It seems that some people have never learned or been taught to be tolerant of those who are 'different' than they are...I see the problem when kids tease or bully those they think are 'flawed', 'retards', 'spazz', 'dumba$$', 'old geezer', 'loco'...
and the parents sit there and let it happen..or schools ignore the problem 'Oh they're just kids'...and when a group home or supported housing goes up in their town 'Oh we don't want those kind in our neighborhood, playing with our kids, and property values are gonna take a nosedive'..

I thought nowadays people are enlightened....guess not!

Predjudice and hatred have no place in our society!

It seems that some people have never learned or been taught to be tolerant of those who are 'different' than they are...I see the problem when kids tease or bully those they think are 'flawed', 'retards', 'spazz', 'dumba$$', 'old geezer', 'loco'...
and the parents sit there and let it happen..or schools ignore the problem 'Oh they're just kids'

There is this interesting thing about adolescents.  In an effort to be "different," they form groups in which everyone is the same.  It happens in every generation.  It's just a developmental thing.  The name calling is bad and wrong and the parents absolutely should be the ones to discipline kids.  For the most part, if the parents model good behavior in this regard, the kids will be less likely to insult and judge others.

...and when a group home or supported housing goes up in their town 'Oh we don't want those kind in our neighborhood, playing with our kids, and property values are gonna take a nosedive'..

This is a tricky one.  Truth is, property values can be effected by something like a group home; and when you've worked hard all your life to be able to pay your mortgage and you are counting on the equity in your house to help you through to old age, it matters.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the group home thing.  But the issue isn't as easy as it looks.  Do you have kids?  Do you understand how easily they can be influenced in negative ways?

It takes a strong conviction, a strong faith, and a strong household to be able to say, sure, bring in the kids whose lives have been difficult and whose decisions and behavior are kind of rough -- we'll accept them and we'll help them along.  I hope you are one of those people.  There are a lot of us around but there are alot of people who are afraid.  You do need to be realistic and know that there are some legitimate reasons for them to feel that way.

thought nowadays people are enlightened....guess not!

Some are.  Some aren't.  Depends where you are and who you know.

Predjudice and hatred have no place in our society!


Agreed.  And the best way to conquer them is with education and experience.

It seems that some people have never learned or been taught to be tolerant of those who are 'different' than they are...I see the problem when kids tease or bully those they think are 'flawed', 'retards', 'spazz', 'dumba$$', 'old geezer', 'loco'...
and the parents sit there and let it happen..or schools ignore the problem 'Oh they're just kids'...and when a group home or supported housing goes up in their town 'Oh we don't want those kind in our neighborhood, playing with our kids, and property values are gonna take a nosedive'..

I thought nowadays people are enlightened....guess not!

Predjudice and hatred have no place in our society!



human bloody nature

There is this interesting thing about adolescents.  In an effort to be "different," they form groups in which everyone is the same.  It happens in every generation.  It's just a developmental thing.  The name calling is bad and wrong and the parents absolutely should be the ones to discipline kids.  For the most part, if the parents model good behavior in this regard, the kids will be less likely to insult and judge others.

This is a tricky one.  Truth is, property values can be effected by something like a group home; and when you've worked hard all your life to be able to pay your mortgage and you are counting on the equity in your house to help you through to old age, it matters.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the group home thing.  But the issue isn't as easy as it looks.  Do you have kids?  Do you understand how easily they can be influenced in negative ways?

It takes a strong conviction, a strong faith, and a strong household to be able to say, sure, bring in the kids whose lives have been difficult and whose decisions and behavior are kind of rough -- we'll accept them and we'll help them along.  I hope you are one of those people.  There are a lot of us around but there are alot of people who are afraid.  You do need to be realistic and know that there are some legitimate reasons for them to feel that way.

Some are.  Some aren't.  Depends where you are and who you know.

Agreed.  And the best way to conquer them is with education and experience.
I have benefited from community-based treatment and supportive housing since 1977, when I was 'mainstreamed' into a public high school. I was born in 1960, when almost all 'problem kids' were institutionalized regardless of their intelligence/ability to learn, because parents of the so-called 'normal' kids did not want 'their kind' in the same school as their 'perfectly normal' little sons and daughters...I was not really disruptive or even hyperactive...I had trouble following directions and doing things like catching a ball, riding a bike, jumping rope...and the ability to catch a ball or move gracefully has nothing to do with the ability to learn academic stuff, but the public education system in place in Margate, NJ tended to lump EVERY kid with difficulties together and say 'Your child would be better off in a special school where they will be cared for the rest of their lives, they are such a burden!' What a bunch of hogwash. The things I did not learn in 'special' school was that I was not a 'cripple' and that my problems were not really related to learning but to having an emotional problem due to a dysfunctional family and having no self-esteem whatsoever...Most people in my supportive housing program don't act bizarre or dangerously, it's a requirement in the program that one has to be 'in touch with reality' enough to contact their caseworker if they start to have problems or feel bad. The neighbors here accept us as 'just another tenant' and their kids don't tease or make fun of us...and all the housing in my program is near public transit, which is one of the consumer-run agency's requirements..although if someone feels afraid to use public transit(due to OCD, phobia, or PTSD issues)their caseworker will take them food shopping and also to doctor's appointments.

"As an old black f*ggot once told me, 'some people are just sh!ts, darling!'"

--William S. Burroughs

I think that about sums it up.
;D

I have benefited from community-based treatment and supportive housing since 1977, when I was 'mainstreamed' into a public high school. I was born in 1960, when almost all 'problem kids' were institutionalized regardless of their intelligence/ability to learn, because parents of the so-called 'normal' kids did not want 'their kind' in the same school as their 'perfectly normal' little sons and daughters...I was not really disruptive or even hyperactive...I had trouble following directions and doing things like catching a ball, riding a bike, jumping rope...and the ability to catch a ball or move gracefully has nothing to do with the ability to learn academic stuff, but the public education system in place in Margate, NJ tended to lump EVERY kid with difficulties together and say 'Your child would be better off in a special school where they will be cared for the rest of their lives, they are such a burden!'

I totally understand and sympathize.  And I agree that as a society we need to be more accepting and live by the "takes a community to raise a child" thing.

All I'm trying to suggest is that you don't actually repeat the behavior of those you criticize by judging them when you may not understand their side of the story.  If you've never been 50, if you've never been a parent of teenagers, if you've never owned a home or whatever....then don't make assumptions about people when you don't really know them (isn't this what you're saying....don't make judgements about people when you don't know them?)  Most of these people are not uncaring idiots.  Most of them are people who just don't understand and are trying to manage their own lives and take care of their kids.  That in itself is not wrong.  The answer is EDUCATION rather than judgment from your end.  If you want to help the situation, find ways to teach the general public more about the population you want to help, so that they will understand that many of their fears are unwarranted.

I totally understand and sympathize.  And I agree that as a society we need to be more accepting and live by the "takes a community to raise a child" thing.

All I'm trying to suggest is that you don't actually repeat the behavior of those you criticize by judging them when you may not understand their side of the story.  If you've never been 50, if you've never been a parent of teenagers, if you've never owned a home or whatever....then don't make assumptions about people when you don't really know them (isn't this what you're saying....don't make judgements about people when you don't know them?)  Most of these people are not uncaring idiots.  Most of them are people who just don't understand and are trying to manage their own lives and take care of their kids.  That in itself is not wrong.  The answer is EDUCATION rather than judgment from your end.  If you want to help the situation, find ways to teach the general public more about the population you want to help, so that they will understand that many of their fears are unwarranted.



I do teach people about mental health consumers, it's not that I don't. I think sometimes people have to have mental illness or have a mentally ill family member to truly understand the situation. Anyway, there are community-based agencies for those with mental illness, and in NJ they have strict guidelines as to who can be accepted into their programs. This is to protect those in the community from the few that are too ill to be out of an institutional setting.

I do teach people about mental health consumers, it's not that I don't. I think sometimes people have to have mental illness or have a mentally ill family member to truly understand the situation. Anyway, there are community-based agencies for those with mental illness, and in NJ they have strict guidelines as to who can be accepted into their programs. This is to protect those in the community from the few that are too ill to be out of an institutional setting.


Cool.  I'm glad you're doing that.  I agree with you that people really need to have an experience with someone who is mentally ill to really have a clue.

Some of it has to do with where you're raised. 

I was raised in a very diverse neighborhood in Chicago and I went to school with people from all types of backgrounds.  I was exposed to all kinds of people from a very early age.  I know people who went to high school at a school with no black people, no hispanics, no one of any non-white origin.  Not because they weren't allowed, but because they didn't live in an area where blacks and hispanics lived, so they didn't go to the school.  My sister goes to Chattahoochee H.S. down here in Alpharetta and one of the subdivisions they pull from is Country Club of the South.  That's where A LOT of celebrities and athletes in Atlanta choose to live.  So, those people probably aren't exposed to people who aren't as affluent as they are, so what they know is only what they see.   

Absecon NJ, where I live, is pretty diverse because when the casinos opened, people came not only from Las Vegas(casino execs as well as dealers, slot mechanics, and anything else that no one in the area was trained for yet) but from other countries, because the jobs were plentiful, and paid well for the most part...the casino-hotels have been really great with providing people with all kinds of disabilities with jobs, from kitchen help all the way up to management positions. I worked at Bally's Park Place for five years, it was an eye-opening experience, but I'm proud to say that was my first real job. I was also a member of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union(yes the once-infamous Local 54)whose health insurance paid for stuff like meds and hospitalization...