Відео

Wow. Your perspective on the film is so needed. Thank you

You and Candace have one thing in common.

I think youve misunderstood the concept of mental age. No one (or atleast people who understand the concept) is saying that someone who is 30, are actually 9. What they are saying is someone who is 30 may only score on a standardised assessment on the same level as people who are 9. E.g. your ability to think about abstract concepts is on par with a 9 year old. Also with IQ, there are several sections, you can get a partial iq score based on a specific cognition if you can complete it. If you cannot complete an iq because you cannot talk, that doesnt mean you get a low IQ. You just dont have an IQ score at all because it cant be measured this way, and cognitions maybe tested in other ways. I do completely agree that more people with lived experiences should have been on it. There have been people who both found benefits of people with this, but also people who experienced unwanted sexual contact under the guise of empowerment. Showing these perspectives would be good.

So glad the yt algorithm shared this video with me... I've been watching so much of Hannah Alonzo's anti-mlm content, and remembered her mentioning CC Suarez as one of her entrées to making anti-mlm content, so when I saw a video of hers in my suggested feed, I watched. It was entertaining at first, but the more I watched the more off-putting I found it... not sure if it was the excessive snark or what, but your perspective and call-outs definitely helped me to feel like I don't need to spend any more time there, so thank you! Up side: not sure I would've stumbled across your content had I not watched a CC Suarez video to start. Looking forward to watching more of your takes and checking out the blog!

Agreed!

Thank you for sharing this well informed and lived experience opinion. I did learn a lot.

I've thought about monetizing my channel, but I don't even care about that anymore. I do it because I enjoy it, I like helping and entertaining people, but I don't sensor myself. If I have a serious topic to talk about, I will be authentic about it. I will occasionally say a swearword, but I don't curse like a sailor, and I'm not going to not say simple words that aren't offensive. My favorite ones recently are south, and park. So I can't say I want to go to the park?

All he said was she was hot..chill out

Let me be clear, i only write this because i, from the bottom of my heart, think that you DO NOT want to be the cause of someone elses harm, and your video gives a lot of predatory people a vessel to rationalise their malicioua intends. I think you are very very one sided in your own opinion, even moreso than the documentary you bash for exactly that. You are right that one of the main reasons for it being morally wrong i is the teacher-student power imbalance BUT it is now proven beyond reasonable doubt that faciliated communication DOES NOT WORK. Unfortunately. Derriks family wanted this to work desperately, they wanted to be able to communicate with him, him being able to do things grown ups do. You view this situation far too 'one sice fits all' and 'all' being you. YOU are you and being disabled, does not give you enough of an inside view in derriks case to make the statements you are making. Science will hopefully soon find a way for people like derrik, but for now protecting them from harm is the best we can do and you are potentially giving someone the thumbs up that they are looking for. Please re-think. Thank you for reading (please forgive me my grammar, i am not a native english speaker) and take care!

Strangely enough, the CF machine only seemed to work when Stubblefield was 'assisting' Derrick's hand. Derrick is very close to his brother, so the idea that his presence could somehow have an adverse effect on how effectively the machine worked, is, to say the least highly questionable.

It’s also problematic that Stubblefield went out of her way to play as having disabilities when she was young. It’s one thing to support those who have disabilities, and even to pretend for a day in order to understand perspective, but her behavior was that of one who who seems to have been lacking of attention from her mother who worked with people with disabilities. That doesn’t make her a bad person, but her lack of insight and boundaries led her to do things that are beyond unacceptable, as they led her to target someone else who has a disability.

I don’t see it as a “mental age” thing, but an inability to communicate for one’s self to the world at large. He may know what an object is, for all any of us know, but if he can’t even nonverbally indicate the object when asked to point it out, who is Stubnlefield to decide she knows what he wants and likes? She had to do more than support his elbow, but close his fist and keep his index finger out to even hit a button. She was incredibly disrespectful to his family’s culture to insist that his mom change the radio. It’s her car and she, as the driver has to be in a good headspace. I think “mental age” is problematic, but hopefully with more voices like yours, we will get to a better way to define differences in abilities.

I agree with you that tons of people with mild and moderate ID should not be forbidden their right to their own sexuality, or to consenting sexual and romantic interpersonal relationships. And you're also right that some people are non verbal, but they are clearly intelligent/cognitively able. But Derrick is not one of those people. He lacks both speech, and the cognition that having said speech typically suggests. This man is clearly PROFOUNDLY disabled, and the woman is neurotypical and leagues above him in cognitive ability. By necessity, an imbalance of cognition and intellect that vast renders true informed consent impossible. PLUS she was acting as his teacher, PLUS she was typing his responses for him with a fraudulent "communication" technique. His family treats him exactly the way they should: They show him great respect, care, and consideration. They try to help him improve his communication and living skills, and they treat him lovingly at the level where he's at. You may not like it, but the reality is that Derrick is on the level of a 6-12 month old (an infant), so infantilizing him is, frankly, very appropriate to his developmental level. You have CP, but this man has CP, and profound ID, and it appears he may be on the autism spectrum as well. He is completely different from you, so please don't paint every disabled person with the same broad brush. Oh, and regarding your issue with "mental age"---it has less to do with being a true equivalency, or claiming that it's their chronological age. Rather, it serves as a quick, comprehensive, and general way to establish a frame of reference for caretakers about what to expect, and how to provide appropriate care and support.

For me she crossed a professional and ethical boundary, the power imbalance really bothered me first. Your commentary really fills gaps in the documentary. Thank you, this documentary has really bothered me

Hi Erica, I appreciate your perspective on the issue. I just finished this documentary. I don't have cerebral palsy, but I have autism and I am moderately functional and require people to help me in my day to day life and some more significant help in other aspects of my life, as well. I agree with what you said about IQ, too. There are people with disabilities deemed "high IQ" and verbal, but require significant help in their lives, just like those deemed "low IQ" and nonverbal or minimally verbal. I think the documentary should have pushed more about how the relationship was inherently wrong because she was his teacher and she breached a huge ethical and moral boundary. She took advantage of him mainly due to that, but they tried to stress it entirely was due to his limited "mental age". I thought the same thing you did about someone having good and bad days with wanting to talk (in any capacity like via a device or anything else) and I wish they had gone further into Derrick's life. I was confused because at one point it sounded like they said he was able to write an essay with a completely different aide who was with him in class and Anna wasn't there. I'm not sure if I understood that part correctly or if I got confused. Either way, it was mainly wrong because of the power dynamic, rather than his disability in and of itself.

If a man was “in love” and having sex with a nonverbal woman who wore diapers and couldn’t communicate her basic needs to her family, there would be no discussion or ambiguity about it. The whole world would be against him.

If Derrick had the profound insight to write essays, you don’t think he would’ve communicated his BASIC needs like going to the bathroom? He didn’t just have cerebral palsy. He had had strokes as well. There’s no evidence that was communicating and it couldn’t be replicated.

i agree with you 100% that derrick's and other disabled people's perspectives were missing, and the documentary perpertuates harmful ableist stereotypes. that being said, what is your opinion on facilitated communication and its scientifical validity? because that's the main point for me. like, if she's using a debunked, unreliable method of communication, that immediately puts into question if it was consensual, regardless of whether he is capable of consent or not

OMG you are vilest person to ever walk this earth! Bet Canada is so very proud to call you a citizen!!!

The documentary was about Derricks personal disabilities and not talking about the broad spectrum of how CP affects people. Derricks mother said he was a little 'off' from birth, and he had a few strokes when he was a toddler. It wasnt necessarily his CP but he also has major mental setbacks from his strokes as well. If he was so intellectually abled that hes writing essays about the black disabled experience -- then he would most CERTAINLY be able to articulate better even just pointing at things around the house or making sounds. Like for example, when the mother explains how Anna told the familly that Derrick and her were 'in love' and the mother told her to get out of the house and there was an argument. If Derrick was really THERE (as in he was actually in love with this woman and made plans to move in with her like Anna said he did) he would have had an outburst of his own right? Wouldnt he be mad at his mother or upset that Anna had to leave and he wasnt being respected as an adult? There was no mention of how Derrick reacted to the situation so Im guessing he had no reaction to it. Hes not locked behind his disability, he can walk and vocalize, he can point to things and dance to music. Its not like hes a vegetable and cant move or express himself. Hes intelligent but as far as consent I dont think his maturity level rises to that level whatsoever. She took advantage of him

8:20 You hit the nail right on the head with that point: regardless of consent, a facilitator seeking a romantic relationship with their typer is unprofessional and a conflict of interest to say the least. I am a special education teacher specifically in the field of facilitated communications, so while your professor hit on many great points in the field, the fact you just brought up trumps everything.

Blaire white stands up for the ACTUAL trans community! She is absolutely NOT a detrement to the trans community!🤦

I don't think The dad challenge has been ableist, not from the few videos I've seen him do anyway 🤷

Can I just say that I am so proud that I have just accepted a temporary position with CUNY (Staten Island) precisely because they attract students just like Erica. I cannot wait to work for them.

I was always uncomfortable with the way Stephanie Harlowe talked about victims in her true crime videos, thank you so much for talking about this!!!

I appreciate your contribution on this, but I disagree on a few points. You have to remember his mother and brother have been looking for ways to get Derrick to communicate beyond the sign language that he’d been using. That’s why John approached Anna in the first place. People act like they didn’t want him to have independence when the truth is because of his conditions he cannot. Yes, there are many people with CP who have no mental barriers. Derrick is not one of them. He was diagnosed as non verbal with severe mental re+ardation by several doctors. His family desperately wanted Facilitated Communication to work for him. They wanted him to be able to express himself. He was not able. It was all Anna. If he was able to communicate his love for red wine over beer, why didn’t he ever communicate that he had to use the restroom? Why didn’t he write that he was hungry instead of banging on the refrigerator? Why did he never communicate that he had a bad dream, had an itch, that he wanted to do a particular activity? The truth is Anna Stubblefield took advantage of a disabled man who could not consent. She got off easy and I wish she was under the jail instead of giving interviews about the man that she raped. I do agree that people with disabilities are often infantilized, but in this case, with a non-verbal man who wore diapers and could barely walk on his own, this treatment was justified. Anna Stubblefield is a manipulative rapist, end of story. The whys don’t matter.

You are beautiful. Congrats on the degree!!!!!!

adult children 😂😂😂😂

New subscriber!!! Thanks for making this, I hope more people in the disability community speak out on this too. 🙌🙌

Yes, I wish that we got more from Derrick’s perspective in the documentary or at least an attempt to communicate with him about what happened. However, Anna was wrong because of the power imbalance. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tries to have an inappropriate relationship with someone else in the future.

Thank you for this. I've avoided the doc and discourse knowing they'd be a n ableist car crash. So damaging and painful.

This is the conversation I felt has been missed in the discourse on the doc.

Stephanie bragged about doing drugs on one of her videos and at that point I lost patience with her. She’s a mother and should know better than to normalise drug use!!!! It’s not cool and it’s not hip. She is also a massive know it all. I agree with all you have very politely stated 👍

I hadn't listened to S&S since the first couple seasons, and I'm shocked of how toxic he is. The way he presented the mentally ill as "evil" in some of the early episodes turned me off (ultimately why I stopped listening). I had always chalked it up to blatant ignorance, but it seems to be deliberate. Very sad.

I’m sorry, you are being very irresponsible with this video. Facilitated communication has been thoroughly debunked, please look it up. They were not able to get D to repeat any of the things he supposedly said to the professor when working with other FC specialists. She was using him, and taking advantage of a disabled person- you say you study disability justice, you should know that disabled people are overwhelmingly victims of sxual assault.

I agree with you and I think this synopsis of the documentary will start a conversation that needs to be had. Disabled people should not be cut off from the sexual part of life.

Thank you for this! The commentary I’ve seen completely lacks nuance and feeds into ableist perspectives of intellectual capacity. I do feel like the woman was projecting a lot onto Dman (and it was a giant red flag that she wouldn’t call him by the name he told her he’d like to be called) and there’s a gross abuse of power on her part. I did also feel like Dman’s mother was deeply uncomfortable with him having any sort of sexuality and didn’t see him as a man

I watched this documentary and found a startling lack of perspective on the side of the "victim". I honestly felt like it was a family that was failing to cope with his sexuality or even see him as a sexual being and Infantalalizing him. Thank you for your video.

I hope that the light currently being shone on SH's _true_ nature, will help her unhinged follwers to see your points more clearly once they finally decide to put down their rose-tinted glasses.

Thank you for this.

I'm a diasbled person who is also very into disability activism and I just wanna say thank you so much for your nuanced take on this. Way too many people are taking the documentary at face value and ignoring the giant flaws that both it and the court case/tial have. You touched on one of the main flaws that bugged me the most about the whole thing; the lack of perspective from disabled people themselves. As you said, there was only one perspective they got, which wasn't even Derrick's but from someone who was your professor. The whole documentary and court case/trial were just a bunch of abled people speculating about what happened based on assumptions, outdated ideas and information, and their biases. I really think they could've done more to AT LEAST try to get Derrick's perspective on what happened. The fact that they didn't even try AT ALL to see what he had to say despite the fact that he is allegedly the victim made me so upset that I was yelling at the tv. It made me feel like they don't even actually care about him or what may have happened to him, that they just think the idea that someone like him could have agency and could use it to express the desire for love and intimacy has to be impossible or absurd or something along those lines. Like that idea doesn't fit into their worldview of disabled people and so they had to reject it instead of facing the cognitive dissonance it causes head on so that their worldview can change for the better. No one cared about ableism (that word was never even used once during the documentary despite it being at the center of the whole situation, which is itself absolutely wild to me) or getting at the truth of what happened, they just wanted to uphold the status quo that society has built around how disabled people are viewed no matter how wrong or incomplete it is, no matter the harm it causes to disabled people. It also really bugged me that Derrick kept being infantilized by almost everyone and that it seemed like they couldn't imagine not doing that to him. Like you said when you were talking about the outdated concept of "mental age", disabled people are whatever age they are and that's that. Derrick is an adult. He may need assistance and have issues with verbal communication, but that doesn't make him stop being a grown man who will have normal grown man desires. Wanting to exercise autonomy is what adults (and children but that's a different discussion) do. In fact it's what they need on some level in order to be healthy, happy, and fulfilled. They have yet to internalize the fact that if they would be demoralized and depressed if their autonomy was constantly ignored or denied for their whole adult life, then so would literally anyone else, including disabled people! Anyways, thank you again for making this video. It was very nice to see an educated, nuanced take from someone else with a disability instead of from an abled person that doesn't know what they are talking about :)

Help me with this. I do not pretend to be well educated on the topic of disability. I only have an associates degree in art I'll be honest, so you are by far more educated than me. I just finished the documentary and at the very end the mother says that Derrick masturbates now and that she has to give him medication. Is the problem that he is doing this at inappropriate times and places or is the problem just that he masturbates? Don't disabled people still have the right to orgasm like the rest of us? That bit at the very end threw me off to be honest. Idk. And like I said I do not pretend to know anything on the matter. Just as a person watching it seemed weird to me how she phrased it and her body language.

Thank you for sharing your perspective! It is much needed with all of the dominant abelist discourse flying around. Derrick / Dman is just made a victim, with no agency. That whole 'mental age' thing is bs, as you called it. Keep up the good work ♥️✨

😊😊

😊😊😊😊😊😊

Just curious; what is your opinion on facilitated communication? I see your point entirely here but personally as an autistic person it seems like Stubblefield used this technique as a way to sexually assault him. The two of them indefinitely had a power imbalance. They showed Dereck was able to communicate using physical objects (touching the fridge to show he wants food) but they didn’t try to use (or at least disclose if they did) other forms of communication like an IPad with images of the things he wants to say.

After what she did to those teenage boys i grew to just hate Marinda sings I loved her as a kid because i could relate to her because I'm tone deaf 😂 I'll sing no matter what

As an Autistic person I used to like her as a kid and I was 12 and i watched haters back off I knew her brother was deaf and stuff but when all the predatory allegations came out I hated Colleen Ballingar i hope her kids are safe around her 😢

First, congratulations on your degree! Like you said, we really need to listen to people within the community because their insight is so valuable. I’m so thankful that your channel exists because I’ve heard some incredibly ableist comments regarding this story.