Dolphins aren't pinnipeds. Just sayin'
For completeness of this correction, they are Cetaceans.
Knowledgeable and cool user name. Approved.
For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
111–118 of 118 posts
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lol. Why on earth do they do this?
Are you kidding me? This is a great idea and incredibly fair. Why should non-believers fund churches with their tax money? Believers should be responsible for funding their churches/temples/holy places without relying on those who don't care.
I'm curious where you're from. In the US, the government being separate from religion is a pretty big deal so having taxes going to churches at all would seem strange.
The system in the US, for instance, isn't that non-believers fund churches with their tax money, it's that no one funds churches with tax money at all, members of the church donate directly to the church.
(Before someone comments, yes churches are often tax-exempt like other charities and non-profits, but that is different from actually receiving money from the government)
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sitting in my mom's attic as I type this. I pretty much sit here all day. And yes, I'm happy. Thanks for asking. If Jamie is happier working a job, then fine. But was he born wanting to get a job? How much came from him and how much came from his parents placing unrealistic expectations on him? Do you honestly believe that low-skilled workers are being kept from doing more mentally demanding work because they can…
Low-skilled work is a poverty trap that drains people of energy they might otherwise be using to learn more valuable skills. In fact, it's an anecdote not uncommon that more high school graduates are going to college because filling out FAFSA forms has a greater expected payout than a job search for part-time fast-food wages. Perhaps the GP didn't get the causality quite right, but we are entering some kind of a dyst…
This whole discussion, both in the article and in the comments, comes from a perspective that the only options are doing something that pays, and sitting around doing nothing. And sadly that may be the case, but it doesn't have to be that way. The United States today suffers from a severe lack of social connectedness (see Bowling Alone, etc) that could easily be improved by paying unemployed people, including the disabled, to do activities as simple as: hang out with old people who live alone, read a book to a group of little kids. PLAY with little kids. Help someone in poor health walk to the grocery store once a week. There are so many positive activities that would contribute to a better society and they don't happen because the whole concept of the government spending money to improve society has been successfully stigmatized. I won't go ranting about why.
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
"clan rally"? maybe clan parade is a better way of phrasing it.
Their phrasing. When I got to their town tourism office and asked where Eamon Farrell's pub was, I was asked "You're here for the clan rally?" In context, it was actually humorous in an reminds-you-of-decades-of-historical-terrorism kinda way.
And really, the Irish shouldn't be expected to change their phrasing because a bunch of fools from Tennessee started a terrorist organization that appropriated the word "clan". Nor should they assume all visitors are from the US.
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#115I worked with mentally handicapped kids a lot as an educator when I was younger (albeit in a different country). This wonderful article captures perfectly how, in the right environment, children with Down Syndrome can blossom, but how hard it can be for them as adults once society & red tape & bureaucracy all come into play. (I also worked with children who had Down Syndrome and had not grown up in the right environm…
> this also highlights how the increasingly geographically fragmented familial unit is problematic
My parents didn't usually repeat things to us kids growing up, but one thing they did say over and over again was, "it's not worth moving away from your family." When I had the opportunity to take a fancy job across the country at a "big name" employer, or stay in my home City, ultimately those words came back to me. I'm glad I stayed for many reasons.
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am unsure of the details but there is a "nursing home" for mentally disabled people across from my house (in Canada). It has careworkers there 24 hours. They come and go as they please (the door does lock though and they need to wait to be let it). Families come and visit. It seems like a great thing to have. It is also close to a university so some will take courses and others find small jobs on campus, if they ca…
I think the grandparent poster meant nursing homes where mentally disabled people work taking care of the residents, not nursing homes that care for the mentally disabled.
Yep - exactly that.
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem the US has in this regard is the blunt, stupid way we do it. "Race" is an example. I work at a consulting company with very competitive hiring. Many of my teammates are "African American" according to the standard US classification, but guess what? Most of them, although born and raised in the US, are the children of Nigerian immigrants. A candid discussion with one of my co-workers on a recent business t…
One of the complicated things about race is that it has to do with not just how we see ourselves, but how others see us. A family of Nigerian immigrants might not feel the legacy of Jim Crow laws in the same way as a family descended from slaves, but racists will apply the same anti-black stereotypes to both groups.
Very true.
Re: For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also never understood this. Why ask about race if race is supposed not to matter?
They track it to look for unequal hiring practices. Which is an actual and ongoing problem and one the US Federal government is involved with and interested in fighting.
1. I'd suggest that a better way to achieve equality would be to ignore race entirely, rather than bring it up all the time.
2. "Unequal hiring practices"? Race questions are on US passport and Social Security application forms. I can see no justification for those.