Keeping Ashley small?

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Slarti
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by Slarti »

Aside from the criminally creepy nickname ‘pillow angel,’ have these parents done anything wrong? What about the doctors? Where’s the line?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditio ... index.html

I’ve already seen opinions aplenty about this on a local blog:

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene ... ime_t.html
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by NachtcGleiskette »

See, I dunno. It's SO questionable, but at the same time, it seems like it was the right decision for this girl and this family. I don't like the inclusion of them calling her their "little pillow angel" cause it almost makes her sound like..a possession or something. Like, they don't wanna see their little girl grow up, so they made it impossible for her to. However, I totally understand them wanting to keep her at a managable size, which seems to be in their best interest, but I believe it's also in her's. Imagine she grows too big for her parents to effectively care for and they have to have her put in a home or whatever else, which doesn't seem like it'd be the best for her. But who knows. I wouldn't judge them because mainly, I have to say I have no idea what this is like. I have a cousin who has CP and I know how hard it was for my aunt and uncle caring for him over the years and he is perfectly fine mentally, his CP is mainly physical, and even then it's not the worst case. So a completely bedridden child who will never be able to walk, talk, roll over or feed themself....I don't know what I'd do, and I'm just not in the position to judge.

I do though understand the "slippery slope" side of this as well. The idea that this could become an acceptable way to deal with handicapped children/people in need of care is a bit frightening. While in this case I can understand, where do you draw the line? Enormous physical and mental disabilities? People who are only severely physically handicapped? Children with downs syndrome? It's just....it can be dangerous IMHO. It's why we have ethicists ;)
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by JSherlock »

I agree with Nacht - this is a slippery slope. But, taken as an isolated case, I think the parents did what was best to make sure they could provide everything they were possible of giving for their child, and now, they can continue to do so.

I also think including "pillow angel" was in bad taste.
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by The Drastic Spastic »

From the comments: While extreme and shocking to read, they could have chosen to euthanize her early on and didn't.

Seriously??? That's an option? No one ever talks about that. I'd assumed it was illegal.

It's not like they're keeping her from "growing up". She can't grow up anyway. No one is depriving her of the great experience of growing up. She's going to stay an infant until she dies no matter what size she is.
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by fourpawsonthefloor »

I do understand people's reluctance to 'tamper' with such things, but when a child is reduced to such a state their entire life, with no help of improvement...I can understand why the parents made the decision that they did. It must have been an extremely hard one for them to make.

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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by Garble »

I was horrified at the thought of this but as I read just how extreme her condition is, I understand it.

It is creepy as hell, but I still understand it.

The thing that worries me is parents of children with milder cases of mental retardation being tempted to do this. With mental retardation the brain develops more slowly and comes to a stop sooner. So many adults with retardation have functionally the brains of children (though usually not as reduced as an infant's brain, as in the child from the article). There's always issues raised by dealing with a person whose brain is that of a "child" but whose body is adult, hormones and all. I could easily see many parents being tempted to keep their children from experiencing physical adulthood to avoid these problems.
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by The Drastic Spastic »

Originally posted by Garble
I could easily see many parents being tempted to keep their children from experiencing physical adulthood to avoid these problems.
Speaking of the "slippery slope" people love to bring up in any discussion on disabilities, they've already started down this one. I think it's actually very commom. I read a.... poster outlining a study on the way parents deal with their mentally disabled adult children as far as sexual relationships go. According to the poster, the parents talk the adult child into signing a consent form for sterilization. The parents explain the operation as something that will "complete" them. The poster implied that this was a bad thing which... way to judge, poster. Are you going to be responsible whatever offspring comes of it? I don't think so.
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Keeping Ashley small?

Post by Elwing »

Aww! That's so Kawaii!!!!!!^.^!!!!



Oh wait, that's probably not an appropriate comment. It is a tough one- bonsai-ing a kid because of easier to manage rubs one all the wrong way does it? But the reasoning of the parents makes sense too, in a way...

I can only hope never to find myself into their position. Holy shit...
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