do not use the Quiverfull label. Many of these families don’t, because it has negative connotations due to yes, the abuse that is almost a naturally occurring and inherent part of this system, depending on the family. A good place to start to learn more about it is the site No Longer Quivering. Like many people, I enjoy watching the Duggars on TV and I am not making statements that they or the Nauglers are abusive to their children. However, part of the ideology that these families follow can involve practices that could be considered abusive or oppressive.
Briefly, Quiverfull and Christian Patriarchy are ideologies that can be applied to almost any religion, but primarily is followed in Protestant Christian Fundamentalism. In the United States, it is an ideology that exalts the Puritan New England model of large families headed by a Patriarch who is next in line to God as the ultimate authority. The roles of men and women are rigid and strictly defined within this model: women are often completely submissive, sexually and otherwise, to their husbands, and birth control or in some cases, even natural family planning, is considered an affront to God, so families of ten, fifteen or even twenty children result.
The Naugler children.
Daughters are expected from a very young age to care for and help raise their many siblings. For women and girls, standards of femininity are enforced which includes what is referred to as “modest” dressing, long hair and patriarchal control by the father and church over things like dating, going to college or having a job. Women in this model often do not work unless it is at home in a family business, they do not debate theology like their husbands do as church leaders, they are supposed to take care of the home, have babies and provide educational instruction. Debt or relying on government assistance is considered sinful, and modern medicine is often eschewed. Christian Patriarchy is a spectrum, like many things, and people fall anywhere along it.
Modest Christian dress the more strict end of the spectrum.
The Naugler family, wherever they fall upon the Quiverfull spectrum, are a part of this movement. Built into it is corporal punishment, something that is not discussed very much at all on any internet forums or television shows due to the bad publicity received by Quiverfull families who have had children die. The teachings are straight out of the Puritan Era and are the same ones used by Protestants in the 17th through early 19th centuries. Professor Phillip Greven of Rutgers University writes extensively about the historic tradition in his book. Switching and beating children and infants as part of child “training” and instilling obedience is used by modern Quiverfull/Christian Patriarchal families who look to Michael and Debi Pearl’s book, “To Train Up a Child”. Due to several abuse-related deaths which occurred in large homeschool families who used the book as a manual, Christian Patriarchy members do not advertise this “spare the rod” philosophy, but research reveals that Michael and Debi Pearl are very popular and considered influential in this movement. They run No Greater Joy Ministries, based in Tennessee, and have a slew of books, products, YouTube videos and blog posts found at their website, Nogreaterjoy.org.
The question I often have when viewing these types of lifestyles is what happens when there is a disabled child or presence of something like a learning disability in a family member? While an adult might have a right to live in what amounts to a three room cabin off the grid and allow children to be unschooled and “free range”, is it really possible to accommodate disability in this environment? In a family of ten, there is a likelihood that a child may have a learning disability or some other type of disability, and within the Quiverfull movement, there are many disabled children, as there are in any other part of society. In the case of the Jeub family, another Quiverfull/Christian Patriarchal homeschooling family, daughter Cynthia attests that at least two of her fifteen siblings was learning disabled, but her parents did nothing about it. And how could they? With that many kids, no one had the time or the resources. Taking that time and extra attention was simply not feasible, and seeking help from outside sources or government assistance for things like hearing aids or a wheelchair runs counter to the ideology. A wheelchair can cost five thousand dollars. A child who needs a wheelchair or assistive devices is not going to appear to be falling over on the ground. Sometimes you cannot tell by a photograph if someone is disabled. They are just straining very hard to get by. I would like the question of disability to be raised when people read stories about these families, because disability is a common occurrence.
Also, how much of the “free range” thing is actual ideology, and how much of it is just easier than trying to supervise ten children in these conditions? As someone with psychiatric disability and sensory-neural hearing loss, this type of upbringing would not have fostered my intellectual development or health. Another aspect of this lifestyle is that often there is no health insurance, no government benefits taken (as mentioned) and few trips to doctors or specialists, as stated on the Naugler family blog, Blessed Little Homestead, by Mrs. Naugler in a post titled, “No Doctors, No Drugs, Lots of Critics”. The rhetoric she uses makes it seem like modern medicine is pretty unnecessary and she can teach herself almost everything she needs to know. Again, this type of rugged individualism can be respected and admired in the United States, but what are the consequences for disabled children within this mindset, and even for the non disabled children?
Living in conditions where one is consistently exposed to the weather or living in a tent on the ground is another issue that might severally constrain and hurt a child with a disability. So while the Naugler’s life is portrayed in the viral posts as being bucolic, one has to ask, whom is it really ideal for? And yes, their blog looks really sweet. So what? So does the Jeub’s, so does the Pearl’s, so do most of the blogs that come from this movement.
Read more about the theoretical concept of Crip Time and the Christian Patriarchy in my essay here, if you are interested. Crip Time is the time that disabled people need in order to learn, thrive, get ready, or do a number of other things. Within these type of highly structured or in the case of the Nauglers, completely unstructured environments, disabled people can have a hard time adjusting to a concept of time designed by one who is able-bodied.
Read Cynthia Jeub’s blog Insights on Epic Living to hear a rare perspective of a child who was raised in this type of family. Yes, the Jeubs have an internet presence, they are friends with the Duggars, they were on TV, they write books and everyone looks happy in the photos. However, the corporal punishment inflicted on the children was right out of “To Train Up a Child”, and Michael and Debi Pearl were close friends of the family. Erika Shupe, a Quiverfull mom who writes “Large Families on Purpose” also cites the Pearls as influences on her blog. The lists go on and on. Before sending money to the Naugler family or decrying their so-called persecution at the hands of government, it is good to really examine the reporting of this story and also to examine the reality of their lifestyle.
petroleuses 
You are the one with the agenda. If you are so concerned about children, then why don’t you devote your time to all the homeless families that are living on the streets and in cars. Hypocrite.
Oh, I had forgotten that it was only possible to care about one thing at a time. But clearly you are right, and if this person blogs about child abuse they cannot possibly also care about or do anything about homelessness.
Yes you can see this person is a low life liberal piece of crap with a socialist Christian hating agenda.
I had no idea that caring that kids have a safe, warm and healthy environment to learn and grow in was considered Socialist and Christian-hating. Thanks so much for clearing that up for me!
I’m sorry, when did making ten children live in a three-side shack with no drinkable water available on the property and no indoor heat, sleep lined up on a plywood shelf, and forage in the woods for food become a Christian tenet?
Anybody can say they are just trying to live a wholesome Christian country lifestyle. But words are not magic. By their fruits shall ye know them. The Nauglers lived on 20+ acres covered in polewood for at least a year–and this is what they produced for their children to live in. Instructions for building a simple pioneer cabin are all over the Web, with demos included. Even if they’d built a lousy pioneer-style cabin from all that polewood, it would have had four solid walls! The children, in Mrs. Naugler’s own words, have had to endure gashed hands, gashed scalps, and burns without any medical care. When the food they ate in what was technically their home gave 7 of them food poisoning she parked them on blankets outdoors and said that it was their fault. Speaking of food, “full-time dad” Mr. Naugler apparently just couldn’t find the time to plant anything at all this year, even in the hopelessly undersized garden they had left over from last year; photos taken with the Nauglers’ permission show concrete blocks and chicken wire outlining patches of weeds. The property, again in Mrs. Naugler’s own words on her blog, includes a well and septic from the previous tenant–which they somehow never got around to putting back into service, not even after their GoFundMe campaign ended. Instead the parents are living in a hotel with hot and cold running water and eating ice cream for breakfast. Oh, oh, the poor persecuted Nauglers.
Fortunately, your ignorant opinions are irrelevant. The law seems to disagree with you. At least those children are now safe from their disgusting parents, and the violent, dangerous nonsense spewed by Michael and Debi Pearl – two ‘christians’ who should be rotting in jail.
You didn’t have a very well thought out commentary. Even if there was abuse or anything against the lawas you suspect, the parents still need to be notified BEFOREHAND. They need to be given a chance to recitfy before the take children away from the home. Taking children away is a serious issue! The authorities don’t even remove neglected animals without multiple warnings and multiple chances to rectify the situation. Your blog on this is poorly ought out. It wasn’t worth writing is all you wanted to say was what you suspect. The law needs to be abided by.
I’m wondering if part of the issue is that the mother refused to confirm with the police officer that they actually live there, and they have a history of moving when CPS starts to intervene. It makes it sound like they were a serious flight risk, which may have been why the police intervened when they did.
If CPS believes children are in danger (which seems pretty clear based on a through study of the social media writings and photographs), there is no requirement for a “warning.” These children should have been taken away long ago.
“given the right to rectify the situation”, is exactly how my 13 yr old nephew was murdered alongside his mother by a control freak whom also cowardly killed himself…CPS should take more children out of homes than they have the training, funding or laws to do now!! I applaud Sheriff Pate, I live in Meade Co, KY, which is next to Breck. My brother whom is also the father of my murdered nephew Tucker Wimpee is Officer Phillip Wimpee with the Meade County Sheriff’s Department…. now imagine this knowing the law, knowing your kids our in an abusive situation but yet thru CPS not taken out of that situation, thousands spent on legal to save your children, your hands are tied, scared for your kids and getting a call on duty saying 3 down at the address where your son is with mom and controlling boyfriend!! WE COULDN’T SAVE TUCKER THRU THE SYSTEM BECAUSE THERE WAS TIME TO RETIFY THE SITUATION AND MANIPULATE THE CHILDREN!!! and whether there is physical or sexual abuse or neglect in this situation I don’t know, what I do know is I listened to these recordings and there is MENTAL ABUSE (“kids your being kidnapped, cops are going to shoot you, don’t talk to them under any circumstances”) and if you see a child being abused “bloodied and black and blue and you wouldn’t call the police” you have broke the LAW (look it up guys), if you choose to turn and walk away then may God have mercy on your soul, “JESUS WILL FORGIVE BUT A DADDY DON’T FORGET”!!! We, along with our community are trying to help children in abusive situations, ” ONE TUCKER AT A TIME!!” …We can’t bring Tucker back, but just maybe stop and think maybe there is more than meets the eye here, just maybe this sheriff saved one of these children from meeting Tucker’s fate!! (there is no harm in letting them check on the children’s welfare unless you have something to hide!) …you can research the Sheriff he saved another child’s life years ago, you can research Tucker Wimpee died Nov 15th in Meade co Ky shooting, my brother Officer Phillip Wimpee Tuck’s dad, you can check out the “One Tucker at a Time” foundation…. but most importantly you can be aware, you can open your eyes to report allegations, you can make a difference in a child’s life no matter the situation, show them love…….(I grew up with 7 brothers and sisters, there were 10 of us, we were poor but I had the best childhood you can imagine, so its not about the clothes, what you drive, where ya live, its all about the love guys!!!) Sorry it just makes the emotions flow…
Thank you for commenting and sharing your heartbreaking story. I have also lost family to murder and it is devastating. Your insight is appreciated.
Razzy, I am so sorry this happened. The Nauglers, in my own opionion, are nothing more than sovereign state nutso’s. Thank the good Lord CPS actually did their job in this case.
Auntie Razzy,
I am deeply sorry for your loss of your young nephew due to some Violent Self Centered A$$hole & the Ignorance of a system of ‘Justice’ that, when required, simply had No Teeth & was Utterly Disempowered to Act. I applaud your efforts to effect change & address the systemic flaws that were Complicit in the young boy’s murder. May God Bless You & those you seek to assist. On these Nauglers then. They scream “PERSECUTION” when they get the authorities’ attention for having Ten Kids in a state of Abject Squalor, no running water, & no Sanitation. These are Basic Human Needs, that The DadSter isn’t tending to in any way. DIG A HOLE, 7 FEET DEEP. POUR IN HALF A CUBIC YARD OF ROAD BALLAST & BUILD AN OUTHOUSE OVER THE HOLE. POUR UNSLAKED LIME IN ONCE A MONTH. Jeeze Louise. The Nauglers are manipulating Sympathy that any reasonable person may feel, at least before one Digs Deeper & finds the Rotten Core of what these Pseudo-Primitive Folks are really about. This is not “homesteading”. This is not ‘off-the-Grid’, especially with their considerable ‘Net Presence. This is a ‘Tromp L’eoil’, a ‘Facade’. (sorry for the French Metaphors there). In English, IT’S ALL FAKE. The Audacity of their justifications for this Ultimate Lazy LifeStyle is unconscionable. Those poor kids.
No, in fact if the CPS suspects that there is imminent danger to the children, they can be removed from their parents. Children are not neglected animals. If the home environment includes a lean-to with no protection from the elements, no heat, no sanitary washing facilities, mud everywhere infested with animal droppings, children running around bare foot in that mud, tracking it into the “house”, garbage and debris everywhere, nails, substances that can harm children (such as plastic cans of fuel or kerosene within reach of toddlers/babies), etc. etc —— then that would constitute an imminent danger. The blocks and Facebook photos the mother has herself posted are damning unto themselves, never mind the 3rd hand reporting from people who know the Nauglers or have been to their habitation.
This article was pure fiction. Very entertaining, but come on. You make innumerable assumptions about the family. You also fundamentally misunderstand how the legal system works. The burden of proof does not rest with them, though they have been extremely open about their lives for years.
Read the links, you moron. Other unschoolers who know the family even think the kids are better off away from the parents. They were contacted by CPS as early as November, 2013, so any claims that this was sudden are flat-out lies. The father has multiple arrests, including check fraud. The mother was *recorded* saying she would not report if a child was beaten bloody. These are not assumptions. These are not opinions. These are facts. These people are diseased. Sending these children back to their abusers would be the real crime.
^^^ All this. There appears to be ample evidence for the parents to be convicted of child endangerment and neglect, at LEAST. And considering that, yes, we don’t have the full story… I think what we have is especially damning, because these awful proofs are just tidbits from what was really going on in their family.
I don’t believe you. Where are the links.
Roundup of links to things the Nauglers themselves have posted is here:
http://kathrynbrightbill.com/post/118481565656/here-are-7-surprising-things-you-need-to-know
Pingback: Joe Naugler’s Oldest Son Alleges Physical, Sexual Abuse; Children Not Returned | Homeschoolers Anonymous
Thanks for writing this. I hadn’t considered the possibility of disabilities within the family. But I have heard far too many stories of parents putting their ideology first before their children’s welfare, disabled children or otherwise. From everything I’ve read, it sounds like the Naugler parents were abusive and neglectful because they think their ideology trumps everything — even a child’s safety and well-being. Well… that’s the more charitable explanation I have for their thought process.
I really enjoyed reading your linked essay about disability. I have an invisible illness – chronic pain – and the term Crip Time is very helpful. I never had a way to describe it before.
Ignoring disabilities happens when a family system is overloaded. My aunt and uncle married when she was 17 and he was 19, and had a baby every year for the first 5 years. The 4th baby was born legally blind, and they did not figure this out until he was five. They are caring and compassionate people in general, but they were simply overloaded, and they didn’t have the resources to care about this child’s disability. When they talk about it even to this day, the lack of empathy shocks me. “We just thought he was dumb – he was always getting lost, and he would walk right into things!” Discovering that he was blind didn’t result in compassion or any regret that i have ever heard – his nickname in the family was Dumb Davey, because he was so dumb he walked right into walls. I’ve seen them both break into the giggles at how funny their dumb son was. I bring up my above observation that they were in general compassionate people, because if you met them, particularly my aunt, they would come across as warm, wonderful, family oriented people. But disability was not something that they could handle or accomodate. I think this is probably common.
I am very happy to hear that the term “Crip Time” is helpful to you. It’s great to have a commenter mention the disability aspect of this article. The story of Davey is sadly all too common. I encourage you to write about it if you haven’t already. Many assume that disabled children are stupid. I prefer to ” presume competence”, as former Syracuse University Dean of the School of Education said about children. Presume that they are smart first, and presume that they are competent. Disabled children just need accommodations and specific education that meets their needs. We are not stupid.
Christian Patriarchy falls on the spectrum of oppression with Islamic Sharia law, which also has its apologists in high places. What falls through the cracks in most of the discussions is the male violence underpinning the brainwashing that turns the women and girls into societal Stockholm syndrome sufferers. The women and girls who are not blessed to find their own backbones and escape the man-made violence and brainwashing are to be pitied, even if they can post to facebook (perhaps with their fathers and husbands in the nearby space, exerting control and causing fear). I am so sad for everyone caught up in oppression masquerading in the name of religion that merely covers for male ego and power trips. I hope freedom for the women, and repentance for the men if they are sincerely Jesus followers (e.g., the red letters of the bible’s new testament, not the letters and essays later attributed to misogynists extended authority by a cruelly male dominant Roman Empire which set the biblical “canon” contrary to Jesus almost four centuries later).
As a species we need to outgrow the social oppression, violence and destruction of kindness inspired by the fundamentalist worship of books (bible, koran) more about building empire among competing males than about the love equally dispensed to all that Jesus taught. If we don’t outgrow it, we may not survive as a species, and there will be no beaming up to save any of us by that false doctrine cobbled mainly from best-selling fiction.
I have read everything on the internet there is to read about this family. The picture the parents are trying to paint is a sad counterpoint to the reality that their “simple” lifestyle was driven by poverty, not a conscious choice to go off the grid. Just 3 years ago they were in a rented home with modern amenities, I think personal problems that both Father and Mother have,have interfered with them maintaining jobs and providing properly for the large family they created. Both the mom and dad were fired from jobs; it happens, but the father has had several brushes with the law and it begs the question —- if you scratch the surface, what’s underneath??
Foster care is not ideal but the best place for these kids, possibly forever. It does not sound like either or both parents have the skill set to earn enough money to provide for 11 children.
Good point about the original structure being lost and possibly being the reason behind this “lifestyle”. Foster care can be a wonderful place for children. It’s not always the horror people think. In my studies and also the experience of friends, foster care can be a real life saver. The problem is that children are often returned to their abusive families after spending some time in a nice foster home. I’ve read many primary source accounts of adults who excelled in foster care, and experienced a stable loving home. It is possible.
Interesting that you raised the issue of disabilities among the children. It does sound from Nicole Naughler’s blog posts that one of her sons might be autistic, he seems to be “in his own world” as she described. Kids with learning disabilities need special supports. It is a challenge for them to learn reading and writing, and often a frustrating experience for parents teaching them, especially when there are several other young children at home. It requires great patience to teach them, especially if they do not attend school.
If one of the Naugler children has emotional, mental or physical disabilities, I wonder too whether there could be physical abuse as this is unfortunately often the case when special needs children are raised in poverty and where one or more parents has a history of aggression.
Hearing loss may be another reason a child appears to be “in their own world”. This was certainly said of me before my hearing loss was discovered. Going to school was how my disability was discovered, too. Often, hearing loss can be accompanied by painful physical sensation and ear infections. Disability often has a medical component that causes pain if it isn’t treated or therapy is not provided. You are absolutely right about disabled children being abused at much higher rates. Up to 85% of deaf or hard of hearing children are sexual abuse victims. The numbers are staggering.
Kate, has anybody in Congress ever held hearings or called for them on this issue? This movement really is no different that a terrorist group, only it involves abuse of children.
You all act as though this is a religious issue! I’m sorry these people surely may be insane, they may claim a naturalistic lifestyle and they may take it to the extreme and in my opinion way too far.. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with Christianity, patriarchy, natural living, off grid living, homeschooling, large families, etc. etc. don’t let someone who abuses their rights, knowledge and voice and doesn’t even truly represent these groups at all skew your picture of the groups as a whole. Just because someone doesn’t believe the same as you and some psycho joins their band wagon doesn’t make them wrong any more than you’d be wrong if the psycho jumped on your bandwagon..
Pingback: Disability, Homeschool, Intercountry Adoption and Homicide: The Case of Hana and Emmanuel Williams | petroleuses
Great article. Very, very well-written!
I am glad to see you are familiar with Syracuse University’s disability program, as evidenced in the comments – I might apply! However late I may in the discovery of this blog – and I am very, very late – I do want to at least contribute my opinion regarding the concept of “crip time”. The concept is great. But as a disabled person, I feel the terminology helps perpetuate the incorrect images, or stereotypes, of disability that have been ingrained in society by the mass media. The media perpetuates these images of disability that are offensive. And the word “crip”, or “cripple”, while some may choose to identify with the word, or find themselves in a community that likewise is comfortable and proud of it – I feel that it likewise perpetuates these disability stereotypes.
The only challenge I face, is in correcting the images of disability that the media perpetuates. And I am uncomfortable with that word. Of course, my opinion is but just one! And I just thought I would add it, for consideration, if anyone is interested. Nevertheless, I loved this article. I loved your writing – so fluid! Thank-you.
Hello and thank you for commenting! I welcome differing opinions and am please that you felt comfortable writing about your experience. Thank you for the compliment about the article, and I hope that you continue to enjoy my blog. I welcome all comments unless they are, of course, abusive or hurtful towards other people. Discourse is a great thing and I am always happy when someone like you contributes to thoughtful discourse. The Disability Studies program at SU is great, I highly recommend it.
Pingback: Isolation, Deprivation, Neglect and Failure to Accommodate Disability: Elements of Homeschool Torture Cases | petroleuses