Well Sarah Palin is feeling ignored so it is time to trot out her favorite prop for a little attention.

First Palin links to this article on Brancy's blog about a man with Down syndrome who "beat the odds" and has now lived to reach 40 years old, which they claim is twice as long as these children are supposed to live.

That of course is incorrect as the life expectancy of a well cared for child with Down's is between 55 and 60 years old.

As for Trig's life expectancy? Well that is another matter entirely.

Palin then goes on to report this on her Facebook page:

I read it again yesterday while waiting for Trig to awaken after eye surgery. So groggy from deep sleep at the hands of a skilled anesthesiologist, our son's surgeon also waited and reassured. And he told me the most fascinating thing about the eyes of a child with Down syndrome. "Compare his eyes to a 'normal' child's. Get a magnifying glass. Look deep. Their eyes are captivating inside! They're different, they're colorful, they sparkle. Surely God made these eyes to reflect what heaven must be." 

If only we all could see into and through the eyes of the innocent! They're God's sons and daughters who may not meet man's standards of perfection but will certainly meet His. Their enduring childlike faith and their patience with the rest of us can teach us what is important. Maybe if we look with those eyes, what a wonderful world we will see.

 - Sarah Palin

You know the thing about Down syndrome children, or ALL children for that matter, is that their care cannot be left up to God. They actually need very involved parents to help them overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams, whatever those might be.

Palin keeps referring to Trig as "childlike" and "innocent" and that may be true right now, but someday he is not going to seem so much like a child, as he will a grumpy middle aged man who gets frustrated that simple things remain so hard for him, and that his life is so much different than that of his peers.

I do not know why Trig required eye surgery, though if I were to guess I would say it was probably to correct his strabismus (crossed eyes).

However it has seemed to me for quite some time that Trig has not been receiving the type of care that he requires as early as he requires it. So if Palin really wants Trig to live a long and full life, she needs to stop being so focused on her own needs as a public figure, and much more focused on the needs of the child that she decided, for whatever reason, to bring into her home.

Bristol Palin, or at least the woman who plays Bristol Palin on the internet, is horrified by mother of 47 year old Down syndrome son saying she wishes she had aborted him.

Okay so just for fun I tool a jaunt over to the Brancy's blog to see what's up in the land of denial.

As it turns out Nancy French and Bristol, assuming Bristol has read what it printed under her name, are very, very upset at an article in the Daily Mail about a 69 year old woman's heartbreaking admission that she wishes she had never had her Down syndrome son, now 47 years old.

Here is what Brancy had to say:

I can’t even believe what I just read. Gillian Relf, the mother of a 47-year-old man with Down syndrome, publicly said she wishes she’d had an abortion. Her son has made her life so difficult, she wishes he had never been allowed to live. 

Can you actually claim to love someone and wish they were dead at the same time? 

If that’s not horrifying enough, she spoke “in support of the 92 per cent of women who choose to abort their babies after discovering they have Down’s syndrome.” Parents of children with Down syndrome (including my own parents!) have shown the greatest demonstration of selfless love I’ve ever seen. To read this mom’s statements that are so opposite is just stunning.

Actually I think that any person who has sat at the bedside of a dying loved one knows exactly what it is like to love somebody and wish them dead at the same time. At some point their pain is just impossible to endure and all you want is for them to find peace, even if it means you will never have them in your life again. 

Brancy goes on to say this: 

My family probably wouldn’t have chosen to have a child with Down syndrome. But God gave us Trig – and our family wouldn’t be complete without him! Now, I realize that kids with Down syndrome are amazing and wonderful – we are soooooo blessed to have him in our lives.

Actually that is a lie. Her family absolutely DID choose to have Trig in their lives. He is not Sarah's child, and I have no reason to believe that he is Bristol's child, so yes he was absolutely brought into the family as a choice. (Hopefully I will have more on that at a later date.)

By the way the woman, Gillian Relf, anticipated this response and this is what she said in the article:

But I'd challenge any one of them to walk a mile in the shoes of mothers like me, saddled for life as I am, with a needy, difficult, exasperating child who will never grow up, before they judge us. They should experience how it feels to parent a grown man, who is no more able to care for himself than a toddler - and at a time of life when your children should, all things being equal, be taking care of you. They should know how it feels to live every single day under a crushing weight of guilt. They should know how it feels to watch Stephen's constant suffering and witness the almost daily destruction wreaked on all our lives. 

As you all know I actually work with children and parents who are dealing with Down syndrome, FAS, ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, PTSD,  Mental Retardation, etc., and I can tell you that wishing not to have had a child with such complicated and disruptive issues is almost universal among the parents.

They don't always say it out loud to support staff, but they certainly discuss it in private, and sometimes you can simply see it written all over their faces.

The idea that all babies are a gift from God and that HE will provide you with the strength to deal with any complications which might arise is happy holy horseshit.

The truth is that sometimes these parents simply have to give up and walk away, and put their children into residential facilities or foster homes. Sometime they mistreat their children out of sheer frustration, even though they realize it is not the child's fault. And sometimes they contemplate, or actually follow through with, plans to take their own lives. (One of the worse cases I ever dealt with.)

We have already seen that Sarah is having significant trouble parenting Trig, and let me tell you that is only going to get worse, especially when he hits his teen years.

I predict right here and now that Trig ends up in a facility, either in state or out, that will care for him within the next ten years or so.

Simply put neither Sarah Palin, or any of her family members, have the intelligence or patience to deal with a Down syndrome child for the long haul.

And that is why judging this poor woman, who has spent the last 47 years selflessly putting her child's needs above her own, should never be done by the likes of Bristol Palin.

OR her internet doppelganger.