[HPFGU-OTChatter] Bothered by JKR likening Harry's trials to the caged disabled Czech kids

[Mrs.) Lee Storm (God Is The Healing Force]

OOPS!!!  Not sure what happened, but all I had written was--uh--dumped!
Gads!  Well, here I go again responding to Tim's post and hope it don't get
smushed. :-)

[Dumbledad wrote]:
| Was anyone else slightly unnerved about JKR's quote about Harry in
| | relation to the disabled Czech children caged on their beds?
| |
| | http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/07/11/f215.raw.html
| |
| | I think it's really really great that JKR is such a generous woman, and
| | her wading in on this subject looks as if it has ended a truly awful
| | practise. Much of what she had to say was clear and powerful, e.g.
| |
| | "The idea that children as young as five are being locked in cages for
| | the majority of their lives is nothing short of horrific; that this is
| | happening in a relatively prosperous fellow EU state can only deepen
| | feelings of outrage"
| |
| | But I find something worrying in the quote:
| |
| | "The very idea of being locked in a bed-sized cage around the clock is
| | enough to give adults nightmares - far more terrifying than anything
| | Harry Potter has had to encounter"
| |
| | Suppose it had been Roger Hargreaves who had sent the letter in which he
| | had written:
| |
| | "The very idea of being locked in a bed-sized cage around the clock is
| | enough to give adults nightmares - far more terrifying than anything Mr
| | Bump has had to encounter"
| |
| | Would that have been OK? No, of course not. Mr Bump is a fictional
| | character in a childrens' book and nothing that happens to him can
| | compare with the real life anguish of the Czech children. But isn't the
| | same true of Harry?

[Lee]:
I understand what you're saying, but I understand what she's doing.  Now,
I've never heard of this Hargreaves and Mr. Bump, but I can relate to Potter
as can many an adult.  The quote doesn't bother me, especially considering
all the things Harry's had to endure.  It's also not a bad idea to use a
fictional ref in order to stay away from controversial references. (I posted
on that, too.)

I'm just glad that action is being taken.  If one really wants to be honest,
some of that kind of treatment happens here even in the good ol'
USA...perhaps not caged beds, but, certainly, caged children who are
unwanted because they have a disability.  I praise God that my Mom didn't
try to shove my brother and myself into an institution.  The outcome is most
tragic.

I remember a woman who had been thrust into an institution simply because
she was blind; the doctor told her parents their child would be better off
since she wouldn't amount to anything.  The result when she was gotten out
of the institution...she had to remain on medications because she was so
strung out and afraid of absolutely everything; she didn't trust anyone; she
became what the institution made her.

Let me stop ranting...sorry folks; it's just a subject that really gets to
me because with all our progressiveness I still see people with disabilities
treated like less than real people. <Sigh>

Later,

Lee :-)

Do not walk behind me,    | Lee Storm
I may not care to lead;   | N2FGC
Do not walk before me;    | n2fgc at arrl.net (or)
I may not care to follow; | n2fgc at optonline.net
Walk beside me, and be my friend.