Another example of how screwed up our justice system is. This woman could get 40 years for actions with no demonstrable ill intent. Why not convict her of a lesser charge and let her off with a slap on the wrist. I guess because she's not rich and famous she can't get 3 years of jail time like Mike Tyson whose actions were obviously worse.
41
Describing Marjorie Crossley's innovation of FC, Engber writes: "But her work would not become widely known until a Syracuse professor of education named Douglas Biklen visited Crossley’s Melbourne clinic in 1988."
Controversy on the efficacy of FC aside, it is maddening to me to read about yet another example of a woman's work that "doesn't become widely known" until a man steps into her spotlight.
Controversy on the efficacy of FC aside, it is maddening to me to read about yet another example of a woman's work that "doesn't become widely known" until a man steps into her spotlight.
22
My goodness, these incidents are remarkable for the attention they get despite 120 years of writings in psychology that have analyzed aberrant behaviour from every conceivable angle, including the one where patient and doctor become lost in the therapy together and can't get out.
It's not a laughing matter, but the question "Who's the crazy one?" is captured perfectly in an old Woody Allen joke about the man who goes to the psychiatrist to complain about his brother who thinks he's a chicken, but who the man doesn't want to get better because "they need the eggs". The jury could only conclude that Anna Stubblefield needed the eggs, too.
It's not a laughing matter, but the question "Who's the crazy one?" is captured perfectly in an old Woody Allen joke about the man who goes to the psychiatrist to complain about his brother who thinks he's a chicken, but who the man doesn't want to get better because "they need the eggs". The jury could only conclude that Anna Stubblefield needed the eggs, too.
15
Readers, you do not know DJ has the mind of a 3 year old. As the writer states, there are no tests to accurately measure the IQ of someone as physically handicapped as DJ. It is my professional opinion that labeling someone like DJ with a low IQ is damaging. This testing should never be done. Stubblefield was wrong to enter a sexual relationship, but we do not know anything else.
DJ has spent his entire life be ignored by strangers. I wonder how many of you would give him the courtesy of a simple glance and "hello" if you walked by him today? Was he using FC? I don't know. Was he in love with his therapist? I don't know. Does he have a way to communicate? No. His he smart? Readers, you do not know the answer. Don't judge him. The next time you see someone like DJ with his family out and about, stop, look him in the eye and tell him how nice it is to see him having a good day with his family. It is the least you can do for someone who has lived their life being ignored.
DJ has spent his entire life be ignored by strangers. I wonder how many of you would give him the courtesy of a simple glance and "hello" if you walked by him today? Was he using FC? I don't know. Was he in love with his therapist? I don't know. Does he have a way to communicate? No. His he smart? Readers, you do not know the answer. Don't judge him. The next time you see someone like DJ with his family out and about, stop, look him in the eye and tell him how nice it is to see him having a good day with his family. It is the least you can do for someone who has lived their life being ignored.
22
How would we react to this story if Anna Stubblefield were a black man and DJ were a white woman?
29
I think that there are a couple of things here. While it goes beyond professional ethics to enter sexual relationships, we have to understand that a person with low IQ test score should not mean one has to be asexual their entire life, either. Plus one has to take into account the knowledge one has learned since the last test (for example, if one was tested in high school but learned more things as an adult, this might not be accurate).
I think the two were in love, and should be realized as a legitimate romantic relationship. I know a non-verbal person who is in love and dating, as well as some in wheelchairs, and some with other disabilities like Autism.
Our court system needs to look beyond the fact that some people with non-verbal or low IQs can develop a romantic relationship. Many of these IQ tests only test a small set of knowledge, and the skills for romance aren't always a part of it. This is what a court needs to evaluate. Plus, with Anna as a partner, could the two function as a couple with or without support in the community? While not all people with disabilities could parent a child, there is nothing wrong with them living together or even having sexual relationships with birth control and condoms, for example. In fact, a romantic partner could be one's best natural support they could ever have.
I think the two were in love, and should be realized as a legitimate romantic relationship. I know a non-verbal person who is in love and dating, as well as some in wheelchairs, and some with other disabilities like Autism.
Our court system needs to look beyond the fact that some people with non-verbal or low IQs can develop a romantic relationship. Many of these IQ tests only test a small set of knowledge, and the skills for romance aren't always a part of it. This is what a court needs to evaluate. Plus, with Anna as a partner, could the two function as a couple with or without support in the community? While not all people with disabilities could parent a child, there is nothing wrong with them living together or even having sexual relationships with birth control and condoms, for example. In fact, a romantic partner could be one's best natural support they could ever have.
18
A person in an allegedly therapeutic relationship should be punished for using that relationship for personal ends of any kind--such as "borrowing" money.
That said, the idea that a male is "abused" under any circumstances by having an act of intercourse imposed upon him, and that the perpetrator should be punished, is very peculiar. I don't accept it. Let's say some woman by force or threats got me unwillingly to have intercourse with her. So, she should go to prison? I don't think so.
We're headed towards where men can and have the right to change instantly into women, at will, and vice versa. Maybe that should alert you to the fact that--guess what, men are really different from women!
We're already far into the era of "sex for the intellectually disabled." Yes, the general view is that if they don't object to it, it's good for them--at least when both are disabled. Of course, that doesn't impinge upon Justice Holmes's controversial view that "three generations of imbeciles is enough."
I remember a case some time ago where it was found that a certified-insane male had had sex repeatedly with an intellectually-disabled female, in some kind of asylum. He couldn't be punished legally because he was insane. When asked about these experiences, she said they had been "nice."
Maybe you just can't believe that this was her reaction. Too bad, then.
That said, the idea that a male is "abused" under any circumstances by having an act of intercourse imposed upon him, and that the perpetrator should be punished, is very peculiar. I don't accept it. Let's say some woman by force or threats got me unwillingly to have intercourse with her. So, she should go to prison? I don't think so.
We're headed towards where men can and have the right to change instantly into women, at will, and vice versa. Maybe that should alert you to the fact that--guess what, men are really different from women!
We're already far into the era of "sex for the intellectually disabled." Yes, the general view is that if they don't object to it, it's good for them--at least when both are disabled. Of course, that doesn't impinge upon Justice Holmes's controversial view that "three generations of imbeciles is enough."
I remember a case some time ago where it was found that a certified-insane male had had sex repeatedly with an intellectually-disabled female, in some kind of asylum. He couldn't be punished legally because he was insane. When asked about these experiences, she said they had been "nice."
Maybe you just can't believe that this was her reaction. Too bad, then.
3
A lot of people like Anna Stubblefield who hate white people for being white aren't quite right in the head. A 40 year sentence seems excessive for somebody whose sanity probably has never been that firmly grounded.
15
I sure hope her sentence can be appealed. What good does it do to anybody, including " the state" or "the people," for her to be in jail probably even after D.J. dies?
13
Even if profoundly disabled people have access to FC, it is unclear that they will have also learned to read, an essential prerequisite to expressing yourself with the written word.
12
A person socialized by her parent to have complete faith in the power of a technique uses it to hold imaginary two-way conversations with someone who's not really there, and becomes totally convinced of the reality of the experience.
Anna Stubblefield's case is sad and disturbing, but pretty much the same thing happens when a person holds conversations with God. People want to believe.
Anna Stubblefield's case is sad and disturbing, but pretty much the same thing happens when a person holds conversations with God. People want to believe.
26
I find her tactic to deal with anyone who questioned F.C. was to claim their reservations were "hate speech" Much like many progressives, her primary goal was to silence opposition. She could offer no objective proof F.C. worked, so she resorted to silencing her opponents. Brilliant...
7
Glaringly unethical behavior by a professor of ethics is inexcusable.
Grossly inappropriate punishment for such behavior is indefensible.
Grossly inappropriate punishment for such behavior is indefensible.
38
There is absolutely no doubt that she seduced DJ. Step by step she methodically trapped him into a sexual involvement with her. Did she ever explicitly bring up what she claimed was a mutual growing romantic interest with his legal guardians before sex was involved? She is the one who introduced DJ to porn -- did she get the consent of his guardians beforehand? When DJ's guardians demanded she leave both him and them alone, she continued to harass them. That is how criminal charges were brought in the first place. According to this article Stubblefield's own father admits she fully expected to be found not guilty of the charges and was then planning to somehow gain custody of DJ! DJ and his family need to be protected from this highly intelligent and dangerous predator -- that is why she should be forced to serve time in prison.
20
I had not intended to read all of that but the situation is fascinating. I question though, why she and her mother were one of the only ones who succeeded at FC with DJ. It leads me to believe that there was a lot of "wishful thinking" on her part. That said, I think she really does believe she and DJ were in love. But I think he was just a pawn in her delusions and that is really sad.
10
There is no justice achieved by this deeply wrong judicial path. This tragic miscarriage of justice is what the public prosecutors office spent their time and taxpayers money on????? Shame on them!!!
13
It is simply outrageous that a controlling, greedy family would do this to both their son, D.J., and Anna since when was willing to care for him. I think D.J.'s family does not want to give up whatever disability money they are getting no matter how small.
The anti FC academics act like they not only know everything, but that is has to be scientifically proven in a double blind study where they treat a human being like a lab rat.
The idea that the disabled have far greater capabilities than we credit them for needs to be accepted. It does not need to be "academically proven". We have to begin to believe in and see the potential of all of those with disabilities and not the negatives.
Real Love know no boundaries. It doesn't have lists, a shape, a bank account, etc. Putting this woman in prison is the justice system gone wrong. She is not the problem. D.J.'s family is the problem.
The anti FC academics act like they not only know everything, but that is has to be scientifically proven in a double blind study where they treat a human being like a lab rat.
The idea that the disabled have far greater capabilities than we credit them for needs to be accepted. It does not need to be "academically proven". We have to begin to believe in and see the potential of all of those with disabilities and not the negatives.
Real Love know no boundaries. It doesn't have lists, a shape, a bank account, etc. Putting this woman in prison is the justice system gone wrong. She is not the problem. D.J.'s family is the problem.
10
I do not think Ms. Stubblefield should have to serve time in prison, though I believe she should not be permitted any contact with DJ, or any other mentally or physically vulnerable person under her "care". But I also do believe that higher vs. lower human intellectual/educational expectations of other human beings (AND of other species ie., elephants, dolphins, etc.) is a valid point. I am a retired public school librarian who has experience with multi-handicapped students who visited our library on a weekly basis. At first, the other students and I were uncomfortable with students who came with their aides for a full period, mainly, I found out later, so they could enjoy the freedom of being out of their wheelchairs, and sit on the beanbag chairs I provided for relaxed reading and relief from hard student chairs. But we all soon became comfortable with them and the sound of the suctioning of their airways in an otherwise silent library setting, issued them library cards, and they checked out books as usual. They had picture/word pads on their wheelchair desks which they used, and I never doubted that they were much more intelligent than most people thought.
15
Don't know how to absorb this story.
One thing for sure Anna should not be sent to jail.
You cannot overlook the fact that she sacrificed her whole life for D.J whatever her motivation.
D.J at least found one person in his life that was prepared to be romantically involved with him.
Anna may have had her own psychological issues but sending her to jail makes no sense and does not help anybody
One thing for sure Anna should not be sent to jail.
You cannot overlook the fact that she sacrificed her whole life for D.J whatever her motivation.
D.J at least found one person in his life that was prepared to be romantically involved with him.
Anna may have had her own psychological issues but sending her to jail makes no sense and does not help anybody
27
I am astonished that in the comments so far few, if any, people are questioning the foundation of this case, which is that DJ was determined to have the mental capacity of an 18 month or three year old, depending on which account they read. While there is currently no standardized assessment for intelligence in a severely physically disabled person, DJ’s level had to be arrived at by failing the standardized IQ test. How accurate can that possibly be? An able bodied, intelligent, dyslexic person will often fail the test, revealing little about their actual capacity and intelligence.
I believe that DJ is capable of thought, questions, opinion, warmth and intelligence when working with supportive assistance. The fact that he would not type with his mother and brother does not worry me at all, as they were the people involved in his limited, isolated lifestyle.
I think the content of this case should be viewed again through the lens of DJ being a thinking, feeling, eager to learn person. His participation in lectures and his auditing of a 400 level graduate class should be seen as proof of his broader life that became available through Facilitated Communication. We should not see his physical appearance, limitations or lack of ability to speak as barriers to his humanity and emerging personality. We should not consider the fact that he wears diapers to mean he cannot have or want a sexual or romantic life.
I believe that DJ is capable of thought, questions, opinion, warmth and intelligence when working with supportive assistance. The fact that he would not type with his mother and brother does not worry me at all, as they were the people involved in his limited, isolated lifestyle.
I think the content of this case should be viewed again through the lens of DJ being a thinking, feeling, eager to learn person. His participation in lectures and his auditing of a 400 level graduate class should be seen as proof of his broader life that became available through Facilitated Communication. We should not see his physical appearance, limitations or lack of ability to speak as barriers to his humanity and emerging personality. We should not consider the fact that he wears diapers to mean he cannot have or want a sexual or romantic life.
15
I understand that parents trying to help their kids, but why no officers of the University or are there over lookers for people working with the public . This makes not to trust Doctors . Money and fame , very sad story
2
Interestingly enough one must realize that those who are developmentally disabled, the autistic and others who are determined to present with diminished intelligence, are human. If one is to be considered human, then one must accept that sexuality is a component of being human. Commonsense tells us that everyone regardless of intelligence will find a way to communicate with one's world. Even a lack of communication can be interpreted as a type of communication. One is still faced with answering the question of if a 35 year old developmentally disabled man might possess the capacity to desire a sexual union with someone. We forget that cerebral palsy victims usually possess normal intelligence. If that is correct, thenI would hope that the NJ court system might overturn this case. There can be no justice when evidence, even if contrary to what one might accept is excluded within the concept of a trial, justice is absent.
11
This is a very disturbing story for many reasons, not the least of which is the sexual relationship that occurred. It doesn't seem to have entered Stubblefield's mind that D.J. may not have been as handicapped as everyone thought, but not as talented as she thought. Her actions led to her conviction. If D.J. was as intelligent and lucid as she claimed, he would have been asking for her and found a way to communicate with her. What I see in this is a very intelligent woman substituting her wishes and knowledge for that of a handicapped person's family with no proof that the person was able to consent to sex or enter into a mature relationship.
I don't know if she deserved to go to prison but I'm not sure her actions left anyone any choice. It's one thing to advocate for someone whom you believe is being mistreated. It's quite a different story to say you're in love with them when they cannot respond in kind unless you are there. She damaged a family and may have hurt someone who had no power to say no. That's the uncomfortable part of this whole story.
I don't know if she deserved to go to prison but I'm not sure her actions left anyone any choice. It's one thing to advocate for someone whom you believe is being mistreated. It's quite a different story to say you're in love with them when they cannot respond in kind unless you are there. She damaged a family and may have hurt someone who had no power to say no. That's the uncomfortable part of this whole story.
21
Where are Stubblefield's children in all of this? In any divorce, the children need to be taken into account, and their needs met by both their parents, but I bring it up because Stubblefield seems so without boundaries, and so completely without an idea of her proper role in the lives of those close to her.
In the case of D.J., she was a professional--a teacher. In any situation her advances to him were inappropriate and--to the extent that it is not certain that D.J. was able to give consent--criminal. Her actual responsibility to her children, as evidence by her cry to the judge "What about my daughter?" seems only to have occurred to her at the last minute. It is a sad and complicated situation, but so often, complicated situations tend to obfuscate but not dismantle considerations of law and common sense. I agree with the commentators below who recommend psychiatric care, rather than jail, for Anna Stubblefield.
In the case of D.J., she was a professional--a teacher. In any situation her advances to him were inappropriate and--to the extent that it is not certain that D.J. was able to give consent--criminal. Her actual responsibility to her children, as evidence by her cry to the judge "What about my daughter?" seems only to have occurred to her at the last minute. It is a sad and complicated situation, but so often, complicated situations tend to obfuscate but not dismantle considerations of law and common sense. I agree with the commentators below who recommend psychiatric care, rather than jail, for Anna Stubblefield.
15
Through it all Anna has said her daughter was hurt more than anyone by the trial.
3
The verdict in this case is outrageous. The defendant must be considered innocent unless that his inability to consent is proved, and this has nothing to do with making a case for or against FC. The assumption that there is no way for an objective outsider to test D.J.'s intelligence or reading ability doesn't seem to be questioned. Did Anna's lawyers demand an evaluation by an expert in this field? How did they challenge the supposed finding of a toddler's IQ? The article doesn't say, and in fact barely covers the trial.
7
This trial was lost in pre-trial hearings where all this evidence you ask for was disallowed. The jury was not even allowed to know that anything was disallowed.
13
All those out bleating about the injustice of giving poor Anna Stubblefield a 40 year prison term should calm down. She hasn't been sentenced yet. And it's very improbable that she will get forty years. In all likelihood she will get a much lesser sentence than that. But she most certainly does deserve jail time. She had sex with a severely mentally and physically handicapped individual who did not have the mental capacity to consent. And her "good intentions" make not one whit of difference. She committed atrocious criminal acts. She should spend at least a decade in jail.
18
As a practicing speech therapist, certified by the the American Speech-Langauge-Hearing Association(ASHA) for over 40 year, and a therapeutic foster home provider for 23 years in the state of Vermont, I was appalled by the extent Ms. Stubblefield took her relationship with someone who was her student. This part of the story was unsettling to me and difficult to read.
HOWEVER, I must let your readers know that facilitated communication for some severely impaired autistic individuals is absolutely real. It can take years to teach but it opens the door for communication and changes lives. How do I know? I lived with an adult man who used it. I was not one of his facilitators but I was able to talk with him using FC when he was with one. What did his trusted facilitators do to help him. They simply stood beside him. No contact necessary. It took several years of training to get him to this point. This issue is very very complex as is autism. The field of speech pathology has been losing ground for years becoming a leader in this disorder. Failing to recognize FC role in helping some autistic children and adults is our downfall (yes, I have contacted ASHA). I lived to see a black man become president. I lived to see a pope I really respect and trust. I hope I live to see facilitated communication be recognized by my field. Mark my word, the day is coming.
HOWEVER, I must let your readers know that facilitated communication for some severely impaired autistic individuals is absolutely real. It can take years to teach but it opens the door for communication and changes lives. How do I know? I lived with an adult man who used it. I was not one of his facilitators but I was able to talk with him using FC when he was with one. What did his trusted facilitators do to help him. They simply stood beside him. No contact necessary. It took several years of training to get him to this point. This issue is very very complex as is autism. The field of speech pathology has been losing ground for years becoming a leader in this disorder. Failing to recognize FC role in helping some autistic children and adults is our downfall (yes, I have contacted ASHA). I lived to see a black man become president. I lived to see a pope I really respect and trust. I hope I live to see facilitated communication be recognized by my field. Mark my word, the day is coming.
9
Don't forget the case of Henry and Donna Lou Rayhons. Henry was the former state lawmaker accused of raping his wife in a nursing home. The nursing staff contended that since Donna couldn't give her consent since she suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. What a crock!
Touch itself and the warmth of human contact are crucial to life at its beginning, at its end, and during times of illness and disability. Having taught disabled youth cast into the purgatory of societal rejection, I witnessed their sensitivity, their enlarged emotional capacity, misunderstood in an analytic world that seems to devalue and deprecate our most delicate core - that core that is most transparent, most vulnerable in the young, the elderly and disabled. Think upon these things when you eventually languish in some rule-bound nursing home.
Is Anna guilty of taking advantage of D.J.? Maybe or maybe not, but as recent rape accusations have demonstrated, witch-hunting has been reincarnated in a new guise. I admire Anna for her dedication and perceptiveness. She deserves far more than our myopic legal judgement!
As a side observation, if Jesus were to come again, how long would he last in our idiotic society? I'd give him two days! Pity really - perhaps we have finally judged ourselves. And we have proved lacking.
Touch itself and the warmth of human contact are crucial to life at its beginning, at its end, and during times of illness and disability. Having taught disabled youth cast into the purgatory of societal rejection, I witnessed their sensitivity, their enlarged emotional capacity, misunderstood in an analytic world that seems to devalue and deprecate our most delicate core - that core that is most transparent, most vulnerable in the young, the elderly and disabled. Think upon these things when you eventually languish in some rule-bound nursing home.
Is Anna guilty of taking advantage of D.J.? Maybe or maybe not, but as recent rape accusations have demonstrated, witch-hunting has been reincarnated in a new guise. I admire Anna for her dedication and perceptiveness. She deserves far more than our myopic legal judgement!
As a side observation, if Jesus were to come again, how long would he last in our idiotic society? I'd give him two days! Pity really - perhaps we have finally judged ourselves. And we have proved lacking.
8
Great idea. Let's just ASSUME consent in every situation in which someone is incapable of communicating it. Nothing bad could come from that. I mean, they should consider themselves so LUCKY that anyone would want to have sex with them, shouldn't they?
I do think about what would happen if I were disabled and unable to communicate my wishes. The idea that some person--any person, since there is nothing in your method of consent that allows for objection to ANY PERSON who might approach a nonverbal individual--could have sex with me without my requesting it or having any say in it is absolutely horrible.
I do think about what would happen if I were disabled and unable to communicate my wishes. The idea that some person--any person, since there is nothing in your method of consent that allows for objection to ANY PERSON who might approach a nonverbal individual--could have sex with me without my requesting it or having any say in it is absolutely horrible.
14
A classic case of self-delusion and projection taken to the hilt. Still, I agree with others on these pages that 40 years in prison is too harsh for an obviously mentally disturbed person. I hope her lawyers, in their appeal, will be able to fashion an argument that gives the judge leeway for some alternative. But let there be no doubt: if Ms. Stubblefield continues to refuse to recognize her wrongful acts, incarceration will be the only choice.
6
If what the facilitator is doing is simply stabilizing the person's arm, why can't some form of similar mechanical (and therefore non-subjective) stabilization be devised to test the accuracy of the method?
To learn to read, I first had to learn the alphabet and then to spell. How is it that any person without any basic education, can emerge wholly competent, with only slight assistance, to form words and sentences?
To learn to read, I first had to learn the alphabet and then to spell. How is it that any person without any basic education, can emerge wholly competent, with only slight assistance, to form words and sentences?
30
I know. Apparently, the theory is, FC reveals that the person thought to be mentally disabled was actually, all this time for their whole life up to this point, quietly learning many things, just by absorbing from things going on around them without anyone being aware of this at all. So suddenly, given a keyboard and someone to move their arm for them, it is revealed that they are totally literate.
Now I can see that this could happen in very rare cases. But no normally it does not make any sense.
Now I can see that this could happen in very rare cases. But no normally it does not make any sense.
11
Certainly a compelling story. I started reading and couldn't put it down.
Author Engber does a fabulous job establishing a nonjudgmental attitude with respect to the scientific legitimacy of F.C. allowing reader's to reach their own conclusions about its validity and what took place between Stubblefield and D.J.
I wonder if any other readers happen to think the author tips his hand one way or the other regarding his own opinion about F.C.?
Daniel Enber, do you care to share your own thoughts now, outside the bounds of the story itself?
Author Engber does a fabulous job establishing a nonjudgmental attitude with respect to the scientific legitimacy of F.C. allowing reader's to reach their own conclusions about its validity and what took place between Stubblefield and D.J.
I wonder if any other readers happen to think the author tips his hand one way or the other regarding his own opinion about F.C.?
Daniel Enber, do you care to share your own thoughts now, outside the bounds of the story itself?
2
As a psychologist at a developmental center more than 20 years ago, I became involved in the FC controversy. Several members of the staff, particularly speech pathologists, were excited about instituting this process with non-verbal children, and cited early "successes" as evidence of the program's efficacy. I asked how children who hadn't learned to read could spell words correctly, employ proper grammar and utilize keyboards with a QWERTY array? This was met with anger and dismissal until I arranged a small scale double-blind test, in which the student and the facilitator were shown separate questions. In every case, the answer given was in response to the question seen by the facilitator. I believed in the sincerity with which these therapists tried to make the process work, but in the words of St. Bernard, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
35
What a remarkable story! What a shame it is a true one, though. So much tragedy: an accomplished, well-educated woman obsessed by a Romeo-and-Juliet delusion; a family betrayed by someone they trusted to help them; a disabled man caught in the middle.
It is sad to see someone with Anna's abilities succumb to her sick delusion. That she could not see the error of her thinking and behavior is a testimonial to the depth of her personal mental disorder. However, 40 years in the slammer seems rather heavy-handed and dismisses her lack of malicious intent. Not to dismiss the family's well-founded anger and contempt for her behavior toward their family member under the guise of "helping", but it seems to me that a simple injunction and protective order would have removed her from their lives without a felony conviction.
It is sad to see someone with Anna's abilities succumb to her sick delusion. That she could not see the error of her thinking and behavior is a testimonial to the depth of her personal mental disorder. However, 40 years in the slammer seems rather heavy-handed and dismisses her lack of malicious intent. Not to dismiss the family's well-founded anger and contempt for her behavior toward their family member under the guise of "helping", but it seems to me that a simple injunction and protective order would have removed her from their lives without a felony conviction.
48
When I hear the lexicon of caring from someone, my first instinct is to assume the speaker is compassionate and concerned. It's difficult to remember that those to do harm often don't appear like a movie villain, rubbing their hands and cackling. Time to recall the adage from Ethics of Our Forebearers- "it is not the words, but the deeds, that are essential".
4
I firmly believe in giving the so-called "disabled" every benefit of the doubt. I also believe that what society believes its outsiders can or cannot do rests strongly on society's largely imagined perceptions of what disabilities entail -- and that those "outsiders" -- the disabled, even senior citizens -- pay a very heavy price because of them. That said, this woman went way beyond the pale in turning her relationship with a client into a sexual one. That is simply wrong on so many levels, but the rest of the story raises very interesting questions on
whose lives we thwart and why.
whose lives we thwart and why.
6
Anna Stubblefield was wrong, period. Yet the abusers of disabled people in institutional settings - in my home state of Texas, hundreds of such abusers have been identified, most notoriously the attendants who forced residents to join a brutal "fight club" at a Corpus Christi group home - are also, horrifically wrong; yet, to my knowledge, nothing like a forty-year sentence has been contemplated or imposed. Does society believe that deluded, but (in their minds) well-meaning, abusers whould be punished more than vicious, intentional bullies? Looks like it.
9
Unfortunately, we can't know the damage or lack of damage to D.J. due to these sexual experiences. That is the problem with people in positions of trust getting into these kinds of relationships..that's why there are laws for those in the helping professions. That's why we get trained and supervised.
Having strong emotions does not mean we should act on them. Restraint is not a bad word, but using it is often so painful to us. That is heresy to some. As the meme put it, "Act with you heart, but bring your brain with you." And if you can't meld you heart with your intellect, doing nothing is best.
Having strong emotions does not mean we should act on them. Restraint is not a bad word, but using it is often so painful to us. That is heresy to some. As the meme put it, "Act with you heart, but bring your brain with you." And if you can't meld you heart with your intellect, doing nothing is best.
9
Makes the Mary K. LeTourneau story seem wholesome.
14
I know Anna Stubblefield. I worked with her at Rutgers. As usual, this forum brings out both insightful comments and, unfortubately, trolls and misanthropes. Whatever anyone may think about Anna's judgment or her mental state, Anna Stubblefield does not belong behind bars. She has lost nearly everything already -- family, career, friends, and standing in the community. I have no doubt, knowing her and (by testimony of others) her mother's long and tireless commitment as advocates for those with disabilities, that her objectives were far from prurient, despite her clear lack of prudence in dealing with DJ. As for the certainty of the psychological community that FC is based on bad science, well, that may prove out. Yet I have not forgotten the many errors of that same community, content to rest on the "fact" that homosexuality was a mental illness, that electric shock therapy and lobotomy were appropriate therapeutic tools, and which even today pathologizes a range of common and quite normal human emotional challenges, and has millions of Americans pumped with drugs rather than approach their challenges holistically, treating human beings as sacks of chemicals and social units rather than as souls. Anna may need intervention, but she will surely not get it in prison. The word "criminal," at least in her case (but also in many others) is but a pedantic and technical label. Anna is about as much a threat to society as a wren. Let her go.
35
Wonderful to hear an informed opinion based on personal knowledge of the accused!
2
"...and misanthropes"? Your comment clearly tells me that you are extremely biased in favor of Stubblefield, who is a former colleague and probably a friend. Care to look in the mirror? You disregard the facts of the case, and her admissions in court. You say she deserves no jail time, i think because she was a former colleague , a white woman, has a PhD(like doctors never commit crimes, i got news for you pal), a caring and loving person, etc. etc. "Anna may need intervention...". No, she needs jail- 20 years at least, maybe you are the one along with her family who needs intervention. If let loose she'll just find another disabled, black man with no way to defend himself , to prey on, in my opinion. I'm still shaking my head with this one. Where's a Zen stick when you need one....
8
Those of you who think Stubblefield was doing DJ a favor by having sex with him, should read today's Times piece by Bill Pennington, "Standing up for Women in a Man's Game". I suppose that all fathers who rape their daughter's didn't mean to do harm , that it felt "good" to them". These are the comments made by many Stubblefield supporters justifying her acts with DJ.
26
Ms. Stubblefield will be joining the ranks of the mentally ill incarcerated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/us/police-leaders-join-call-to-cut-pri...
Her seeming sincere belief this sadly disabled uneducated man would write grammatically correct sentences sounding like a English major shows her as clearly delusional. Did DJ consent, suffer any harm or enjoy the sexual part of their relationship? There is seemingly no way to know. If his guardian objects simply separating them permanently seems like a simple solution. Jailing her for years is pointless. Their is little deterrent effect as the number of people having sex after "falling in love" with severely disabled people destroying their marriage and abandoning their children I believe is near zero. Her actions are bizarre but handling them as criminal is not helpful. Had his mother not objected, DJ might be happily communicating, living with and having sex with his newly divorced college professor girlfriend.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/us/police-leaders-join-call-to-cut-pri...
Her seeming sincere belief this sadly disabled uneducated man would write grammatically correct sentences sounding like a English major shows her as clearly delusional. Did DJ consent, suffer any harm or enjoy the sexual part of their relationship? There is seemingly no way to know. If his guardian objects simply separating them permanently seems like a simple solution. Jailing her for years is pointless. Their is little deterrent effect as the number of people having sex after "falling in love" with severely disabled people destroying their marriage and abandoning their children I believe is near zero. Her actions are bizarre but handling them as criminal is not helpful. Had his mother not objected, DJ might be happily communicating, living with and having sex with his newly divorced college professor girlfriend.
12
"sadly disabled uneducated man would write grammatically correct sentences sounding like a English major"
I'm surprised so few have commented on this. It's the most obvious indications FC is bogus. D.J.'s comment "No one's been taken advantage of. I've been trying to seduce Anna for years and she resisted valiantly" right there .... oh he said that, did he? Wesley and P. must have thought they were in the Twilight Zone.
I'm surprised so few have commented on this. It's the most obvious indications FC is bogus. D.J.'s comment "No one's been taken advantage of. I've been trying to seduce Anna for years and she resisted valiantly" right there .... oh he said that, did he? Wesley and P. must have thought they were in the Twilight Zone.
32
She is a severely troubled woman who needed psychiatric care long before she started "working" with D. J. This is one of the clearest cases of transference I have ever heard of. She exploited D. J. and she tortured his mother and brother by substituting her judgment for theirs. What in the world was she thinking? As a professor of ethics and Africanca Studies, she violated every ethical canon in philosophy. Good riddance.
33
FC may not allow for authentic communication, but I think everyone would agree that an erection is a very clear form of communication.
Sadly, D.J. will probably never again experience one of the most pleasurable experiences that a man can have—and that apparently he wanted.
Because his parents are "looking out for HIS best interests."
Sadly, D.J. will probably never again experience one of the most pleasurable experiences that a man can have—and that apparently he wanted.
Because his parents are "looking out for HIS best interests."
9
An erection is a physiological reaction as much as an emotional one. Even infants can have tiny erections, as anyone who has ever changed a baby boy's diaper can attest. The fact the D.J. had an erection is no indication that he was aware of it, or why he had it, or what she was doing to him.
14
Male infants get erections. They are not communicating that they are seeking a sexual encounter. It is a nervous system response in an infant or an adult who is unable to experience the additional emotional response to sexual stimulation. There are men in comas who get erections.
15
People in comas can experience erections and even ejacuate. I doubt this would be regarded as "experiencing one of the most pleasurable experiences a man can have". Rather, if someone aided and abetted the "orgasm", they'd be guily of sexual assault.
14
One of the most crucial comments about supported typing in this article is in a caption. Marilyn Chadwick, who has been a professor at Syracuse University: ‘‘It looks like a dance, like you’re not doing a thing, but you’re really doing five things at once..." I have used this seemingly simple but actually quite intricate communication method with my 28-year-old nonverbal son who has autism almost since he lost the ability to speak due to childhood disintegrative disorder at three and a half. (Diagnosed by Yale: He had appropriate language and words in several languages by the age of three. And then lost the ability to speak.) Others who are well trained have used it with him as well. I have been trained to provide him sensory support by professors and other autism experts connected to two universities. Chadwick was hired by our local school district to provide training. My son's communication has been validated and continues to be validated.
17
i am so glad to finally read a comment form someone who has actually used the process. For me, it is a very complex energetic intricate dance of possibilities. Thank you
6
Have you ever watched the presentation mentioned in the article?
https://vimeo.com/22621954
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17489539.2012.674680?journalC...
https://vimeo.com/22621954
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17489539.2012.674680?journalC...
3
The first thing that came to mind when reading this sad and disturbing article involving Facilitated Communication was something I first read about in graduate school: the early 20th century phenomena of the horse known as Clever Hans, who supposedly could tell time and perform numerous mathematical functions, indicating the answers to questions by tapping his hoof. [The New York Times wrote about Clever Hans in 1904.] In 1907, the psychologist Oskar Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was actually responding directly to involuntary cues in the body language of the human trainer who was able to perform the math and who was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues. Wikipedia notes: "In honor of Pfungst's study, the anomalous artifact has since been referred to as the Clever Hans effect and has continued to be important knowledge in the observer-expectancy effect and later studies in animal cognition."
It appears that Ms. Stubblefield's unconscious needs and longings were directly, and apparently unconsciously, informing and creating D.J.’s ostensible communications. The story offers a profound and cautionary observation on the power of the unconscious mind and the dangers inherent in ignoring its role in projection and self-delusion.
It appears that Ms. Stubblefield's unconscious needs and longings were directly, and apparently unconsciously, informing and creating D.J.’s ostensible communications. The story offers a profound and cautionary observation on the power of the unconscious mind and the dangers inherent in ignoring its role in projection and self-delusion.
21
I do want comment on Ms. Stubblefield's judgment or lack there of. She is not the first person who has fallen in love with a multiply handicapped person. I do not believe she had full understanding of the process of the facilitated communication. Nobody really understands the energetic linking which occurs. Certainly not those on the jury who haven’t experienced the process. It needs open discussion. Difficult questions need to be asked and answered. Research has not done this. Unfortunately, as usual, those who might have some insight are not commenting.
A few public links the appeal team may want to look at, if they haven’t already. Please pass on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaby:_A_True_Story
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ghost-boy/id630742833?mt=11
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film)
A few public links the appeal team may want to look at, if they haven’t already. Please pass on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaby:_A_True_Story
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ghost-boy/id630742833?mt=11
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun_(film)
3
Seems to me that everyone is angry and upset over two people who only loved each other. Nobody should have been hurt but hurt they got because of a bunch of very small-minded people.
3
Does "Yes" always mean "Yes"?
Even if FC is voodoo science and "wrong", I still can't see the injustice done to DJ by Anna. She might seem to have technically "broken the law" because of the way the prosecution framed the charges, but from the sequence of events it does not look like she first got in to this relationship with any ulterior motive. In the final analysis, if two people were happy and were not harming anyone, then why should the law be allowed to destroy that happiness for them? Especially for DJ who progressed so well psychologically and regained control of his mental life to a large extent; and enjoyed the pleasures of falling in love despite his apparently cloistered existence
8
Your conclusions tell all of us that you believe FC not to be voodoo or wrong, for if it is voodoo(the evidence strongly supports that it is for no double blind study has shown it to work) then your conclusions have some merit. Stop wasting time and just say that you think FC is valid and that DJ did fall in love, otherwise, as the jury has concluded, DJ was raped by a self-centered , selfish, delusional, predatory woman, in my opinion. Don't try to twist things to get people to believe that DJ wasn't raped.
5
I you can't design a double blind experiment it throws the conclusion into question but does not invalidate it.
That only applies IF you accept her version of events. There is no scientifically valid evidence to support her assertions that DJ "said" any of the things attributed to him, or, even that he could. Further, the psychological advancement of which you speak only seems to have been demonstrated in the presence of Dr. Stubblefield. Blaming the family members for being inadequate facilitators, who could never get beyond the word "The" suggests there was an intelligence at the keyboard, but that it did not belong to DJ.
3
If DJ was woman and Anna was man, no one would have a doubt that what was done was wrong.
This professional, alone, with no other supporting evidence supporting his communication "heard" her fantasy. The exchange below pretty much sum up the self-affirming dialogue that Anna was generating though her FC efforts.
"Anna asked him if he might want to see some pornography, ... He demurred, typing out that in his view the women in porn are being exploited, and that, besides, Anna was more beautiful than any porn star, and he really wanted to be thinking only about her when they finally made love."
To the lawyer who wrote "who was harmed": with that logic every comatose, severely developmentally disabled, every single person incapable of consent would be available to whoever wanted to have sex with them. Unless of course it's a fertile woman who got pregnant, there would never be any "harm".
This professional, alone, with no other supporting evidence supporting his communication "heard" her fantasy. The exchange below pretty much sum up the self-affirming dialogue that Anna was generating though her FC efforts.
"Anna asked him if he might want to see some pornography, ... He demurred, typing out that in his view the women in porn are being exploited, and that, besides, Anna was more beautiful than any porn star, and he really wanted to be thinking only about her when they finally made love."
To the lawyer who wrote "who was harmed": with that logic every comatose, severely developmentally disabled, every single person incapable of consent would be available to whoever wanted to have sex with them. Unless of course it's a fertile woman who got pregnant, there would never be any "harm".
21
If one is to believe Ms. Stubblefield’s story, F.C. allowed D.J. to communicate for the first time and revealed a highly intelligent person within a severely impaired body. If one is to believe the family’s story, D.J. has the intelligence of a toddler and Ms. Stubblefield is a sexual predator or completely delusional. If one is to believe Ms. Stubblefield’s story, she and D.J. fell in love after working together and deeply communicating with each other over a two year span of time.
The jury did accept the family’s story, and she was convicted. However, all testimony about F.C. was ruled inadmissible by the court. This meant that the jury was unable to hear any testimony from Zach De Meo’s mother about how Ms. Stubblefield had, with the help of F.C., changed her son’s life. The testimony of professionals like Rosemary Crossly, who have used F.C. with success, was also excluded, as was the testimony of Shronda Jones, who used F.C. to help D.J. do his homework. That meant that only Ms. Stubblefield could tell about her use of F.C.
Perhaps, like psychotherapy and chiropractic, F.C. works only some of the time, but perhaps it did work in the case of Ms. Stubblefield and D.J. There is a social prejudice against severely physically disabled persons. If they can’t talk, if they can’t control their bodily movements, if they can’t focus their eyes, and if they wear diapers, then the assumption is that they must also be mentally disabled and incapable of consent and love.
The jury did accept the family’s story, and she was convicted. However, all testimony about F.C. was ruled inadmissible by the court. This meant that the jury was unable to hear any testimony from Zach De Meo’s mother about how Ms. Stubblefield had, with the help of F.C., changed her son’s life. The testimony of professionals like Rosemary Crossly, who have used F.C. with success, was also excluded, as was the testimony of Shronda Jones, who used F.C. to help D.J. do his homework. That meant that only Ms. Stubblefield could tell about her use of F.C.
Perhaps, like psychotherapy and chiropractic, F.C. works only some of the time, but perhaps it did work in the case of Ms. Stubblefield and D.J. There is a social prejudice against severely physically disabled persons. If they can’t talk, if they can’t control their bodily movements, if they can’t focus their eyes, and if they wear diapers, then the assumption is that they must also be mentally disabled and incapable of consent and love.
17
Strange association. Remind me again: what is something, a practice if you will, that works All The Time?
1
Like psychotherapy, Facilitated Communication should be able to establish its efficacy in a controlled, double-blind test. It has NEVER done so. The studies which have been done, and controlled for facilitator influence have demonstrated no significant, positive results. It shares the same scientific validity as automatic writing, ouija boards and magic 8-balls. If the failure to demonstrate success is ALWAYS placed on an "unskilled practitioner", the method itself cannot be validated. I can understand WHY people working with language impaired children and adults would desperately seek a method allowing them to communicate with their loved ones. At the same time, promoting false-hope with a pseudo-scientific veneer is wrong and harmful.
5
Ho when was DJ able to communicate so eloquently when as i understand it, he was barely literate? Able to communicate in a post-graduate level English language manner.
2
What a cast of strange fellows who would indict a woman whose life and intentions are pure~ for providing this man a life as a real man ...the only abuse in this case is the fundamentalism and christian hypocrisy this great nation is founded on .
1
This is a crazy story all the way around. An academic clinging to a delusional belief convinces herself that a vulnerable disabled man with profound intellectual disabilities wants her passionately, although he shows no interest in her sexually and the process was admittedly cumbersome. She then becomes obsessed with removing him from his family so she can leave her husband and kids. Sounds like a psychiatric hospital is far more appropriate than a jail cell.
17
I'm quite surprised by the numerous comments supporting Dr. Stubblefield and declaring that D.J. suffered no harm. Since D.J. cannot tell us himself, we cannot know what emotional and psychological damage may have been done by this monstrous betrayal of trust, but that doesn't mean there was none.
I think there's quite a double standard at play in many of these comments. If this was the story of a male doctor who had a sexual relationship with a preschool-age girl, would anybody be defending him on the basis that he sincerely believed the child shared his feelings? I would hope not.
I don't know that forty years is a reasonable sentence, although she's probably unlikely to get the maximum. But there's no doubt in my mind that this woman, who still seems to have no understanding of what she did here, does deserve prison time, just like any other sexual abuser.
I think there's quite a double standard at play in many of these comments. If this was the story of a male doctor who had a sexual relationship with a preschool-age girl, would anybody be defending him on the basis that he sincerely believed the child shared his feelings? I would hope not.
I don't know that forty years is a reasonable sentence, although she's probably unlikely to get the maximum. But there's no doubt in my mind that this woman, who still seems to have no understanding of what she did here, does deserve prison time, just like any other sexual abuser.
17
those who support her, in my view seem to want sex to be free and no consent is needed, caregivers should be allowed to have sex with their mentally disabled patients, and that adults should be able to have sex with kids, even parents, date rape is fine, and women who are drunk and dressed in "summer" clothes are looking for sex, "No" means "Yes" while drunk . The phrases, "he might have enjoyed it", "no harm", "they were in love", "she cared about him, " they bonded", etc. etc. have filled the "Comments" section..... a disgusting display of "progressive" regression.
10
jbw, you are assuming that DJ has the intelligence of a toddler. An aspersion in itself.
Simply astonishing. It's like the left-wing version of casting out demons. Only here, it's a burning desire for connection with an idealized, oppressed "victim of white racism and ableist thinking." White racism is real and powerful, but this case reeks of bad religion.
I agree with at least one commenter who said the author is too easy on F.C., which is clearly bunk and easily disproved. Perhaps in order to give the article dramatic tension, the writer resisted this conclusion for too long. Still, I hope we get more stories from this impressive reporter.
I agree with at least one commenter who said the author is too easy on F.C., which is clearly bunk and easily disproved. Perhaps in order to give the article dramatic tension, the writer resisted this conclusion for too long. Still, I hope we get more stories from this impressive reporter.
14
Please do not equate this nutty *professor* with the "left wing". I am sure that just as many as my fellow liberals find her actions to be delusional and disgusting as any group of conservatives.
16
IF Anna were pursuing this relationship legally, as well as ethically, she could have pursued having herself named DJ's guardian. Instead, she subverted protections for vulnerable adults and substituted her judgement for that of DJ's legal guardians: P & Wesley.
Whether DJ is capable of consent and the relationship was consensual, as she appears to believe, hinges, in part, on whether FC is a legitimate form of communication, but also on whether she forced herself on DJ and he was incapable of physically resisting. If the latter, no matter the validity of FC, she committed sexual assault.
What if staff at his adult daycare did what she did? Surely, they would have been charged. Suppose Wesley or P did the same thing. At a minimum, they would have been removed as guardians and charged.
Nevertheless, I am unclear why the judge is correct in not permitting FC's being used as part of her defense. Can she now appeal on the basis that this was inappropriately excluded? Yes, the state of NJ should not determine the scientific validity of FC. But, if this is an inappropriate role for the state, isn't the judge's decision to exclude a defense based on DJ's having given consent through the use of FC, in essence determining what he says the state cannot determined: the scientific validity of FC?
Whether Anna committed rape-which I tend to believe-is distinct from whether she received a fair trial. Even the worst criminal is entitled to a fair trial. Was hers fair?
Whether DJ is capable of consent and the relationship was consensual, as she appears to believe, hinges, in part, on whether FC is a legitimate form of communication, but also on whether she forced herself on DJ and he was incapable of physically resisting. If the latter, no matter the validity of FC, she committed sexual assault.
What if staff at his adult daycare did what she did? Surely, they would have been charged. Suppose Wesley or P did the same thing. At a minimum, they would have been removed as guardians and charged.
Nevertheless, I am unclear why the judge is correct in not permitting FC's being used as part of her defense. Can she now appeal on the basis that this was inappropriately excluded? Yes, the state of NJ should not determine the scientific validity of FC. But, if this is an inappropriate role for the state, isn't the judge's decision to exclude a defense based on DJ's having given consent through the use of FC, in essence determining what he says the state cannot determined: the scientific validity of FC?
Whether Anna committed rape-which I tend to believe-is distinct from whether she received a fair trial. Even the worst criminal is entitled to a fair trial. Was hers fair?
4
What a messed up country! When murderers get off for free, this slightly touched woman is sentenced to 40 years in jail, for what?! This is more absurd than Kafka. Shame on the D.J's family and shame on the prosecutors and the judge.
4
She has not been sentenced yet. If you read the complete article, you'd know that sentencing is set for early November and that she will be sentenced for two felony convictions, each with a potential sentence of 10 to 20 years.
In theory, she could be sentenced to 20 years for each count and serve them consecutively, which would be 40 years, but that is highly unlikely as she has no prior record. She is likely to be sentenced to two 10 year terms to be served concurrently (thus, 10 years in total, not 40).
In theory, she could be sentenced to 20 years for each count and serve them consecutively, which would be 40 years, but that is highly unlikely as she has no prior record. She is likely to be sentenced to two 10 year terms to be served concurrently (thus, 10 years in total, not 40).
2
Plus, with prison time reduced for good behavior, she could be incarcerated for 4 - 7 years.
1
Which probably means she'll be out in a year and a half. And there are enough desperate people out there, it's highly likely that someone else will take her on to "work with" their disabled loved one. Given that her academic career is likely over, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her set herself up as an independent counselor or therapist or FC "consultant" of some sort.
I'm not usually one arguing for long prison sentences but I wish there were a firmer way of seriously deterring this person from acting out her fantasies on vulnerable individuals. She needs to be permanently banned from any sort of role - even volunteer - in the "helping" professions.
I'm not usually one arguing for long prison sentences but I wish there were a firmer way of seriously deterring this person from acting out her fantasies on vulnerable individuals. She needs to be permanently banned from any sort of role - even volunteer - in the "helping" professions.
4
Ideology consists of three licenses: one is the logic license – arguments do nor have to make sense. One example is the attitude of the Nazis toward Jews. The second license is the pragmatic license – results are devoid of importance. The third is the moral license. I have a therapist in the family who works with severely handicapped people and I know how frustrating that kind of work usually is. As in so many cases, those Facilitated Communication supporters, unable to deliver results, created an ideology.
4
A sad and unclear tale. I believe she may have been deluded but meant no harm and doesnt deserve such a punishment, as many others say. By these definitions, tho, DJ. is incapable of consent and thus any sex he has is defined as abuse. So all people incapable of communication cannot ever have sex? Something not right in this. That surely deprives the disabled of power.
I hope that D.J.'s family takes Anna Stubblefield to civil court and sues her for damages. I think they should seek monetary damages.
5
also sue her family for the slanderous statements they've been making about DJ"s family. You can hear and read them of you Google it.
3
I do not want to comment on the case. I do believe however, she was naive about thought merging aspects of the process she was involved in. The lack of honesty and full disclosure of how partnered typing processes, like facilitated communication and rapid prompting method work, has lead to many many wrong decisions and tragedies.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, including facilitators, refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience. Anomalies such a atypical telepathy need to be openly discussed and acknowledged.
More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted! I am disillusioned by inability of people to step forward, if and when they see something amiss. Thus far, like the Wendrow Case, the GI GI Jordan Case, Stubblefield case and many others, I have been following since 1993. I continue to look like the only delusional person who has ever experienced a form of telepathy-nobody to take seriously. If your conscience directs you, please take the time to comment
and share your authentic opinion in mainstream media. Please do not moderate this comment before you do your homework.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, including facilitators, refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience. Anomalies such a atypical telepathy need to be openly discussed and acknowledged.
More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted! I am disillusioned by inability of people to step forward, if and when they see something amiss. Thus far, like the Wendrow Case, the GI GI Jordan Case, Stubblefield case and many others, I have been following since 1993. I continue to look like the only delusional person who has ever experienced a form of telepathy-nobody to take seriously. If your conscience directs you, please take the time to comment
and share your authentic opinion in mainstream media. Please do not moderate this comment before you do your homework.
2
the only way for it to be valid is by passing double- blind studies.. All other methods of testing are subjective and misleading.. show the proof, then we'll talk.
4
Fantastic read!
Just my opinion of course, but 40 years in prison for being a deluded romantic? I hope the judge thinks this through.
Just my opinion of course, but 40 years in prison for being a deluded romantic? I hope the judge thinks this through.
4
no, 20-40 years for being a predatory rapist who found her victim in a mentally and physically disabled man, with a mind of a baby. So many men posting supporting Stubblefield, adding support to the invalid theory that a woman can never rape a man, or child.
8
Anna has a Ph.D in Ethics and in my opinion, she was acting as a therapist - an untrained therapist, with no training in the ethics of doing therapy, no training in the professional limits and responsibilities of a therapy relationship. She was acting outside of her professional competency, and as a trained ethicist she should have realized the importance of acting within one's professional training or competence.
Maintaining professional boundaries is crucial. This is for the protection of a client, whose vulnerability must be kept in mind and protected. Boundaries are also for the protection of the therapist, in order to maintain objectivity and not "lose one's head" as Anna apparently did. In spades!
Sexual contact with a client is unethical and in most states also illegal. In some states, the law specifically recognizes that a client or patent is in such a vulnerable position, vis a vis the "power" or "authority" of the therapist, that the client is deemed unable to truly consent to a sexual relationship. And it is the responsibility of the therapist to prevent a sexual relationship, no matter how "in love" either party may feel. This is a duty! Anna had no training in this duty, but because she knowingly acted outside her competence, ignorance is no excuse.
It has worried me that philosophers have felt able to engage in relationships akin to therapy. Without the intensive training necessary.
Make yourself a promise. Stay within your competence.
Maintaining professional boundaries is crucial. This is for the protection of a client, whose vulnerability must be kept in mind and protected. Boundaries are also for the protection of the therapist, in order to maintain objectivity and not "lose one's head" as Anna apparently did. In spades!
Sexual contact with a client is unethical and in most states also illegal. In some states, the law specifically recognizes that a client or patent is in such a vulnerable position, vis a vis the "power" or "authority" of the therapist, that the client is deemed unable to truly consent to a sexual relationship. And it is the responsibility of the therapist to prevent a sexual relationship, no matter how "in love" either party may feel. This is a duty! Anna had no training in this duty, but because she knowingly acted outside her competence, ignorance is no excuse.
It has worried me that philosophers have felt able to engage in relationships akin to therapy. Without the intensive training necessary.
Make yourself a promise. Stay within your competence.
26
As a college professor, Ms. Stubblefield had surely been told many times that even consensual relationships between faculty and adult, fully capable students are disallowed because of the power imbalance between the parties. Even if not punished, such relationships are deeply unethical. If it's real love, the parties can wait until the power imbalance ends: i.e., when the student graduates. Doctors are not supposed to enter into relationships with patients, for the same reason.
D.J. was in a situation similar to that of a student, or patient, but far more vulnerable because not only was Anna teaching/treating/assisting him, she was his main channel of "communication", if we accept her assertion that what she helped him communicate were his own thoughts and words. The power imbalance was extreme and her sexual involvement with him was absolutely wrong.
D.J. was in a situation similar to that of a student, or patient, but far more vulnerable because not only was Anna teaching/treating/assisting him, she was his main channel of "communication", if we accept her assertion that what she helped him communicate were his own thoughts and words. The power imbalance was extreme and her sexual involvement with him was absolutely wrong.
30
How can so many people believe that he was abused? To say that she abused him is to diminish DJs own capabilities. Why not have a 3rd party work with DJ using FC? There are so many more questions than answers or fact.
3
What part of "FC" is a farce, and it's not "valid science" don't you understand or not have read in the article? In the future, read the article before posting, please.
7
Strange how all of the "facilitated typers" seem to universally turn out to be not just of normal intelligence, but miraculous geniuses.
10
In my experience, they appear to tapping higher levels of consciousness where all information is available. They come in educated. Typical people do not have this awareness, but some are able to serve as a bridge and grounding agent for these advance thought forms to come through.
Regarding the many FC as Ouija board references, there is a curious corrollary in poetic geniuses:
Yeats and his wife used automatic handwriting and sleep states. He asked the questions and she replied. Yeats did not direct her hand. The “spirits” said they were bringing him metaphors for poetry. Yet, his wife also seemed to direct replies, both to aid in his poetic process and to convince him that she was the right wife for him, although 25 years younger. She may have used the “spirits” unconsciously to direct their sex life.
Victor Hugo did table tapping séances for 2 ½ years while exiled from France on Jersey with family and friends. His son and his wife held the table; it would not move without them. Most messages sounded like pure Victor Hugo, even when he was not present. But others in the entourage got usable messages too. Hugo did not need spirits to spike his sex life. He had a permanent mistress and kept detailed records of his numerous conquests.
James Merrill and David Jackson, spent 20 years using a Ouija board method, providing Merrill with material for a 560-page poem, part of which won the Pulitzer prize. Merrill was convinced that the partners’ melded minds made it happen. They also got sexual messages.
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes had Ouija board sessions too. They didn't need sexual directives. But both were convinced that the best poetry was written by shutting down one part of the brain to allow the other to compose without conscious constraint.
Yeats and his wife used automatic handwriting and sleep states. He asked the questions and she replied. Yeats did not direct her hand. The “spirits” said they were bringing him metaphors for poetry. Yet, his wife also seemed to direct replies, both to aid in his poetic process and to convince him that she was the right wife for him, although 25 years younger. She may have used the “spirits” unconsciously to direct their sex life.
Victor Hugo did table tapping séances for 2 ½ years while exiled from France on Jersey with family and friends. His son and his wife held the table; it would not move without them. Most messages sounded like pure Victor Hugo, even when he was not present. But others in the entourage got usable messages too. Hugo did not need spirits to spike his sex life. He had a permanent mistress and kept detailed records of his numerous conquests.
James Merrill and David Jackson, spent 20 years using a Ouija board method, providing Merrill with material for a 560-page poem, part of which won the Pulitzer prize. Merrill was convinced that the partners’ melded minds made it happen. They also got sexual messages.
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes had Ouija board sessions too. They didn't need sexual directives. But both were convinced that the best poetry was written by shutting down one part of the brain to allow the other to compose without conscious constraint.
3
"Melded minds," I like that term. I have been a partner to many nonverbal people. I have heard from my partners, "join consciousness," "merging of thought forms." Seems the same to me. It is a profound experience. Two or more consciousnesses joined to gather is more powerful, insightful and profound than a single egocentric mind can produce. Perhaps that influenced Anna to fall in love with DJ. He may have supported and broadened her intellect.
1
What a terrible tragedy. As is stated in the blog by "Julie" no one sought out D.J.'s position. He is not being represented here. How is D.J.'s life better because Anna is not in it? She was devoted to him. She gave up her life for him because she feels that deeply and that this is what would start to make the world right. My husband is blind and people are afraid of him, or condescending, or they walk away mid-sentence even though he is a highly intelligent, educated man. This article upset him a great deal. You cannot assume that because someone communicates differently than you, or in a way that you are incapable of imagining doesn't exist. Locking the disabled in a room and keeping them sheltered from real life is a step backwards.
7
A fascinating article. I think that Anna deluded herself into believing that D.J shared her feelings, romantically. I believe that she believed wholeheartedly that FC was an actual means of self-expression.She was not guilty of deviance,dishonesty or criminality, in my view. She was unethical, unprofessional, and used very poor judgement.But to serve prison time is, to me, outrageous. Losing her licence would be more appropriate.
2
i don't see it, i think she knew very well the bogus method FC was and used it to her advantage, in this case for self centered predatory sexual advantage.
3
An alabaster world-saver grotesquely exploiting the very people of whom she presents herself as a passionate advocate, in order to prove to herself and the world that she is a passionate advocate of those people.
Happens a lot.
Happens a lot.
4
I can't help but dwell in all of the "what ifs" in this story. What if this young man truly desired an intimate relationship? What if, in our zeal to protect our most vulnerable members of society, we are depriving them of the satisfaction of one of the most basic human needs? What if, after finally having the opportunity to express himself, D.J. is again locked inside the prison that it his body? This must surely feel like being cast into hell.
I don't have any answers, and these questions aren't going away. As medical and other forms of technology progress, these questions are just going to get more complex and demanding.
Admittedly, my gut says this woman is very disturbed, but what if she's right?
I don't have any answers, and these questions aren't going away. As medical and other forms of technology progress, these questions are just going to get more complex and demanding.
Admittedly, my gut says this woman is very disturbed, but what if she's right?
1
After re-reading the article, I am finding more layers of concern. I quick internet search reveals the papers DJ authored with Anna, with a very nice picture of them at a conference, where DJ looks like an adult - not at all what I pictured when reading the article, where his name is not mentioned. Weren't there other scholars present at the conference? Wasn't the paper vetted? Wasn't Rutgers aware that the head of the Philosophy department was counseling a patient or client with FC? DJ's mother and brother were very happy with his intellectual pursuits and attended the conferences. They later presented DJ to the court as an exhibit. Wasn't the brother suspicious beforehand? Most glaringly, Anna's husband, a classical composer and conductor, viciously sent her personal correspondence, intended for her lawyer, to the prosecutor! That's a huge betrayal. He's destroying himself and his children, as well. And why is Rutgers off the hook?
6
Anna's document, according to other accounts I recall having read elsewhere, was shared with both her husband and their couples therapist, and it was admitted as valid evidence by the judge of this case. It is not the husband who has betrayed his marriage vows and his children.
3
If DJ was female and Anna was male, no one would protest a 40-year jail sentence.
To those who ask who was really harmed in this case, think of yourself having a baby in similar straits, trying to find help for your child, finding someone and that person says, "I'll do anything I can for your child including fellating them and leaving my husband to marry them." You would rightly conclude this person was bananas and run screaming in the other direction.
Anyone with an elderly parent, a disabled child, someone totally vulnerable needing care needs to, above all, trust the person taking care of them, meaning you don't hit them, steal from them, yell at that and you sure as shootin' don't have sex with them or fall in love with them.
That necessary trust was, unequivocally and hands-down, shattered to pieces in this case.
To those who ask who was really harmed in this case, think of yourself having a baby in similar straits, trying to find help for your child, finding someone and that person says, "I'll do anything I can for your child including fellating them and leaving my husband to marry them." You would rightly conclude this person was bananas and run screaming in the other direction.
Anyone with an elderly parent, a disabled child, someone totally vulnerable needing care needs to, above all, trust the person taking care of them, meaning you don't hit them, steal from them, yell at that and you sure as shootin' don't have sex with them or fall in love with them.
That necessary trust was, unequivocally and hands-down, shattered to pieces in this case.
18
I can't help but believe there would be much less sympathy for the perpetrator by commenters if this article included a photograph of the victim. However, I understand the need to protect the identity of victims of sexual abuse.
Regardless, I'm absolutely stunned at the number of comments that support Ms. Stubblefield, or excuse her actions. She displayed classic sexual predator behavior in her relationship with the victim and his family. Perhaps the comments defending her are the result of sexist beliefs that a woman cannot be a sexual abuser, or that men cannot be sexually abused by a woman, but mostly I think they're explained by the failure to understand the profound disabilities of DJ (even though they are clearly revealed in the story).
Would Ms. Stubblefield offend again if she were not in prison? Given the right circumstances, another desperate family, another incapacitated victim, I'm sure she would.
Regardless, I'm absolutely stunned at the number of comments that support Ms. Stubblefield, or excuse her actions. She displayed classic sexual predator behavior in her relationship with the victim and his family. Perhaps the comments defending her are the result of sexist beliefs that a woman cannot be a sexual abuser, or that men cannot be sexually abused by a woman, but mostly I think they're explained by the failure to understand the profound disabilities of DJ (even though they are clearly revealed in the story).
Would Ms. Stubblefield offend again if she were not in prison? Given the right circumstances, another desperate family, another incapacitated victim, I'm sure she would.
15
Of course D.J. fell in “love” with Anna. She was the one person who unlocked his connection to life. But love in this case can’t be evaluated in the same way as love between people who aren’t locked in by a disability. It would be a mistake to assume that love means the same thing to a person with severely different life experiences than life experiences of “normal” people. Maybe D.J.’s idea of love is different from most people’s, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real to him.
The question is really about whether our society is willing to grant permission to a severely disabled person to experience sex without the ability to experience the same type of love as those who aren’t disabled. Our society’s ideas of the relationship between sex, love and marriage are still strongly tied to popular religious teaching. Society seems willing to allow non-disabled people to break that tie, but we draw the line when it comes to disabled people. The thinking is that disabled people should be stuck with the biblical connection between sex and love. Since they can’t truly experience love in the traditional way, we have decided they shouldn’t experience sex either. If sex makes them feel good, is that wrong?
The question is really about whether our society is willing to grant permission to a severely disabled person to experience sex without the ability to experience the same type of love as those who aren’t disabled. Our society’s ideas of the relationship between sex, love and marriage are still strongly tied to popular religious teaching. Society seems willing to allow non-disabled people to break that tie, but we draw the line when it comes to disabled people. The thinking is that disabled people should be stuck with the biblical connection between sex and love. Since they can’t truly experience love in the traditional way, we have decided they shouldn’t experience sex either. If sex makes them feel good, is that wrong?
4
Has anyone told DJ how Anna was ripped away from him?
2
Some horrible instances of sensationalizing disability here. Why do we need to know that so-and-so has a severe speech impediment and so-and-so has an overbite? And trying to write out the "shrieks" that were heard?
I have a moderate to severe speech impediment - would you use that to disenfranchise me and cast me as an "other"?
I have a moderate to severe speech impediment - would you use that to disenfranchise me and cast me as an "other"?
4
Truth stranger than fiction. The article mentions Anna's mother as Sandra McClennan who is a psychologist in Michigan. Apparently Anna learned FC through her mother's early involvement with it. The excruciating irony is that seven years ago Anna's mother testified for the prosecution in a sexual abuse case in which a mute and autistic young girl accused her father of repeated rape over 14 years, and her mother's complicity. The accusations were made using the FC method facilitated by a school aide. The prosecution called Dr. McClennan as expert witness. Instead she devastated the case calling the findings suspect and claiming “There's...a lot of room for (the aide's) influence, and we have to constantly worry about that" and professing her belief in the parents' innocence. The case collapsed, but not without attendant trauma to the family, and lawsuits to follow. It was the subject of a 6-part series in the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/article/20110615/NEWS03/106150431/A-family-s-nightm... .
The NYT photograph of Anna who grew up as Margie McClennan, became tenured professor and Department Chair at Rutgers as Anna Stubblefield, and now a convicted sex offender, is wrenching. To watch her presentations on YouTube is to have no doubt as to her brilliance, deep commitment, and compassion. How could she have lost her way so completely?
The NYT photograph of Anna who grew up as Margie McClennan, became tenured professor and Department Chair at Rutgers as Anna Stubblefield, and now a convicted sex offender, is wrenching. To watch her presentations on YouTube is to have no doubt as to her brilliance, deep commitment, and compassion. How could she have lost her way so completely?
5
The problem with this as cautionary tale is that it has to be told again at all. We've been through it before. I do not doubt Anna believes she is being truthful. There's little difference between her true belief than true believers of a religion or religious cult. I never thought I'd be applauding New Jersey, but their stance on this cult as not even being worthy of wasting the courts time on the basis of bad science is something I'm giving a standing ovation to.
5
Watch the Frontline documentary; this is clearly a bogus treatment. The patients, who have poor focus and/or poor motor control, don't even look at the keyboard while they are typing with one finger (but the facilitator sure does). Look away from your keyboard and try to type with one finger - here is my attempt of the word 'bear' BYFU. (Hey! I got one letter right.) If I can't do it, how can a disabled person do it without the facilitator guiding (i.e. placing) my finger on the correct keys?
The disturbing post-script to this story is that Syracuse University, an incubator for F.C., is still promoting it as a legitimate form of communication for the disabled and their caregivers.
The disturbing post-script to this story is that Syracuse University, an incubator for F.C., is still promoting it as a legitimate form of communication for the disabled and their caregivers.
3
Where are the facilitators and those who use and believe in the process? I have used facilitated communication and other forms of partnered typing for over twenty-five years. It is valid if properly defined which it is not.
I do not believe Ms. Stubblefield and DJ should have been engaged in a sexual relationship. She was the therapist and he was the client. I do believe however, she was naive about "thought merging aspects" of the process. The lack of honesty and full disclosure of how partnered typing processes, like facilitated communication and rapid prompting method work, has lead to many avoidable tragedies.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, including facilitators, refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience. Anomalies such a atypical telepathy need to be openly discussed and acknowledged.
More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted! I am disillusioned by inability of people to step forward and admit they have experienced a form of thought merging or telepathy. Thus far, like the Wendrow Case, and GI GI Jordan Case, and others, I look like the only person who has ever experienced a form of telepathy-nobody to take seriously. If you are a facilitator, please comment!
I do not believe Ms. Stubblefield and DJ should have been engaged in a sexual relationship. She was the therapist and he was the client. I do believe however, she was naive about "thought merging aspects" of the process. The lack of honesty and full disclosure of how partnered typing processes, like facilitated communication and rapid prompting method work, has lead to many avoidable tragedies.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, including facilitators, refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience. Anomalies such a atypical telepathy need to be openly discussed and acknowledged.
More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted! I am disillusioned by inability of people to step forward and admit they have experienced a form of thought merging or telepathy. Thus far, like the Wendrow Case, and GI GI Jordan Case, and others, I look like the only person who has ever experienced a form of telepathy-nobody to take seriously. If you are a facilitator, please comment!
3
This sentence is absurdly harsh. First, we have no real evidence that Anna harassed D.J. All we have is an inference from the claim that D.J. was incapable of consent. That's a rather tenuous basis on which to pronounce someone guilty. While I doubt that D.J. was in love with Anna, I think she believed she was in love with him. And I think also that if during intercourse, D.J. had given a sign he didn't want physical contact, it's unlikely Anna would have forced him. We have no reason to think he gave such a sign, much less evidence that he did and she ignored it. It may be objected here that D.J. was incapable of showing pleasure or displeasure, but that does not seem true. D.J.'s brother says that D.J. enjoyed church music and showed that with his body.
Second, if Anna had done exactly what she did but the family had gone along with it, there would have been no trial. Does it all come down to trusting the family but not Anna to know what D.J. wants? Speaking for myself, the man who loves me knows my desires much better than my parents or brother do.
Third, according to Anna's accusers, D.J. can never have sex with anyone legally. I find it remarkable that people adopt this view without inquiring into the needs of those with disorders. Is there evidence that people with palsy are not interested in sex?
A side note. There is mention of other cases in which patients accused their facilitators of harassment. I wonder how those accusations were communicated? FC?
Second, if Anna had done exactly what she did but the family had gone along with it, there would have been no trial. Does it all come down to trusting the family but not Anna to know what D.J. wants? Speaking for myself, the man who loves me knows my desires much better than my parents or brother do.
Third, according to Anna's accusers, D.J. can never have sex with anyone legally. I find it remarkable that people adopt this view without inquiring into the needs of those with disorders. Is there evidence that people with palsy are not interested in sex?
A side note. There is mention of other cases in which patients accused their facilitators of harassment. I wonder how those accusations were communicated? FC?
3
Fascinating and troubling.
I gather the practice of "facilitated communication" has been largely discredited since the time this took place (as it should be, at least with human facilitators - who will always be prone to subconsciously guiding their subjects), but the reason I re-post this is to examine the notion of "helping" taken to a seemingly pathological extreme and the notion of the "other" (i.e. the one deemed to be in need of fixing).
It seems to me - and I'm no sociologist, nor trained examiner - just an observer, that the operating dynamic here is a hidden motivation which, ironically enough, is just as objectifying as the metaphoric dragon it seeks to slay.
Interesting that when one of the F.C. experts is asked to subject one of her success stories to a double-blind test, she demurs & likens that to a "pony show". I'm left wondering how what these presumably well-meaning folks did is any less of one.
It is my opinion that it is entirely possible (in fact, likely) to objectify another (less-abled, or from another culture or insert any minority that you don't belong to, here) in the name of doing good - but it's really more a neurotic manifestation of the guilt of the privileged and projection than true love or compassion - or really "seeing" the other at all.
So, to me, at least, it's worse.
I wonder if Rachel Dolezal suffered from the same thing. Although, by the accounts of the NAACP. she actually did some good work.
Just my thoughts in the moment.
I gather the practice of "facilitated communication" has been largely discredited since the time this took place (as it should be, at least with human facilitators - who will always be prone to subconsciously guiding their subjects), but the reason I re-post this is to examine the notion of "helping" taken to a seemingly pathological extreme and the notion of the "other" (i.e. the one deemed to be in need of fixing).
It seems to me - and I'm no sociologist, nor trained examiner - just an observer, that the operating dynamic here is a hidden motivation which, ironically enough, is just as objectifying as the metaphoric dragon it seeks to slay.
Interesting that when one of the F.C. experts is asked to subject one of her success stories to a double-blind test, she demurs & likens that to a "pony show". I'm left wondering how what these presumably well-meaning folks did is any less of one.
It is my opinion that it is entirely possible (in fact, likely) to objectify another (less-abled, or from another culture or insert any minority that you don't belong to, here) in the name of doing good - but it's really more a neurotic manifestation of the guilt of the privileged and projection than true love or compassion - or really "seeing" the other at all.
So, to me, at least, it's worse.
I wonder if Rachel Dolezal suffered from the same thing. Although, by the accounts of the NAACP. she actually did some good work.
Just my thoughts in the moment.
3
John duPont (Foxcatcher movie) was manifestly mentally ill and delusional. Yet he died in prison for his crime. Because despite his illness and delusions he was responsible for his actions.
This woman, this thing one should scrape from one's shoe, was delusional. But she is no less guilty than the drunken frat boy who thought the girl in the miniskirt "wanted it". She thought this poor boy "wanted it".
But since she is white, a woman and an academic the majority of the comment section will give her a pass.
You people disgust me.
This woman, this thing one should scrape from one's shoe, was delusional. But she is no less guilty than the drunken frat boy who thought the girl in the miniskirt "wanted it". She thought this poor boy "wanted it".
But since she is white, a woman and an academic the majority of the comment section will give her a pass.
You people disgust me.
10
Stubblefield does not come off as a predator; she comes off as someone who was deluded. She needs help. Also, 20-40 years in prison? Are you kidding me? That is an absurd sentence. Justice would be more like 2 years and a long probation. This is a tragedy for all concerned. Justice was not served.
12
anyone who needs to dominate to have the control of a person who can't resist, say no,along with not having the mental capacity in the first place, is a predator.. She knew she could have her way with him.... 20 years is about right Mary Letourneau got 7 for abusing a 12 year old who wasn't disabled, she should get more than double her sentence. You people are really nauseating. Being objective or using common sense doesn't register, only seeing what you want to see and hear... hearing only Stubblefield's words not the evidence presented.. fortunately the jury did the job they were supposed to.. heaven help us if you and others posting here ever sit on a jury.
4
most predators are deluded as studies have shown.. so those rapists, abusers and murders should get a pass?
2
MIRACLE CURES have been sought by many, not just by Anna. Bettelheim, a survivor of Auschwitz, thought that autistic children were like concentration camp inmates, forced to hide their feelings to survive. He attributed autism to "refrigerator" mothers. His efforts to help people with autism failed to meet scientific rigor.
Discreet trial models for subjecting children with autism to 40 years per week of drill and practice have apparently produced results only in those who were inaccurately diagnosed as autistic.
The French teacher of a 13 year old boy from Tahiti became pregnant by him, had children and went to jail. They were reunited after he was of age.
And the strange case of Anna, who labeled those who held opinions different from hers as persecutors of the disabled.
In each case there is a central polarizing figure who raises the false hopes of families by promising the impossible. In each case it was the researcher's need to be the center of attention and to prove an indefensible theory not by means of dispassionate scientific research, but by bullying and threatening those who held different opinions or whose research showed the techniques founded on magical thinking to be false.
As PT Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute. You can fool some of the people some of the time, all the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Discreet trial models for subjecting children with autism to 40 years per week of drill and practice have apparently produced results only in those who were inaccurately diagnosed as autistic.
The French teacher of a 13 year old boy from Tahiti became pregnant by him, had children and went to jail. They were reunited after he was of age.
And the strange case of Anna, who labeled those who held opinions different from hers as persecutors of the disabled.
In each case there is a central polarizing figure who raises the false hopes of families by promising the impossible. In each case it was the researcher's need to be the center of attention and to prove an indefensible theory not by means of dispassionate scientific research, but by bullying and threatening those who held different opinions or whose research showed the techniques founded on magical thinking to be false.
As PT Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute. You can fool some of the people some of the time, all the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
4
Did this woman really need to be the target of a full throttle prosecution? Did she really hurt DJ? It's insane that this woman should get a custodial sentence for the pathetic episode. By the way, it's interesting the writer left out any information about Anna's seven kids and where they stand on all this. Why?
1
She raped a helpless person. She continued to pursue him even after she was ordered by his legal guardians to leave him alone. Just because she holds college degrees is no reason to excuse her criminal actions. In fact her somewhat privileged status makes her even more culpable. She belongs in jail -- for a long time.
5
Anna did no damage to D.J. who lost a devoted companion and apparently a sexual partner. The odds of the latter ever happening were close to zero. Locking this woman up for perhaps forty years is a travesty.
9
It is disturbing and puzzling that smart people can create an intellectual edifice like FC that fails tests by scientific method. On the other hand there's always the Church. There is some lovely irony that in court - that will disallow non scientific evidence- one can swear on a bible before giving evidence.
6
To those who think Anna should receive a reduced sentence, or no prison time at all: Ask yourself if you would request the same if Anna was a white male and D.J. a black female. I think many of you would feel differently. If you believe in equality for all, then women should face the same prison sentences that men do for crimes.
10
Or if Anna was a black male and D. J. a white female.
1
I do not believe Ms. Stubblefield and DJ should have been engaged in a sexual relationship. She was the therapist and he was the client. I do believe however, she was naive enough about the process to believe his communications were ultimately his own. She believed him. The lack of honesty and full disclosure of how partnered typing processes, like facilitated communication and rapid prompting method work, has lead to many tragedies.
A form of atypical telepathy results where both partners dance and energetically entwine with each other. When making ego based decisions, if uniformed, naive partners can unwittingly see their partners communications as absolute ego independent truth. They are unable to see how their own beliefs can influence outcome. Independent communication strategies need to be taught in addition, no matter how rudimentary in comparison.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, in the FC Community refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience and what has been reported to them. More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted. I am saddened and disillusioned by humanity inability to step forward, admit their mistakes and take responsibility for what they know to be true. Why are they not speaking out?
A form of atypical telepathy results where both partners dance and energetically entwine with each other. When making ego based decisions, if uniformed, naive partners can unwittingly see their partners communications as absolute ego independent truth. They are unable to see how their own beliefs can influence outcome. Independent communication strategies need to be taught in addition, no matter how rudimentary in comparison.
These tragedies continue to persist because people who know better, in the FC Community refuse to step forward and admit the truth of their own experience and what has been reported to them. More lives ruined! This amazing process further tainted. I am saddened and disillusioned by humanity inability to step forward, admit their mistakes and take responsibility for what they know to be true. Why are they not speaking out?
4
Thank you - that's a fascinating point you make, one that the article raises but doesn't really enter into: that FC is creating a kind of joint-subjectivity out of energetic entwinement. It's not simple "facilitation" so much as the expression of a joint point of view. Of course, it's possible that this kind of relationship exists (as research on everything from empathy to touch to collaboration shows) in all kinds of human endeavors. Here, though, it may be particularly intense, and even beautiful--nearly miraculous--since it seems to give voice to the voiceless. In fact, it may be creating a new, hybrid voice of some kind.
But this method also seems susceptible to abuse because of the extreme divergence of power--the voiced and the unvoiced. In this case, Anna had a special responsibility, in facilitating this twinned subjectivity, not to project, or to be aware of her own projections. Instead, she went with them. Without intending to (quite the opposite) she abused the person she hoped to heal.
I agree with many commentators that the sexual relationship became obsessive. As DJ's mother said, she should have gone home to her own family, her own daughter, whom she now stands to lose. It's a tragedy almost classical in proportions. (Practically speaking, the just outcome would seem to be a short sentence and a restraining bar from contact with DJ and his family.)
But this method also seems susceptible to abuse because of the extreme divergence of power--the voiced and the unvoiced. In this case, Anna had a special responsibility, in facilitating this twinned subjectivity, not to project, or to be aware of her own projections. Instead, she went with them. Without intending to (quite the opposite) she abused the person she hoped to heal.
I agree with many commentators that the sexual relationship became obsessive. As DJ's mother said, she should have gone home to her own family, her own daughter, whom she now stands to lose. It's a tragedy almost classical in proportions. (Practically speaking, the just outcome would seem to be a short sentence and a restraining bar from contact with DJ and his family.)
DJ's mother and brother have been through enough. They apparently did everything they could do tell this woman, Anne, to go away and leave DJ alone. She continually defied them. She forgot about her husband and children. She was living in a fantasy world and taking risks and acting irrationally.
The strength of Wesley and P. is truly amazing. You just know they would have loved the idea that DJ could be self sufficient enough to enter into a relationship, but they knew he couldn't. For all the bad stories about black families, this story is about a strong, loving black family protecting their own, working hard, and fighting the crazy white lady.
The strength of Wesley and P. is truly amazing. You just know they would have loved the idea that DJ could be self sufficient enough to enter into a relationship, but they knew he couldn't. For all the bad stories about black families, this story is about a strong, loving black family protecting their own, working hard, and fighting the crazy white lady.
24
Geez seriously, many fellow commenters. Many pedophiles believe their victims really, really wanted it, encouraged it, loved it, felt the transcendent glory of it. Ditto for many rapists of persons over the age of consent. They create elaborate stories filled with *intuitive cues* and *nonverbal communication* ad nauseam.
Pedophilia is almost impossible to *cure* because the predator has a completely distorted view not only of his/her actions, but of his/her victims* reactions as well. It*s impossible to convince them that they committed a savage violation of the other*s personhood.
This particular case is unusually complicated. We have a woman who was raised to believe in the holy sanctity of FC by a mother prominent in the field; a white woman married to a black man who was successful, entirely because of his own gifts, in a field considered particularly *white;* she seemed urgently searching for some way of uniquely distinguishing herself in a crowded academic sphere and within her own successful birth and marital family.
Her own personal and professional problems do not excuse her sexual predation upon an especially vulnerable person. It doesn't matter that she was not technically a therapist or clinician. D.J.*s family sought her help as a vaunted expert in a specialty within the therapeutic community and she needed to honor basic standards of decency and professionalism, regardless of what sort of degree, licensure or certification she did or did not have.
Pedophilia is almost impossible to *cure* because the predator has a completely distorted view not only of his/her actions, but of his/her victims* reactions as well. It*s impossible to convince them that they committed a savage violation of the other*s personhood.
This particular case is unusually complicated. We have a woman who was raised to believe in the holy sanctity of FC by a mother prominent in the field; a white woman married to a black man who was successful, entirely because of his own gifts, in a field considered particularly *white;* she seemed urgently searching for some way of uniquely distinguishing herself in a crowded academic sphere and within her own successful birth and marital family.
Her own personal and professional problems do not excuse her sexual predation upon an especially vulnerable person. It doesn't matter that she was not technically a therapist or clinician. D.J.*s family sought her help as a vaunted expert in a specialty within the therapeutic community and she needed to honor basic standards of decency and professionalism, regardless of what sort of degree, licensure or certification she did or did not have.
18
If the genders were reversed NO ONE would have sympathy for the person who wasn't mentally disabled. I hope she does get the maximum sentence possible. Rape is rape.
11
Read this whole article too and a good amount of the comments. Do not think this case is as black and white as you see it. Believe this woman projected an emotional involvement onto her PATIENT, which was ETHICALLY wrong. But in Anna's mind, it wasn't rape, because there was a relationship. She didn't do this on the sly and even approached the family about marriage. Is that your typical rape scenario?
So, if she was mentally ill herself, should she be criminally penalized? I say NO. Take her license away so this cannot be repeated.
So, if she was mentally ill herself, should she be criminally penalized? I say NO. Take her license away so this cannot be repeated.
I wasn't familiar with FC before reading this article, but very familiar with the phenomenon of ideomotor behavior. Also familiar with what's required in the realm of boundaries and professional ethics. That Stubblefield breached ethical boundaries is incontrovertible. She's also deluded by her obvious addiction to "helping", as others here pointed out.
Does she deserve 40 years? No. She sounds even more emotionally disturbed than Mary Kay LeTourneau, and probably as as resistant to counseling and understanding what she's done wrong as LeTourneau or Warren Jeffs. I'd release her after 3- years and require that she be barred from ever working with vulnerable populations again, or promoting FC, or back to prison to serve the remaining 35 years.
Does she deserve 40 years? No. She sounds even more emotionally disturbed than Mary Kay LeTourneau, and probably as as resistant to counseling and understanding what she's done wrong as LeTourneau or Warren Jeffs. I'd release her after 3- years and require that she be barred from ever working with vulnerable populations again, or promoting FC, or back to prison to serve the remaining 35 years.
22
Mary Kay Letourneau received 7 years in jail, her victim was 12 years old just on the cusp of puberty . DJ, could not give consent nor was mentally able to, he was pretty much held hostage in his wheelchair. There is a photo of DJ if you Google it, take look and see by casual glance if he were able to give consent.. Stubblefield deserves 20 years as a message to other quacks to keep their hormones and fantasies in check.
6
This article seems to unequivocally skew the case against the possibility that FC could actually be effective. Expert witnesses for FC were precluded from giving testimony by the judge and vested academic interests against FC were given full reign in the courtroom and the article. The lucid comments by the few mentioned in the article (such as Matt) seem to be trivialized. Worse, there is a pervasive sense by the readers that until "double blind studies prove the effectiveness of FC", that DJ must be considered to be mentally incapable. Moreover, the readers seem to have become experts in generally declaring that FC is a fraud just based upon what they are reading in this article. If the objective of the Times is to become the judge on new medical techniques then scientific enquirer has truly taken a negative turn.
There is no way Anna deserved the same sentence as a serial rapist. It is even quite possible that DJ had adult capacity for this relationship. Although it would still have been improper, that it has become tantamount to the worse sexual predations of American society is ludicrous. I am hoping there is a serious appeal that ensues.
There is no way Anna deserved the same sentence as a serial rapist. It is even quite possible that DJ had adult capacity for this relationship. Although it would still have been improper, that it has become tantamount to the worse sexual predations of American society is ludicrous. I am hoping there is a serious appeal that ensues.
1
they were precluded because there is no valid scientific evidence that FC is a valid form of communication.. None... until there is, it has to be kept out of court rooms and even educational institutions
2
Perhaps this was mentioned in others' comments, but I can't get over the extreme nature of the elevated prose attributed to these patients when using FC, time and again.
Their purported phrasing is, simply put, obviously phony. I was surprised this wasn't highlighted more frequently within the story, because I have to imagine it is one of the many telling signs of the fraudulent nature of this bogus practice.
Their purported phrasing is, simply put, obviously phony. I was surprised this wasn't highlighted more frequently within the story, because I have to imagine it is one of the many telling signs of the fraudulent nature of this bogus practice.
58
Yes, when I read "I've been trying to seduce Anna for years, and she resisted valiantly" I thought I'd stumbled into a bad novel.
12
I agree. Apparently, no one writes like an ordinary person or like a person with a somewhat impaired formal education - which many of these individuals have. Just one quick glance at comments across the internet show that a lot of supposedly educated people misspell words, use certain words improperly, and use poor grammar.
In one of the earliest cases of using FC (Australia), the child did not appear to have gotten anything in the way of even a rudimentary education. Yet her first sentences were absolutely eloquent. Shouldn't the facilitator have recognized this was nearly impossible?
Once again, it seems the disabled were/are being taken advantaged of by the "able" for their own selfish reasons.
After spending most of my career in corporate settings, I entered the world of human services. My first impressions were that too many of the people that entered into this field themselves have many emotional and mental health issues and had chosen the field to in some way heal themselves.
In one of the earliest cases of using FC (Australia), the child did not appear to have gotten anything in the way of even a rudimentary education. Yet her first sentences were absolutely eloquent. Shouldn't the facilitator have recognized this was nearly impossible?
Once again, it seems the disabled were/are being taken advantaged of by the "able" for their own selfish reasons.
After spending most of my career in corporate settings, I entered the world of human services. My first impressions were that too many of the people that entered into this field themselves have many emotional and mental health issues and had chosen the field to in some way heal themselves.
5
If a woman can't give consent when she's drunk, how on Earth can this be legally justified for a mentally disabled man?
23
Ms. Stubblefeld is clearly an emotionally troubled woman with some clearly wacky ideas. How did she manage to become a tenured professor at a reputable university? (That last fact testifies to a sad state of modern US academe.)
Her actions are regrettable and inappropriate, but in no way deserving a draconian punishment of a multi-decade prison sentence. She clearly did not have an intent to rape or damage D. J. and probably honestly believed her own fantasy of mutual love.
A proper remedy for her would be a short probation and mandated psychological help. (Along with the dismissal from her academic post, of course.) She cries out for, and deserves our mercy.
Her actions are regrettable and inappropriate, but in no way deserving a draconian punishment of a multi-decade prison sentence. She clearly did not have an intent to rape or damage D. J. and probably honestly believed her own fantasy of mutual love.
A proper remedy for her would be a short probation and mandated psychological help. (Along with the dismissal from her academic post, of course.) She cries out for, and deserves our mercy.
21
A lot of academics are wacky, and there is nothing "modern" about it.
If the descriptions stand, the justice system victimized D.J. by leading him through the court room as a physical "exhibit" and then denying him the opportunity to present his side of the story with the dignity of a human being. That's unconscionable if true.
Yes, Anna Stubblefield violated professional ethics for all that we can see, but for that you don't hand out that kind of sentences.
Rather, what she and D.J. rammed headlong into were the taboos around female sexuality and female sexual initiative and sexual desires of people with disabilities. For that, it seems, you readily hand out 10, 20, 40 year sentences, no matter how harmless or serious the underlying infraction is.
Yes, Anna Stubblefield violated professional ethics for all that we can see, but for that you don't hand out that kind of sentences.
Rather, what she and D.J. rammed headlong into were the taboos around female sexuality and female sexual initiative and sexual desires of people with disabilities. For that, it seems, you readily hand out 10, 20, 40 year sentences, no matter how harmless or serious the underlying infraction is.
24
how could he have presented his side? tell me... by tapping his feet like some horses do?
Read the article please.
Read the article please.
6
Niels Erik Nielsen says "Rather, what she and D.J. rammed headlong into were the taboos around female sexuality and female sexual initiative and sexual desires of people with disabilities. For that, it seems, you readily hand out 10, 20, 40 year sentences, no matter how harmless or serious the underlying infraction is."
I think the entire point, especially from the family's point of view, who after all have lived with DJ his entire life, is that he had no capacity to "ram[med] headlong" into anything and that he was taken advantaged of by someone who had a professional and moral obligation to keep her hands to herself, even *if* he could have consented or even wanted the relationship.
Therapists of all kinds and of either gender should not have sexual relationships with their clients. Period.
This has nothing to do with female sexuality, but everything to do with someone in a power position taking advantage of someone in a weaker position an,d to add insult to injury, someone, who because of their training, was well aware of the ethical and professional reasons to not take advantage of her client and the family that trusted her.
I think the entire point, especially from the family's point of view, who after all have lived with DJ his entire life, is that he had no capacity to "ram[med] headlong" into anything and that he was taken advantaged of by someone who had a professional and moral obligation to keep her hands to herself, even *if* he could have consented or even wanted the relationship.
Therapists of all kinds and of either gender should not have sexual relationships with their clients. Period.
This has nothing to do with female sexuality, but everything to do with someone in a power position taking advantage of someone in a weaker position an,d to add insult to injury, someone, who because of their training, was well aware of the ethical and professional reasons to not take advantage of her client and the family that trusted her.
3
It might be ''enlightening'' if a FC practitioner unknown to any of the parties could objectively query this young man to find his take on all this.
14
it's not a valid scientific method, so one could produce 100 FC practitioners, it would be meaningless and not factual. The court recognized this.
4
One of the aspects of FC is the person can only communicate with that one facilitator. Only that facilitator can pick up the 'nuances' and understand the random movements of the person trying to talk via the board. That in itself is the first indicator of total hokum.
3
Who brought the case to the attention of prosecutors in the first place -- if it was Rutgers University after they were sued by the family (as I've read elsewhere), then it may be that they were trying to gain advantage in their ultimately success ful bid to remove themselves as a defendant. If they sacrificed Ms. Stubblefield in the process, and this was a consensual relationship, then a terrible injustice has been done.
10
consensual relationships happen when one is of sound mental ability of an adult to give consent to one.. what part of that don't you understand? have you read the article?
6
Why was there a "Guilty" verdict in this case and a "Not Guilty" verdict in the recent case in the mid-west of a husband tried for having sex with his wife who had been institutionalized because of her advanced Alzheimers?
11
The answer is because in the latter case the couple in question had a history of a long term consensual sexual relationship before the wife became incapacitated. So the jury (not unreasonably) decided that the wife would have consented and welcomed her loving husband's advances if she could have expressed herself. No such assumption could have reasonably been made in the case of D.J. and Ms. Stubblefield as they had no previous history.
However, from my point of view, neither case should have ever been in front of a jury. Both cases are examples of overreach of overzealous puritanic prosecutors.
However, from my point of view, neither case should have ever been in front of a jury. Both cases are examples of overreach of overzealous puritanic prosecutors.
1
Two entirely different circumstances. In the case of the husband, as a layperson he would not be expected to know the moral/ethical reasons why he shouldn't have sexual relations with his wife after she has become incapacitated. After all, he probably reasoned, she's my wife. (I'm also going to assume, he comes from an era where a wife was a man's property.)
However, in this case, she was a professional, trained in the ethics, morals, and professional conduct (as well as being up to date on current attitudes about ability to grant consent), and understanding what and who constitutes a victim.
As a juror, layperson, professional, parent, and family member, I would clearly see the difference between the two cases and would be much more forgiving of the husband - who after all, may have been seeking to alleviate loneliness for his wife in the only way he knew how. He, too, if he was as old as his wife may have some diminished capacity and diminished self-control.
However, in this case, she was a professional, trained in the ethics, morals, and professional conduct (as well as being up to date on current attitudes about ability to grant consent), and understanding what and who constitutes a victim.
As a juror, layperson, professional, parent, and family member, I would clearly see the difference between the two cases and would be much more forgiving of the husband - who after all, may have been seeking to alleviate loneliness for his wife in the only way he knew how. He, too, if he was as old as his wife may have some diminished capacity and diminished self-control.
1
I don't know what to make of this. I would have to have more information on D.J. before I came to a conclusion on whether he was misdiagnosed as intellectually stunted or whether this was a sick lady who projected her substantial issues on a mental and physical invalid.
Only a few readers brought up her past scholarship on racism and (like many in academia) obsession with expressing revulsion on "whiteness" is ironic. She made it clear she thought she knew what was better for D.J then his own (black family). There is a strange irony where "anti-racists" (of all colors) at their most fanatical are almost indecipherable from "pro-racists" in everything except the slurs used by the later. That in itself would make an interesting article but one unlikely to be published in a liberal paper.
Only a few readers brought up her past scholarship on racism and (like many in academia) obsession with expressing revulsion on "whiteness" is ironic. She made it clear she thought she knew what was better for D.J then his own (black family). There is a strange irony where "anti-racists" (of all colors) at their most fanatical are almost indecipherable from "pro-racists" in everything except the slurs used by the later. That in itself would make an interesting article but one unlikely to be published in a liberal paper.
4
She fell in love with her own creation. She fell in love with herself.
31
Brilliant.
1
Pygmalion.
3
It seems that Anna's emotional need to obtain a special status of knowing how to communicate with her subjects obligated her to zealously believe in F.C., then to raise the ante, she "fell in love" with D.J. as though to "prove" this connection, thus conflating the two disjointed beliefs.
As an attorney, I am especially cognizant of the notion that one must not "cross the line" with your clients, thus taking advantage of the dominion the relationship grants you. She unjustifiably crossed the line that she should have zealously guarded in an effort to protect without question the person she sincerely hoped to help.
Having said that, prison is not for her, she needs psychological help.
As an attorney, I am especially cognizant of the notion that one must not "cross the line" with your clients, thus taking advantage of the dominion the relationship grants you. She unjustifiably crossed the line that she should have zealously guarded in an effort to protect without question the person she sincerely hoped to help.
Having said that, prison is not for her, she needs psychological help.
19
I see this as a result of women being portrayed as the "good" gender for the period that Ms Stubblefield has been an adult. Increasingly men have seen the sexual identity of men pathologized while women have been freed from shaming and encouraged to explore their sexuality. Look at the story today about Deb Gruenfeld.
3
I'm reading this and it's so creepy. It's obvious facilitated communication is not real communication, and this woman is having a "romantic relationship" with someone who has the mind of a toddler. She's making him out to be more mature than he really is, like pedophiles do. And she even says he "call[ed] the shots", a delusion many pedophiles share. Crazy and creepy!
21
This is another example of the limits of the law. There are simply areas of human relations where, even with the best of intentions by all concerned, it cannot supply "justice." Such is also the case with abortion and doctor assisted suicide.
That is why, individually and as a society, we all need to accept a large dose of humility. Even while nobly working to protect the vulnerable, we must be extremely cautious in advocating solution by law.
That is why, individually and as a society, we all need to accept a large dose of humility. Even while nobly working to protect the vulnerable, we must be extremely cautious in advocating solution by law.
10
In graduate school, I was despised by a few professors, the feminists in women's studies, because I was a positivist. My undergraduate work was in a physical science, but I needed a qualitative methodology class, or as I phrased it, sanctioned mythology. I was suspicious of work where "only a woman" could conduct interviews, or the subject would "only speak to a woman." In the majority of their work, the results could not be replicated by anyone else. If the research is sound, other researchers should be able to replicate the results. If the replication is not possible, then the result is mythology, and passing it off as solid research is unethical.
The personal relationship is not at all appropriate, but not unexpected. Qualitative researchers always seem to have some sort of personal relationship with their subjects, though not always sexual. It is the basis of why the subject will even speak to them. An ethical researcher would have ended their research participation, turning it over to someone else. It doesn't surprise me that she continued. And, given that ethics isn't a concern for these people, it doesn't surprise me that she abandoned a husband and children, having no respect for their children, her vows, and her husband. Personal gratification is the primary goal for these researchers, especially the women, who argue that society (i.e. men) have repressed them, and they "deserve" to be happy.
The personal relationship is not at all appropriate, but not unexpected. Qualitative researchers always seem to have some sort of personal relationship with their subjects, though not always sexual. It is the basis of why the subject will even speak to them. An ethical researcher would have ended their research participation, turning it over to someone else. It doesn't surprise me that she continued. And, given that ethics isn't a concern for these people, it doesn't surprise me that she abandoned a husband and children, having no respect for their children, her vows, and her husband. Personal gratification is the primary goal for these researchers, especially the women, who argue that society (i.e. men) have repressed them, and they "deserve" to be happy.
6
I'm not going to weigh in on the academic requirements you ran up against (there's a lot going on in your comment), but I can think of about 1,000 situations in which women in certain situations would only speak to another woman. Add to trauma any type of culture in which men and women don't interact much outside of family relationships, and of course you'll have qualitative data that won't be accessible to all questioners. How is that even controversial?
I'm inclined to believe that Anna both believes truly in her method and meant no harm. But I'm also inclined to believe that the relationship she imagines is a fiction. The erudite words selected by people who supposedly are just learning to communicate and who have little experience of the outside world seems off to me.
Whether FC works or not, by engaging in a relationship with a person over whom she had power (the power to communicate--if you belive the method worked) and who saw her in a position of trust she has violated her duty of care to young DJ. Real or not, she should not have engaged. This did not protect him.
Her potential sentence does seem out of proportion, though. 40 years? The same as a violent rape? Is the purpose of the sentence punishment, deterrence, or both? Deterrence is needed; punishment, when she believes she did nothing wrong, is useless. How about serving some limited prison time (1 year?); restraining order to prevent her from seeing or contacting DJ; being barred from practicing as a therapist in direct contact with patients. (So she could still practice research for a living, or do such work for other researchers, but would not have the chance to violate another patient.)
Whether FC works or not, by engaging in a relationship with a person over whom she had power (the power to communicate--if you belive the method worked) and who saw her in a position of trust she has violated her duty of care to young DJ. Real or not, she should not have engaged. This did not protect him.
Her potential sentence does seem out of proportion, though. 40 years? The same as a violent rape? Is the purpose of the sentence punishment, deterrence, or both? Deterrence is needed; punishment, when she believes she did nothing wrong, is useless. How about serving some limited prison time (1 year?); restraining order to prevent her from seeing or contacting DJ; being barred from practicing as a therapist in direct contact with patients. (So she could still practice research for a living, or do such work for other researchers, but would not have the chance to violate another patient.)
5
there have been mothers who have murdered their kids because they claimed that they were possessed, in their minds they did the good, righteous thing under god. So, then by your reasoning they also should not be tried and convicted , and be set free?
3
Her demands for salvation turned into pathological ambition. Happens all the time with zealots.
7
I have used supported communication techniques for many years.
I see all the information I receive as intelligent and insightful. I am deeply inspired by my partners ability to tap int the higher mind and enhance my own knowledge and perspective. Yet, because I am part of the process, I do not take it as absolute truth. It is more like a deep intuitive knowing, a mutual connection, a merging of consciousness, a tempered conversation with my higher self. In my experience, the process benefit the autistic person and me. as his partner. This mind-boggling process should be acknowledged and explored in all its ever-expanding complexity. We are just beginning to get a minute understanding of this ever evolving mystery. It can not be measured or judged by our typical perceptual reality.
When physical or energetic support is given, something out of the ordinary is occurring. I strongly believe, full disclosure is needed to parents and support staff that influence can occur. The purity and intelligence of the autistic soul is limitless. What needs attention is partner awareness and growth.
I do not know if DJ gave his consent to the sexual relationship, but I do believe Anna Stubblefield thought he did. I also understand how she could be impressed and mesmerized with his higher mind communications, even though his conscious lower mind communications were impaired. it is time for those who participate in the process to ask and answer all the difficult questions.
I see all the information I receive as intelligent and insightful. I am deeply inspired by my partners ability to tap int the higher mind and enhance my own knowledge and perspective. Yet, because I am part of the process, I do not take it as absolute truth. It is more like a deep intuitive knowing, a mutual connection, a merging of consciousness, a tempered conversation with my higher self. In my experience, the process benefit the autistic person and me. as his partner. This mind-boggling process should be acknowledged and explored in all its ever-expanding complexity. We are just beginning to get a minute understanding of this ever evolving mystery. It can not be measured or judged by our typical perceptual reality.
When physical or energetic support is given, something out of the ordinary is occurring. I strongly believe, full disclosure is needed to parents and support staff that influence can occur. The purity and intelligence of the autistic soul is limitless. What needs attention is partner awareness and growth.
I do not know if DJ gave his consent to the sexual relationship, but I do believe Anna Stubblefield thought he did. I also understand how she could be impressed and mesmerized with his higher mind communications, even though his conscious lower mind communications were impaired. it is time for those who participate in the process to ask and answer all the difficult questions.
5
You mean even though its clear, the facilitator is talking to him or herself? I don't see anywhere in your comment where the facilitated is benefiting, only the facilitator.
Right there, that says there is something very wrong with FC.
Right there, that says there is something very wrong with FC.
2
Professor of athics at a rather well known university, family history of extreme social revolutionary utopia, a new "blutige Rosa". Rosa Luxemberg?
I wonder what her tenured salary at the Rudgers is and what "value" students get from her classes.
I wonder what her tenured salary at the Rudgers is and what "value" students get from her classes.
2
she does not have a license to practice any kind of care or treatment
1
Regardless of the FC issue and even if there is totally mutual adult consent it unethical for a licensed therapist of any kind or stripe to have sex with a client, mentally impaired or not. Anna's actions should impact her license to practice. In no way do they merit a jail term, certainly not one considerable length.
10
As a special education professional I am curious about the specifics about D.J.'s case. Many, not all, individuals with cerebral palsy do have more cognitive ability than they can easily present. If D.J. had enough control to look at what was being typed in his name, were other communication interventions tried? Some individuals with no verbal and limited motor ability can be taught to communicate with eye gaze, as seen in "The Theory of Everything". While not as thrilling as producing poetry and full lectures,starting with the power to say a clear "yes" or "no" understandable by all communication partners (not just the "special helper") can be the gateway to a person expressing who they really are, and having more control over their own destiny. Parents and caregivers alike, though with any kind of communication intervention have to be open to looking for the genuine person, not the projection of wishful thinking. Whether the individual has the cognitive ability of a three year old, a ten year old, Stephen Hawking, or Maya Angelou they are all worthy of love, appropriate care, protection and respect.
19
I don't think anyone is denying these individuals should have the right to communicate, but there is apparently a lot to be desired about FC. There are many indications, the facilitator is actually talking to themselves. In many cases the words, grammar, and spelling by the facilitated is far above what their capacity should be if one only looks at the education they received prior to the FC.
I wholeheartedly believe that Anna's motivation was an unconscious tendency to fetishize oppression.
8
"If poor, black Americans were the most vulnerable members of society, she wrote in 2009, then poor, black, disabled Americans — men like D.J., born with cerebral palsy, raised by a single mother, seemingly unable to communicate — were the most vulnerable of the vulnerable."
If Anna really wants to help those who she claims are the most vulnerable, it would be quite ironic that she not get the maximum penalty because the victim is poor, black and disabled.
If Anna really wants to help those who she claims are the most vulnerable, it would be quite ironic that she not get the maximum penalty because the victim is poor, black and disabled.
2
Like a child attesting to witnessing the Divine, a thing greatly to be doubted.
5
Not all rapes are equal. Legally, they are both rapes, but a man receiving oral sex against his will does not have the same physical, psychological, emotional, social trauma as a woman being vaginally penetrated against her will.
So even if it could be proven that DJ not only did not consent to have oral sex performed on him, he was violently opposed to receiving oral sex, one shouldn't punish Anna with 20-40 years of prison as though DJ had been a woman raped by a male.
So even if it could be proven that DJ not only did not consent to have oral sex performed on him, he was violently opposed to receiving oral sex, one shouldn't punish Anna with 20-40 years of prison as though DJ had been a woman raped by a male.
8
Rape is rape. All the apologias on display here don't change that.
1
It comes down to intellectual and thus legal capacity. If the person has the IQ of a toddler, then, when it comes to consent, that person cannot be considered legally, ethically or culturally to be a 'man' nor a 'woman' no matter what their biological age or biological sex.
There seems in the USA to be a widespread fixation on vaginal rape. Note that many of the very worst and most common rapes in the Land of the Free, for example in the enormous US prison system, are male on male involving anal penetration, tearing, excruciating psychological and physical pain and long term damage to the anal wall and opening.
These prison rapes are unreported and chronic, sometimes encouraged by the guards, who at best turn a blind eye as a form of unofficial discipline. The rapes often involve multiple perpetrators, and the use of physical objects such as broom handles. There is next to no possibility of justice for the victims. Yes, indeed, there are rapes and then there are rapes.
There seems in the USA to be a widespread fixation on vaginal rape. Note that many of the very worst and most common rapes in the Land of the Free, for example in the enormous US prison system, are male on male involving anal penetration, tearing, excruciating psychological and physical pain and long term damage to the anal wall and opening.
These prison rapes are unreported and chronic, sometimes encouraged by the guards, who at best turn a blind eye as a form of unofficial discipline. The rapes often involve multiple perpetrators, and the use of physical objects such as broom handles. There is next to no possibility of justice for the victims. Yes, indeed, there are rapes and then there are rapes.
How on earth can you know that? Many men who have been raped say otherwise. The gender roles that harm women also tell men they're not supposed to complain, or they're supposed to like being raped.
1
Anna's apologists and sympathizers here repeatedly ignore or skip over essential facts in this case.
D.J. was a very much loved and cared-for member of his family. They were desperate to unlock whatever potential he had. They were not satisfied with the assessment of intellectual ability he'd already undergone, and after learning of Anna's work with FC, they asked her if D.J. might benefit from it.
D.J. is an individual. He is not every person with CP/profound disabilities. As with all other human beings, people with a diagnosis of CP represent the full human spectrum of intelligence and capacity to learn and to express needs and wants and opinions.
To have very limited intellectual capacity is not to have none. And even infants can be sexually stimulated and perceive that as pleasurable. And pedophiles use that as an excuse and permission for themselves.
To describe D.J. as a person of infantile capacities is not to infantilize physically handicapped people of normal to superior intellectual ability. This description is pertinent only to this specific individual at the center of the criminal case.
This article describes how D.J. physically removed himself from Anna's reach during her first attempts to sexually stimulate him. For her subsequent attempt she brought him to another location where he was much less able to evade her.
Anna was certainly delusional, but she was also a purposeful predator, and therefore a criminal.
D.J. was a very much loved and cared-for member of his family. They were desperate to unlock whatever potential he had. They were not satisfied with the assessment of intellectual ability he'd already undergone, and after learning of Anna's work with FC, they asked her if D.J. might benefit from it.
D.J. is an individual. He is not every person with CP/profound disabilities. As with all other human beings, people with a diagnosis of CP represent the full human spectrum of intelligence and capacity to learn and to express needs and wants and opinions.
To have very limited intellectual capacity is not to have none. And even infants can be sexually stimulated and perceive that as pleasurable. And pedophiles use that as an excuse and permission for themselves.
To describe D.J. as a person of infantile capacities is not to infantilize physically handicapped people of normal to superior intellectual ability. This description is pertinent only to this specific individual at the center of the criminal case.
This article describes how D.J. physically removed himself from Anna's reach during her first attempts to sexually stimulate him. For her subsequent attempt she brought him to another location where he was much less able to evade her.
Anna was certainly delusional, but she was also a purposeful predator, and therefore a criminal.
23
What's completely freaky about this case is that, through Ms. Stubblefield's use of "Facilitated Communication" with DJ, she was essentially have a conversation with herself. She treated him like a puppet and fed him her lines. I don't think she should be in prison for 40 years either, but she desperately needs treatment and needs to not interact with those who cannot fully consent.
10
Ms. Stubblefield is a sex pervert and belongs in jail.
10
I am surprised by those who comment that, while Stubblefield was wrong in pursuing a sexual relationship with her client, she should not be imprisoned.
Stubblefield reminds me of Mary Kay Latourneau who, after she was jailed and paroled for sex with a 13 year old boy, was busted AGAIN having sex in a van with this young teen.
I am sure both women feel that they are "sincere" in their "love" - However, Stubblefield, like Letourneau, demonstrated that she was willing to sacrifice the well-being of her OWN children and destroy her professional livelihood to an obsession with a vulnerable person, EVEN AFTER she was warned to end contact or suffer dire personal and legal consequences. Such inability to curb self-destructive impulses to avoid severe repercussions indicates that she needs absolutely needs to be behind bars or, perhaps, in a state mental facility. People like her cannot be "persuaded" to stop from pursuing the objects of their obsession. It they are male, we do not hesitate to call them, at minimum, sexually motivated stalkers, and have no qualms about removing them from society. Don't be fooled because they are white, educated women who can make an articulate case for their delusions.
Stubblefield reminds me of Mary Kay Latourneau who, after she was jailed and paroled for sex with a 13 year old boy, was busted AGAIN having sex in a van with this young teen.
I am sure both women feel that they are "sincere" in their "love" - However, Stubblefield, like Letourneau, demonstrated that she was willing to sacrifice the well-being of her OWN children and destroy her professional livelihood to an obsession with a vulnerable person, EVEN AFTER she was warned to end contact or suffer dire personal and legal consequences. Such inability to curb self-destructive impulses to avoid severe repercussions indicates that she needs absolutely needs to be behind bars or, perhaps, in a state mental facility. People like her cannot be "persuaded" to stop from pursuing the objects of their obsession. It they are male, we do not hesitate to call them, at minimum, sexually motivated stalkers, and have no qualms about removing them from society. Don't be fooled because they are white, educated women who can make an articulate case for their delusions.
18
Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau got married when he was 23 and she was 43. They just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary.
The fairness of the sentencing hangs on some legal issues that were not discussed in the article. As a high school teacher of the severely disabled, I warn parents every year that they need to decide before their child's eighteenth birthday whether or not to seek a legal conservatorship. As obvious as the student's disability may seem, under the law they can be treated as fully functional adults if their disability has not been documented by the court and a family member assigned as guardian. As adults these disabled people can refuse medical treatment, and be asked to make educational decisions. Well meaning outsiders, nurses, therapists and caregivers can interpret an ail individual wishes in any number of ways and advocate for the individuals rights against what the family wants, creating conflict and chaos. Less well meaning adults can create havoc by taking out out credit in the disabled persons name.
If DJ by was conserved by his family (and they seem like pretty savvy people) Ms. Stubblefield can and should be prosecuted and punished as if she had raped a child. I imagine she could also be civilly liable. If they had not (and many families skip it because of the cost, complexity or unfamiliarity with the law) then Ms. Stubblefield should at the very least be held to the standard of other practitioners in terms of professional boundaries with adults. Ms. Stubblefied's "feeling" that DJ could give consent or the validity of FC really don't matter.
If DJ by was conserved by his family (and they seem like pretty savvy people) Ms. Stubblefield can and should be prosecuted and punished as if she had raped a child. I imagine she could also be civilly liable. If they had not (and many families skip it because of the cost, complexity or unfamiliarity with the law) then Ms. Stubblefield should at the very least be held to the standard of other practitioners in terms of professional boundaries with adults. Ms. Stubblefied's "feeling" that DJ could give consent or the validity of FC really don't matter.
27
I believe this case is more than about a delusional woman and her asexual abuse of a retarded person. This woman is a tenured philosopher, a discipline which used to be the bastion of logic and truth, but nowadays has turned in many quarters (together with anthropology and other social sciences) to politics in disguise. When truth no longer matters, when each person has his or her own truth, when science is perceived as irrelevant to truth (because it is all social construction in any case), then people can invent any fancy they wish, including falling in love with a man with an IQ of a 3 years old.
17
Do you read much modern philosophy?
It wasn't asexual.
She had sex with him.
She also fellated him, removing his adult diaper to do so.
She was persistent. It took hours for her to complete the sex act with him the second time.
She had sex with him.
She also fellated him, removing his adult diaper to do so.
She was persistent. It took hours for her to complete the sex act with him the second time.
2
Pretty unusual all right. I don't really see abuse, though. Every judgement made here seems to be based upon normative explanations.
As to the sexual relations, or relationship, how was it determined that D.J. would have rejected them? This all seems very rigid and puritanical.
I for one will withhold judgement.
As to the sexual relations, or relationship, how was it determined that D.J. would have rejected them? This all seems very rigid and puritanical.
I for one will withhold judgement.
9
The details about the first assault, in which D.J. pulls away and moves from the bed to the floor, and from there retreats to the hallway, points to a pretty clear "no" from the victim. If subsequent encounters met with less fear and reluctance (and we have only Anna's version of what happened behind closed doors) that submission to abuse should not be perceived as consent. If the victim had been a non-disabled child rather than a mature but severely disabled man with probable cognitive limitations, Anna's actions would be viewed as pedophilic grooming. This was rape.
5
no abuse eh? You then advocate that child rapists should go free or not be prosecuted? That all comatose patients be subjected to sexual abuse by their medical professionals or caregivers just because as some here have said, "It might feel good to them"? Having a mind of a 5 year old is the same as being a 5 year old, or what part of that don't you understand? They haven't the intellect to give consent and in Dj's case he didn't have the ability either. Intuition or "feeling" count for squat. What's is so "Rigid" or Puritanical" about that.
6
Thats akin to asking whether a child consented to a sexual advance. Even if you buy into the malarkey she was peddling, the law says he was under the legal guardianship of his parents and having sex with him was therefore a crime.
11
I'm speechless..At first glance, FC might have a case. A prosthesis could be developed to hold the arm, to test the theory instead of a humanwho could impose their own bias, BUT, in this case, this woman appeared to have a break & became delusional about her relationship with her client/study subject, protégé?
Her open honesty about sexual acts, clearly show her inability to view this as a problem. She truly believes they're in love. Sad
Her open honesty about sexual acts, clearly show her inability to view this as a problem. She truly believes they're in love. Sad
10
Does anyone know if some sort or a brace or prosthesis has ever been tried in lieu of a human "facilitator"?
Sounds like a Mary Kay Letourneau with a PhD and steroids to me.
3
It seems to me the sentencing is extremely flawed. Murderers often get a fraction of this time. There was no intent to harm - far from it.
I suspect the FC is not a complete fraud, as a result of reading the article. But it does seem to be a technique very prone to assisters' misuse and misinterpretation. Could there be a way of better insuring this does not happen - by altering how this technique is utilized, such as blindfolding the assister while seeking to facilitate the communication?
I suspect the FC is not a complete fraud, as a result of reading the article. But it does seem to be a technique very prone to assisters' misuse and misinterpretation. Could there be a way of better insuring this does not happen - by altering how this technique is utilized, such as blindfolding the assister while seeking to facilitate the communication?
5
Sure. But every time that's been done, what the person was "communicating" turned out to be gibberish.
2
FC never passed any double-blind studies , none. until that happens its a hoax, junk science, a fraud.
3
Why must I look at the keyboard even when you don’t?
You have to look the letters so I can follow your visual pathway. Without our energetic link I cannot get to my target area. The reason being is that I am dreaming most of the time. Try to control your movements in a dream and you will understand My predicament.
I receive your image sent in that state but cannot replicate it with out your visual guidance. I find it easier to see through your eyes in a dreamlike manner because dreams are receptive receivers hearing information but unable to duplicate without conscious control of movement. I need your consciousness to refine my communication.
Going from hearing to typing what I hear on a keyboard still requires a visual stimulus to follow. Altered out of body states do not provide the bodily control that most typical people have. I adjust to your frequency, but I cannot move my body as I would like.
Typically, I know how to navigate thought and energy transference but I cannot transfer spiritual principals into linear representation without a filter. You serve as that filter. Your eyes, your ears, your touch all bring me down from my dream state into your limited way of interpreting a gestalt existence that is not word dependent.
It is a feeling state filled with nuances language can’t capture. You realize time without distance is not explainable to you but it is a reality in a dream experience.
(Writen with nonverbal person using FC)
You have to look the letters so I can follow your visual pathway. Without our energetic link I cannot get to my target area. The reason being is that I am dreaming most of the time. Try to control your movements in a dream and you will understand My predicament.
I receive your image sent in that state but cannot replicate it with out your visual guidance. I find it easier to see through your eyes in a dreamlike manner because dreams are receptive receivers hearing information but unable to duplicate without conscious control of movement. I need your consciousness to refine my communication.
Going from hearing to typing what I hear on a keyboard still requires a visual stimulus to follow. Altered out of body states do not provide the bodily control that most typical people have. I adjust to your frequency, but I cannot move my body as I would like.
Typically, I know how to navigate thought and energy transference but I cannot transfer spiritual principals into linear representation without a filter. You serve as that filter. Your eyes, your ears, your touch all bring me down from my dream state into your limited way of interpreting a gestalt existence that is not word dependent.
It is a feeling state filled with nuances language can’t capture. You realize time without distance is not explainable to you but it is a reality in a dream experience.
(Writen with nonverbal person using FC)
1
I don't know what to make of this -- but a 40 year sentence is ridiculous.
What no one thinks about is that cerebral palsy is caused by an "accident of birth" when the oxygen supply is cut off -- and too often that happens bcause of the interventions imposed on birthing mothers in hospitals. If Anna gets 40 years, certainly the doctors involved in D.J.'s birth should get the same.
What no one thinks about is that cerebral palsy is caused by an "accident of birth" when the oxygen supply is cut off -- and too often that happens bcause of the interventions imposed on birthing mothers in hospitals. If Anna gets 40 years, certainly the doctors involved in D.J.'s birth should get the same.
6
This is a great story and it raises serious questions about how far our society has gone to the extremes in using legal systems to prosecute moral crimes. The days when Presidents and celebrates exploited young ladies, to the point of "yes means yes," is a very long leap, but it has happened. This reminds me of the story staring Helen Hunt as a sex therapist: Sessions. I don't know how i feel about DJ's inability to say yes, but it doesn't sound like anyone believes he has been changed for the worst for the experience - a victimless crime perhaps? To put this woman, who in my view is kind hearted at best, delusional at worst, behind bars is a society absurdity. Does anyone really think she is a criminal who must be locked away to protect society? I look back on all the criminal fads of this country and cringe; think of all the people in prison because of marijuana - and now it's legal in certain states. What about alcohol or the Salem witch trials? Or about the trial of Owen Labrie at St. Pauls, acquitted of rape. Until humans become gods, we will continue making mistakes. Who made society gods? I hope Ms. Stubblefield successfully appeals this absurd criminal case that took up governmental resource. . . and will continue to do so until its works its way through the appeal process. I hope she gets help, not incarceration.
14
You have dragged in everything under the sun to excuse this woman. Are you for real? What do the Salem witch trials have to do with anything? A "victimless crime"? Only if you believe the disabled aren't real people, who can't be hurt by real crimes, so voila no crime actually happened I guess. If the victim can't speak up for himself we're to conclude, per your logic, that no crime happened.
5
Sexually assaulting a mentally deficient individual is a moral crime? Me thinks if the genders were reversed there would be A LOT less sympathy for the defendant.
2
That is a deeply sad story of misinterpreted realities, regardless of which one.
7
If DJ had been one of Ms. Stubblefield's students, would it not have occurred to the ethics professor to question the ethics of entering into a romantic relationship? While I, too, think the maximum sentence is too much, even when her marriage, the welfare of her children, and her professional credibility were in jeopardy, she could not let it go. DJ's family also deserves some peace and quiet.
7
she MAY get 40 years probably 20 or 10 at the most... you people coming to conclusions about the sentence is moronic, for no sentence has been imposed , but many of you think it has already, maybe because you have not read the article or have only read the parts you wanted to believe.
1
Most criminal cases don't end up going to trial. I wonder whether she was offered some kind of plea and rejected it? Anyway, the sentence is unjust, she doesn't deserve to go to jail for 40 years.
10
she hasn't been sentenced yet, what part of that don't you understand?. enough already!!!!!!
3
Her behavior was unprofessional, unethical and illegal. The fact that it was based on an honest personal conception of her profession, ethics and the law doesn't excuse her. She should go to jail. That said, I believe the conversation we should be having is around the way we treat disabled people in our society. We should stop defining mental ability by age. Saying that he had the mental capacity of a toddler conveys the wrong idea that he was, in fact, a toddler. That would make her behavior horrendous and probably explains the harshness of the accusations (she probably should not get so much jail time, but again, that's not my point). The fact is that D.J. is an adult and we know very little about his ability to consent and his sexual desires. More research should go into this. And he certainly should not have been treated as an "exhibit" in court. Sounds like he was just moved around as an object, and everyone in the courtroom was allowed to project their own fears unto him. Just like Anna had done. That is truly shameful. We as a society can and should do better. There is an urgent need for a deeper conversation on the rights and abilities of the "disabled".
9
I agree in principle, but research into the sexual desires of severely disabled, presumptively low IQ, nonverbal people is difficult. That's really ripe for abuse in itself. In earlier eras, such people were punished for any display on their own part of sexual desire - considered wicked, or demon-infested or such. Hopefully, we have moved past such cruel notions, but all we really have at the moment is the notion that since they usually can't express want they want, they should be protected from other people taking advantage of them sexually. That's a pretty rock solid ethical notion, in my view, and the one that Anna Stubblefield remorselessly violated.
5
so sorry .. having a mind like that of a toddler, does mean they are a toddler regardless of their body maturity.. You wouldn't give the keys to your car to such a person would you? Case closed and get with the science of it all.
3
Why is sexual child abuse bad? This case begs that we consider that unspeakable question. Every clinician knows that the consequences of childhood sexual trauma can be, and often is, catastrophic. But why? Some of the obvious reasons include pain, physical injury and distress associated with coercion. The victims also struggle with invalidation when guardians either miss, ignore or dismiss the abuse. I would postulate that other causes of harm emerge as the child matures and becomes increasingly aware of sexuality and of what was done. This brings extreme shame and guilt. Societal context is probably important. Some of the ancient Greek mentees undoubtedly suffered harm as a consequence of sexual activity with an elder, but likely not all.
Are all sexual acts between and an adult and a child harmful? Are they harmful at the time they occur or are they time bombs? What are the mechanisms of harm? In a case like this, if we assume that DJ, while a chronological adult, will always be mentally a toddler, was harm done? While it is certainly important to stop perpetrators, it would also help survivors if we dare to ask the difficult questions. In any case, the good professor has certainly provided ample material to ponder and study in her own field of ethics, as well as sociology, psychology and law.
Are all sexual acts between and an adult and a child harmful? Are they harmful at the time they occur or are they time bombs? What are the mechanisms of harm? In a case like this, if we assume that DJ, while a chronological adult, will always be mentally a toddler, was harm done? While it is certainly important to stop perpetrators, it would also help survivors if we dare to ask the difficult questions. In any case, the good professor has certainly provided ample material to ponder and study in her own field of ethics, as well as sociology, psychology and law.
5
We cannot always know for sure that a child, or severely mentally disabled person, was harmed by sexual predation. Maybe they just really enjoyed it, who is to say? But we have to assume that it's like having a button pressed that you didn't know existed before someone pressed it on you - you're suddenly subjected to intense, completely unfamiliar sensations and potentially overwhelming emotions without any idea of what is going on, without any way to ask for help or to get an explanation or any reassurance. That can and I suspect almost always does feel very frightening and disorienting and perhaps sometimes rage-inducing, even if the physical sensations themselves are to some extent pleasant. None of us want our physiological buttons pushed without our permission.
I suspect it's much like tickling. Tickling even though the person laughs can be a bit sadistic, because it takes away the other person's autonomy over their own reactions and bodily responses.
I suspect it's much like tickling. Tickling even though the person laughs can be a bit sadistic, because it takes away the other person's autonomy over their own reactions and bodily responses.
2
I tried to ask that question in a class in college (can't remember the exact class).
I think child sexual abuse is bad, but I wanted to know why I think it is bad, why do we think it's bad, why do many children react as though it was bad. I really wanted to know the answer from a medical, clinical, societal norms, instinctual, religious, moral, ethics, gut feeling point of view - from whatever view would clarify it to me.
I got a strange look from the professor and no answer.
And, frankly, I would distrust any one who asked that question.
I think child sexual abuse is bad, but I wanted to know why I think it is bad, why do we think it's bad, why do many children react as though it was bad. I really wanted to know the answer from a medical, clinical, societal norms, instinctual, religious, moral, ethics, gut feeling point of view - from whatever view would clarify it to me.
I got a strange look from the professor and no answer.
And, frankly, I would distrust any one who asked that question.
1
With FC, and a suitably empathetic facilitator, how do a best-in-their-class chimp, an orang-utan and a top-rating gorilla like Hanabiko 'Koko' pan out?
2
This absorbing article raises two issue for me. Firstly (and as other commenters have noted), when you're in some sort of counselling or caring role, be it doctor, teacher, nurse, therapist or helpline volunteer, you don't enter into a romantic relationship with a client, particularly when it involves a person as vulnerable as D.J. Anna Stubblefield may have been working with him outside a regulated, professional framework, but she is a highly educated woman and should have known this. By acting on her feelings, she showed blatant disregard for the consequences for D.J., his family, her own family and her colleagues in the facilitated communication community. That said, 40 years in prison seems excessive.
Secondly, facilitated communication as described in this article seems largely mechanical. Given advances in computer-aided mechanics like robots and prosthetic limbs, couldn't some non-human facilitated communication device be developed that might settle the FC debate once and for all?
Secondly, facilitated communication as described in this article seems largely mechanical. Given advances in computer-aided mechanics like robots and prosthetic limbs, couldn't some non-human facilitated communication device be developed that might settle the FC debate once and for all?
7
Its been tried and failed. But FC true believers chalk it up to the lack of that human touch. Same with having the patient 'type' words the facilitator cant be privy to. In double blind tests they fail, but FC advocated wave the results away. For anyone familiar with the debunking of psychic claims, this sort of thing is very, very familiar. The easiest person to fool is yourself.
5
Anna appears to be no criminal who is a threat to society and locking her up will only cost more tax payer money- and here I thought that US wants to lower the number of imprisoned people which is the highest in the world.
5
of course she is a threat , a threat to many mentally and physically disabled people everywhere.. just because she says she has empathy along with being a female(mothers know best) and her PhD, a degree which didn't qualify her to care for DJ, makes her a threat. Your Annie-Rose colored glasses are fogged.
3
Anna Stubblefield is a predator.
13
1. Have the iPad and similar devices which are said to enable/facilitate communication by the cerebral palsied and autistic better validated as useful tools?
If so, they could be used to act as an additional test of D.J.'s mental capabilities and content.
2. Professor Stubblefield was considered delusional by several people; was a claim of diminished capacity part of her defense lawyer's arguments?
If so, they could be used to act as an additional test of D.J.'s mental capabilities and content.
2. Professor Stubblefield was considered delusional by several people; was a claim of diminished capacity part of her defense lawyer's arguments?
2
While I'm not professionally competent to evaluate the kind of treatment Stubblefield was engaged in, as a professor of history, I can say that the market for snake oil and "miracle" cures has always been a strong one and according to experts in the field, that would certainly seem to be the case with facilitated communication. I occasionally have philosophical discussions with my cat, who looks at me quizzically and periodically meows. I could interpret that as him having a position on, say, Voltaire's ethics or Tallyrand's manipulation of the Congress of Vienna and sometimes, for the sake of amusement, I do. In fact however I know perfectly well he is just saying "scratch my ear." Ms. Stubblefield lost her mental clarity in this regard. Very sad indeed for all concerned. A harsh sentence is appropriate.
12
nicely said Tobias, but unfortunately it's fallen on deaf ears by many "Progressives" here on the Times along with Stubblefield's family and friends. I can see now how "organized religions" got their start.
2
Reading this thread is very enlightening. Too many people have absolutely no idea of the importance of consent. They think if they would have said yes to sex in the same circumstances, then that is enough to assume consent. They don't appear to realize that their wishes and desires are not the same as everyone else's, and that they do not speak for this young man and what he may or may not have wanted.
11
I don't think people objecting to this sentence are necessarily showing no idea of the importance of consent because they can't understand that just because they would have consented that means there was consent. I think what people are saying is that this trial did not establish that harm was done to justify a sentence this long. It is possible that DJ was harmed such that this person needs to spend 40 years in prison, but that certainly was not proven and it does not appear likely. According to the government's theory of the case, DJ is so impaired that he was not even treated as a human being in this trial; no attempt was made to allow him to express his feelings about the defendant; and, he was treated like a piece of demonstrative evidence -- without his consent, BTW. If that's true -- that he is closer to an object than a human being -- then he couldn't have been harmed. And if it's not true, then the trial was a kangaroo court because he was not even allowed to really look at the defendant; zero effort was made to allow the jury to assess DJ's feeling about her. So if you're worried people don't care about consent, rest assured, I don't think that is what these comments mean. This is a very strange case and this punishment based on this trial does not make sense.
2
I am not surprised that many commenters think Anna Stubblefield did DJ some kind of coming of age sexual favor. Paternalistic attutitudes abound when it comes to the mentally disabled. The reality folks is that the parameters of DJ's sexual expression are going to be set by his caregivers, his family, the ones that indeed know him best, not some fake clinician who ingratitates herself in to the family so she can manipulate their handicapped son and then thinks she knows better than them. Cognitavely impaired people may not have the same kinds of desires or need for sexual outlets as the rest of us, so to just assume that DJ liked it because Anna said he did does not jibe with the reality of the situation. Anna is a liar and a fraud who molested a client, we don't need her side of the story any more because it already happened and decent people realize she needs censure and punishment.
24
Prof. Stubblefield's work in racism should have given her exposure to ideas of power imbalance. If DJ had been an able-bodied college student, it STILL would have been unethical for her to have a relationship with him because of the power imbalance between professor and student. How much more careful must a caregiver of any kind be when relating to a person with such profound disabilities as DJ? I am sorry for her children, and for DJ and his family, for the harm her actions have wrought. If one would heal the world, one would do well to start with one's own self.
16
I'm horrified by how many commenters think it's ok for an adult to have sex with someone who has the mental capacity of a three year old.
23
Who says he has the mental capacity of a 3 yr old? Do all people with CP have low IQ and low emotional IQ?
2
Stubblefield and others disagree that D.J has the mental capacity of a three year old. I have no idea what the truth it but I don't think anyone is arguing that it is okay to do that. People are arguing that she had sex with some with serious physical disabilities who has adult intellectual functioning but was written off as intellectually disabled wrongly.
1
@Prairie- read the article.
1
Ms. Stubblefield's case reminds me of Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman's words, "We are blind, and blind to our blindness." What's striking is not just this intelligent woman's confidence in the veracity of her delusions, but also her and her defenders' stunning disregard for the evidence disproving facilitated communication. Based on this highly compelling piece by Daniel Engber, one can conclude that Ms. Stubblefield's is not mad. Rather, she is a person like many others whose lives have been unravelled by a failure to recognise their own minds' limitations, and an academician who never grasped the true foundation of scholarship - that evidence, not flawed human perception, must guide the way. Faith in delusion is a great cause of human tragedy - from the Spanish Inquisition to Hitler to ISIS. If all children were taught about the inherent fallibility of the human mind, and how science has helped overcome our intellects' shortcomings to bring about unprecedented advancement, in the future we might have fewer Stubblefields who stray so damagingly from reality. In her case, however, the damage was to her own life, as it's far from clear if DJ suffered any significant distress. Therefore, a 40-year prison sentence or anything remotely close to it would be yet another tragedy.
5
yes, it also applies to religion the belief in someone or something higher and more powerful, and look at the results including what is happening all over the world today.
1
Hear, hear!
If Stubblefield, however deluded or self deceived she might have been, honestly believed that DJ was capable of consenting, and actually consenting, to their sexual acts, then I think she should not be guilty of any kind of serious offense. And based on this article, at least. I have little doubt that she did believe this. If she was unreasonable in believing this, then she is guilty of, at most, a acting negligently. In general, negligence, though sufficient for civil liability, is not sufficient for criminal liability. But even if it is sufficient here-and that depends on how the NJ statutes are written- I think she should be given probation and a suspended sentence. Anything more than, say, a year, is barbaric.
6
Nonsense. By this reasoning, someone can rape a three year old and get off by stating that they "believed" she was capable of consenting. Doesn't matter if this "belief" was 1) ludicrous and delusional and 2) self-serving.
While this sounds far-fetched, it puts me in mind of the people who use a form of sign language with their babies. This practice showed that young infants - unlike most people like D.J. - do indeed understand much that is being said around them even though they don't possess the speech capacities to respond aloud. So, imagine if someone rapes a baby and claims that the baby signed "Yes" beforehand. Not a problem then? The person "believed" the baby consented?
While this sounds far-fetched, it puts me in mind of the people who use a form of sign language with their babies. This practice showed that young infants - unlike most people like D.J. - do indeed understand much that is being said around them even though they don't possess the speech capacities to respond aloud. So, imagine if someone rapes a baby and claims that the baby signed "Yes" beforehand. Not a problem then? The person "believed" the baby consented?
5
What many of those making comments here are overlooking is the fact that Stubblefield committed a crime. Not a "tort" but a criminal act. What is also being overlooked is the fact that Stubblefield attempted to see DJ again even after his legal guardians advised her to leave him alone. If she abided by the decision of his legal guardians, the entire episode would have been dropped.
12
This is a disturbing case.
But for those readers who are seemingly indulgent with she having sex with her patient, would you be just as apt to excuse the actions of a white male professional indulging in sexual acts with a Black female patient?
The historical notion of white priviledge greatly resonates
At the same time I am wondering why her defense did not explore the possibility that Ms Stubblefield herself may have a mental illness?
Her actions suggest someone who is not fully in command of rational thought.
But for those readers who are seemingly indulgent with she having sex with her patient, would you be just as apt to excuse the actions of a white male professional indulging in sexual acts with a Black female patient?
The historical notion of white priviledge greatly resonates
At the same time I am wondering why her defense did not explore the possibility that Ms Stubblefield herself may have a mental illness?
Her actions suggest someone who is not fully in command of rational thought.
11
This is a truly sad story for all concerned, especially Stubblefield.
And an unjust one - for her guilt was not established beyond a reasonable doubt.
(That it makes most of us uncomfortable is not relevant to her guilt or innocence.)
The burden of proof is on the prosecutor who had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt 1) that DJ was so mentally incompetent that he couldn't consent to sex and 2) that Stubblefield knew or should have known that this was the case. Neither of these were established.
1)According to expert testimony, only 30-40% of people with cerebral palsy are disabled cognitively; the rest are normal to gifted. Furthermore, the tests used to show DJ's incompetence relied on motor skills that he does not have, so of course he failed. (Imagine if we were given IQ tests on a computer we could not operate.) The fact is therefore that we do not know DJ's mental competence. .
2)Though the evidence regarding FC is mixed, there are enough expert supporters that it cannot be dismissed as crazy (even if incorrect). Stubblefield reported that DJ typed things she did not know; so did Sheronda Jones, the student who helped DJ in a class. So there is certainly reasonable doubt that "she should have known" that he was too incompetent to consent.
It would be terribly unjust to sentence Stubblefield to a sentence that applies to "someone who had inflicted serious injuries during a rape or participated in a violent gang rape." The cases are not remotely comparable.
And an unjust one - for her guilt was not established beyond a reasonable doubt.
(That it makes most of us uncomfortable is not relevant to her guilt or innocence.)
The burden of proof is on the prosecutor who had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt 1) that DJ was so mentally incompetent that he couldn't consent to sex and 2) that Stubblefield knew or should have known that this was the case. Neither of these were established.
1)According to expert testimony, only 30-40% of people with cerebral palsy are disabled cognitively; the rest are normal to gifted. Furthermore, the tests used to show DJ's incompetence relied on motor skills that he does not have, so of course he failed. (Imagine if we were given IQ tests on a computer we could not operate.) The fact is therefore that we do not know DJ's mental competence. .
2)Though the evidence regarding FC is mixed, there are enough expert supporters that it cannot be dismissed as crazy (even if incorrect). Stubblefield reported that DJ typed things she did not know; so did Sheronda Jones, the student who helped DJ in a class. So there is certainly reasonable doubt that "she should have known" that he was too incompetent to consent.
It would be terribly unjust to sentence Stubblefield to a sentence that applies to "someone who had inflicted serious injuries during a rape or participated in a violent gang rape." The cases are not remotely comparable.
6
Well, having sat as a juror throughout the entire trial and heard all of the evidence presented in this case, why did you vote to convict if you found that there was reasonable doubt? Is it perhaps because you were not actually there and have no clue how the evidence actually presented itself or how the jury judged the evidence and credibility of witnesses during deliberations? It is easy to Monday morning quarterback the decisions of juries. This person should have been convicted, this person should have been acquitted. But what we forget is that juries are randomly selected from the population. They are not lawyers. Perhaps we ought to respect their verdicts.
3
‘‘'I wouldn’t have fallen in love with him if he wasn’t capable of consent,’' she would later say in court."
This assertion is fundamentally untrue of human nature. I doubt there's a single one of us who has not, at some point in our lives, formed an inappropriate attachment to another person.
But it's a matter of possessing self-awareness, stepping back and recognizing such feelings are often about you yourself as much as they are about the object of them. I suspect that a very strong need in Ms. Stubblefield -- something like loneliness in her marriage, or wanting to prove true the theories about disability she was espousing -- distorted her judgment, as a professional and as an adult. While that gives her actions context, it cannot excuse them.
This assertion is fundamentally untrue of human nature. I doubt there's a single one of us who has not, at some point in our lives, formed an inappropriate attachment to another person.
But it's a matter of possessing self-awareness, stepping back and recognizing such feelings are often about you yourself as much as they are about the object of them. I suspect that a very strong need in Ms. Stubblefield -- something like loneliness in her marriage, or wanting to prove true the theories about disability she was espousing -- distorted her judgment, as a professional and as an adult. While that gives her actions context, it cannot excuse them.
10
His cerebral palsy leaves him prone to muscle spasms in his face, his neck, his torso and his arms and hands. She acknowledges that it’s hard for him to stay in one position, that muscle contractions sometimes twist his spine and clench his fingers in a useless ball. It’s clear to her, as it is to everyone, that he has trouble making eye contact and keeping objects fixed in view. She knows that he wears diapers and cannot dress himself; that he can walk only if someone steadies him; and that otherwise he gets around by scooting on the floor. She knows that D.J. screams when he’s unhappy and chirps when he’s excited, but that he can’t control his vocal cords. Anna understands that even now, at 35, D.J. has never said a word.
It seems strange to me that anyone believes a male with this level of disability is able to have sex. So Anna is delusional about communicating with DJ but not about having sex with him? Why? In my opinion, to have sex, a male must be able to control his body movements and stay focused on task,things the experts say DJ can't do. And Anna faces 40 years in prison?
It seems strange to me that anyone believes a male with this level of disability is able to have sex. So Anna is delusional about communicating with DJ but not about having sex with him? Why? In my opinion, to have sex, a male must be able to control his body movements and stay focused on task,things the experts say DJ can't do. And Anna faces 40 years in prison?
Lots of what ifs in this sad case. At the end of the day, it boils down to the fact that humans, regardless of their human condition, are primitive in nature, and as such, they behave primitive. However, a harsh sentence of 20-40 years for sexual deviation, in this particular case, seems pretty harsh in comparison to other more aberrant cases. At the very human level, DJ never had a chance to feel anything or to express anything.
Assuming for the sake of argument (and because it seems to me the more likely scenario anyway) that FC doesn't work and the supposed communications of the disabled person are conscious or unconscious expressions of the facilitator--in that case, Anna fell in love with herself. Interesting.
5
I have to wonder how many times we have to encounter a Clever Hans before we realize how easily our optimism can delude us. This is tragic in all respects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans People may scoff at the need for double-blind research and call it contrived and impossible to generalize to individual cases, but it is instances such as this where very real individuals are harmed that make the case for why we need good controlled research.
4
To families of children with cerebral palsy:
When you have a controversial treatment that can be easily tested to see if it really works, perhaps it would be better to do so?
For example, in the case of FC, you could ask your child to answer some specific questions that the facilitator wouldn't know. Right at the start of treatment.
This would remove the chance of abuse, and at least, of false hopes, down the road.
When you have a controversial treatment that can be easily tested to see if it really works, perhaps it would be better to do so?
For example, in the case of FC, you could ask your child to answer some specific questions that the facilitator wouldn't know. Right at the start of treatment.
This would remove the chance of abuse, and at least, of false hopes, down the road.
4
This case completely depends on an accurate evaluation on DJ's mental awareness. While it could be that FC is not genuine communication, there needs to be extreme due diligence to be certain of that. I don't think it should be a given that all mentally retarded or severely disabled adults are "child like" and cannot not have valid sexual or romantic feelings towards another adult. Family objection alone does not justify prosecution. Disabled adults are not children. They deserve to live private adult lives and have sex and relationships outside their family. We should be very cautious as a society before assuming any adult is "child-like" with no right to an adult lifestyle.
I hope DJ continues to get the help he needs to communicate. This story would be extremely tragic if it turned out he was communicating through FC and did want a relationship with Mrs Stubblefield. We owe it to people like DJ to improve funding for research on technology to help severely disabled people communicate. We should not assume a person cannot communicate without definitive proof.
I hope DJ continues to get the help he needs to communicate. This story would be extremely tragic if it turned out he was communicating through FC and did want a relationship with Mrs Stubblefield. We owe it to people like DJ to improve funding for research on technology to help severely disabled people communicate. We should not assume a person cannot communicate without definitive proof.
7
What a brutal, sad and complicated mess. It's a tale of good intentions sabotaged by self-delusion. There are such painful ironies in this story: a woman who was almost genetically programmed to help, harmed; an ethicist who behaved so thoroughly unethically; an academic whose cultural, scientific and Judeo-Christian moral compass so thoroughly malfunctioned and utterly blinded her so that her very hypersensitivity to issues of race, class and vulnerable populations led her to perpetuate the same paternalistic patterns she so abhorred! I fully believe that Anna felt (and probably still believes) that via F.C. she was unlocking D.J.'s inner voice and that he loved her deeply. After reading the story, you could rightly say, "yes this world does need a lot of healing, we just need to be thoughtful about how we help." But here was a woman who HAD given it a lot of thought, who since a teen was trying to mend the world, and still she fell.
6
there is nothing romantic about showing porn in her office. She exhibits the behavioral traits, planning, and manipulations of any other sex offender. Substitute male priest for female professor and see what people's reaction is. FC is nonsense and the idea that this young man was capable of presenting papers at conferences is truly sick. What's worse is people actually might have believed this. She needs a substantial sentence for what she did.
15
As the parent of a disabled young adult I find this especially horrifying and aplaud DJ's family for their initial restraint in dealing with this complete nut job who insinuated herself in to their lives under the guise of helping. They gave her a chance to walk away, as did her husband and she refused, doubling down that she knew better than his own family what DJ really needed. What redress was left to these poor people other than to call the authorities and report this abuse? That the criminal justice system ran away with this and is about to hand her a stiff sentence is a problem of her own making and I have little sympathy. You don't use a severely handicapped person as a receptacle for your own freakish desires without severe consequences, can we agree upon that?
17
As a retired teacher, I find nothing freakish about Anna - but agree with you that she had more than once chance to walk away (providing she first found DJ another therapist) before she landed in court.
2
Val in Brooklyn, NY
Well, I simply give up. My first thought is for D.J. He's the most abused and violated person in this situation. And, his vulnerable, trusting family. This woman raped a defenseless man--someone without capacity. I remember a story about FC, years ago on t.v. As at least one or two professionals here have stated, FC was thoroughly discredited.
I feel absolutely soiled reading this harrowing account. I have no sympathy for Ms. Stubblefield, whatsoever. If she needs psychiatric care, she can get it behind bars where she belongs. As others have said, two families broken because of her.
She is a menace and a pervert.
Submitted 10-21-15@3:29 a.m. EST
Well, I simply give up. My first thought is for D.J. He's the most abused and violated person in this situation. And, his vulnerable, trusting family. This woman raped a defenseless man--someone without capacity. I remember a story about FC, years ago on t.v. As at least one or two professionals here have stated, FC was thoroughly discredited.
I feel absolutely soiled reading this harrowing account. I have no sympathy for Ms. Stubblefield, whatsoever. If she needs psychiatric care, she can get it behind bars where she belongs. As others have said, two families broken because of her.
She is a menace and a pervert.
Submitted 10-21-15@3:29 a.m. EST
13
Legal considerations aside, just looking at the humanity of the situation, and speaking as a male, if I were trapped in D.J.'s condition, I would be immeasurably grateful to someone like Anna willing to spend countless hours of their life with me, giving me the experience of human love and caring, and yes, a positive experience of romantic sexual expression too, that otherwise I would go my whole life though without a chance of experiencing.
6
I want to congratulate the NY Times for the best journalism yet on this case by many miles! Not perfect, but amazing. Bravo Daniel.
Everyone in this case lost. No one benefitted, not even the prosecution’s star anti-FC witness who really came across as nowhere near as scientific as he thinks he is.
Everyone in this case lost. No one benefitted, not even the prosecution’s star anti-FC witness who really came across as nowhere near as scientific as he thinks he is.
8
It disturbs me that some are arguing that no harm was done to DJ. A few are even saying that he may have enjoyed being assaulted! Statements like these reveal the value that their authors' place on the lives of the profoundly disabled. DJ didn't consent to sex, and we have no way to know how the assault affected him. However, simply assuming that a sexual experience over which he had no control did him no harm, is baseless as well as callous.
If we allowed for the notion that a person's cognitive capacity, level of consciousness, and/or ability to communicate dictated whether or not they could be assaulted, then babies, people in comas, the unconscious, and elderly people suffering from dementia could all be argued to have experienced no harm from a sex assault. Most of us recognize that sex in situations with incredibly skewed power differentials by its very nature does harm to a person. Especially if that person is incapacitated or otherwise rendered incapable of giving consent by mental disease or defect. Thankfully, the law also recognizes this, and can seek justice for the truly vulnerable, as in DJ's case.
I hope everyone will strive to see profoundly disabled people as deserving of equal rights and equal protection under the law, so that we don't see a preference for leniency for sex offenders who prey on people with disabilities.
If we allowed for the notion that a person's cognitive capacity, level of consciousness, and/or ability to communicate dictated whether or not they could be assaulted, then babies, people in comas, the unconscious, and elderly people suffering from dementia could all be argued to have experienced no harm from a sex assault. Most of us recognize that sex in situations with incredibly skewed power differentials by its very nature does harm to a person. Especially if that person is incapacitated or otherwise rendered incapable of giving consent by mental disease or defect. Thankfully, the law also recognizes this, and can seek justice for the truly vulnerable, as in DJ's case.
I hope everyone will strive to see profoundly disabled people as deserving of equal rights and equal protection under the law, so that we don't see a preference for leniency for sex offenders who prey on people with disabilities.
19
If this assisted typing method is truly without merit, then Anna appears to have fallen madly in love with herself.
10
After reading the article, I searched online and found this very insightful blog:
http://julieswritings.blog.com/2015/09/13/some-of-my-thoughts-on-the-ann...
The Times showed one horrible picture of Anna, but online she looks fine, and there is even a picture of her with DJ, who looks okay, too. The judge did not allow him to express himself. This is tragic.
http://julieswritings.blog.com/2015/09/13/some-of-my-thoughts-on-the-ann...
The Times showed one horrible picture of Anna, but online she looks fine, and there is even a picture of her with DJ, who looks okay, too. The judge did not allow him to express himself. This is tragic.
5
Thanks so much, Mario, for posting Julie's blog. Julie has cerebral palsey herself, actually attended Dr. Stubblefield's trial, and was labeled similarly to DJ as a child herself. That Julie went on to write such a well-informed blog, is evidence enough that an injustice has occurred.
The blog is long, and I suspect few will read through the whole thing, even if warranted, so I am posting a single paragraph: “Of particular concern is that . . . no attempt has been made by the police to provide Mr. Johnson with access to a means of communication so that he could tell his side of the story. The defense brought Dr. Rosemary Crossley—director of the Anne McDonald Centre in Melbourne, Australia, and a world-renowned expert in augmentative communication for people with severe impairments—in to assess Mr. Johnson’s communication needs. Dr. Crossley concluded that Mr. Johnson is literate and able to communicate. However, Judge Siobhan Teare, who is presiding over the case, ruled on February 19, 2015, that Dr. Crossley’s assessment will not be admitted into evidence. Dr. Crossley held the communication devices used by Mr. Johnson during the exam, in order to position them where he could access them. Although Dr. Crossley testified at a hearing in January that she was certain that she in no way influenced Mr. Johnson’s responses, the judge nonetheless concluded that the examination was improperly conducted.”
The blog is long, and I suspect few will read through the whole thing, even if warranted, so I am posting a single paragraph: “Of particular concern is that . . . no attempt has been made by the police to provide Mr. Johnson with access to a means of communication so that he could tell his side of the story. The defense brought Dr. Rosemary Crossley—director of the Anne McDonald Centre in Melbourne, Australia, and a world-renowned expert in augmentative communication for people with severe impairments—in to assess Mr. Johnson’s communication needs. Dr. Crossley concluded that Mr. Johnson is literate and able to communicate. However, Judge Siobhan Teare, who is presiding over the case, ruled on February 19, 2015, that Dr. Crossley’s assessment will not be admitted into evidence. Dr. Crossley held the communication devices used by Mr. Johnson during the exam, in order to position them where he could access them. Although Dr. Crossley testified at a hearing in January that she was certain that she in no way influenced Mr. Johnson’s responses, the judge nonetheless concluded that the examination was improperly conducted.”
3
Superb journalism, Mr. Engber. Thank you.
4
Give Ms Stubblefield a chance to appeal based on her own mental incapacity. She seems disturbed and perhaps could plead insanity for imagining the young man's consent for an emotional, sexual relationship. Perhaps it can be established that since everyone involved in this case, except Ms Stubblefield believes that she was way off base in her instincts and judgment, that perhaps she too is in an emotionally fragile state and cannot understand or choose right from wrong actions. I think the woman needs emotional help; not jail time!
4
The quasi-defenses of this woman's behavior are repulsive and then some.
Just invert the genders and then ask yourself what label you'd apply to Ms. Stufflefield then. I think "monster" says it all.
Just invert the genders and then ask yourself what label you'd apply to Ms. Stufflefield then. I think "monster" says it all.
10
"FC" is pseudoscience. If one were truly interested in testing the intelligence of a person with palsy, then create a neutral support (a board or sloped desk) to stabilize the disabled person's contact with the keyboard. A highly suggestive, deluded, and supposedly intelligent woman guided the hand and lead to this tragic story.
7
Facilitated communication! Can you say OUIJA BOARD?
7
She needs help, not prison time. She didn't try to cover anything up. She told her side of the whole story - which it seems clear she believes 100%. So either she is right about DJ or she is delusional. What seems clear is that she did not mean to harm DJ. 20-40 years is a totally insane punishment for this woman. I hope Wesley and P recognize this and help her with her appeal. This case reminds me of the woman who worked in the NAACP and pretended to be black. There is something wrong there, but not evil.
5
Help with her appeal????? Wesley and P owe her nothing!
2
They don't "owe" her anything but they are why she is facing 40 years in prison. They could have taken a different tack, like getting a restraining order.
I think this woman is delusional. Mental illness is a disability, too.
I think this woman is delusional. Mental illness is a disability, too.
My brother was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy with a mental capacity of a 3 yr old. From a personal perspective, if a therapist were to take such passionate interest in his happiness, we probably would have been dubious of ulterior motives but we would likely be grateful he found a companion and a friend. Living a life with cerebral palsy is lonely since there is only so much stimulation dedicated family members can provide to someone minimally responsive. Not to justify what Anna did, but it does not sound like she was physically abusive, but moreso delusional. It would have been interesting if the article had a more scientific angle by exploring the CT scan brain activity of these patients to indicate if there was some possibility that brain activity could justify the extensive F.C communication - I am surprised this was not brought up in the trial by either the defense or the prosecution. I am also surprised on how the trial/ article glossed over how the edification of D.J was so advanced that he was able to read/ write (literacy takes years to learn and not easily inferred from verbal communication) and that he understood complicated actions like "making love."
This story has many strange angles. Pursuing a prison sentence for this delusional therapist is almost as strange as her falling in love with a severely mentally disabled person. The defense should argue that she needs psychiatric therapy and explore her obsession as a manifestation of her troubled marriage.
This story has many strange angles. Pursuing a prison sentence for this delusional therapist is almost as strange as her falling in love with a severely mentally disabled person. The defense should argue that she needs psychiatric therapy and explore her obsession as a manifestation of her troubled marriage.
9
The extent of DJ's disability may not be clear, but it is beyond doubt that this Anna woman is wholly insane.
2
Funnily, Anna's relationship with C.J. reminds me of a relationship I had with my imaginary girlfriend when I was ten or eleven.
At 14, she was a few years older than I.
For months, we spoke late into the night about our fears, dreams, and one another until one night, after what seemed like an eternity of bittersweet devotion and forbearance, I finally lost my virginity to her.
For a ten year old it was, as I remember it now, a pretty healthy and tender relationship through which I learned much about myself and my ability to offer romantic love. In fact, my wife, now of 27 years, looks a lot like that imaginary girl who appeared every night in the darkness so many years ago.
Like me, Anna Stubblefield seems to have created an imaginary lover. Save for his non-communicative grunts and shrieks and, at best, asexual body, she forged out of C.J. an utterly imaginary lover and friend completely of her own making.
In fact, I wonder whether C.J. was, in any real sense, even present for this romance and friendship.
Or was Anna Stubblefield, out of disappointment with what reality offered, engaging in a perfect relationship so profoundly of her own solipsistic creation that she ultimately fell in love with herself?
At 14, she was a few years older than I.
For months, we spoke late into the night about our fears, dreams, and one another until one night, after what seemed like an eternity of bittersweet devotion and forbearance, I finally lost my virginity to her.
For a ten year old it was, as I remember it now, a pretty healthy and tender relationship through which I learned much about myself and my ability to offer romantic love. In fact, my wife, now of 27 years, looks a lot like that imaginary girl who appeared every night in the darkness so many years ago.
Like me, Anna Stubblefield seems to have created an imaginary lover. Save for his non-communicative grunts and shrieks and, at best, asexual body, she forged out of C.J. an utterly imaginary lover and friend completely of her own making.
In fact, I wonder whether C.J. was, in any real sense, even present for this romance and friendship.
Or was Anna Stubblefield, out of disappointment with what reality offered, engaging in a perfect relationship so profoundly of her own solipsistic creation that she ultimately fell in love with herself?
6
Yes. The disabled make good targets of fantasy love, because they remain (in fantasy) always under the control of the able-bodied lover, and if they're nonverbal, they never talk back. (It's sort a sick thought in itself, but imagine if they had actually gotten married ... can you even imagine the "facilitated communications" she would have convinced herself she was receiving from him a few years later, after the bloom was off the rose?)
D.J. dodged a bullet. She was insane, and she would have eventually done him far worse harm.
D.J. dodged a bullet. She was insane, and she would have eventually done him far worse harm.
2
This is a difficult case. She crossed a line: one does not have romantic or sexual relations with a disabled client, especially in a healing profession. This can easily become abusive. And I don't know if DJ was harmed, or even if he understands. But 40 years in jail? That's ridiculous. She needs her own therapist, needs not to be around those disabled, and needs some punishment, but not anywhere near 40 years.
As for FC, I'm just not competent to say. I've never been in that situation with a family member. But I do know that there is more to life than randomized trials.
As for FC, I'm just not competent to say. I've never been in that situation with a family member. But I do know that there is more to life than randomized trials.
4
It is not just Puritanism causing such condemnation of Stubblefield. The idea of Absolute Gender Symmetry compels that she = a male forcing sex on a 3-year old girl. As so many posters insist.
If Absolute Gender Symmetry is seen to have the slightest crack, the dyke might eventually break. If there is any gender difference at all, what are the bounds? The overlap of this kind of feminism with sexual repression is so common, it goes unremarked.
Props to the few posters (all male probably) who object.
If Absolute Gender Symmetry is seen to have the slightest crack, the dyke might eventually break. If there is any gender difference at all, what are the bounds? The overlap of this kind of feminism with sexual repression is so common, it goes unremarked.
Props to the few posters (all male probably) who object.
1
Could you try again to tell us whatever it is you are talking about? 'Cus I am just so repressed I guess I don't get it. What is Absolute Gender Symmetry, and which posters have insisted on it? Which posters have insisted that "she = a male forcing sex on a 3-year old girl"? I have seen posters insist that she is NO BETTER THAN a male forcing sex on a 3 year old girl. As far as I can see the objections are the same regardless of the gender of the victim or perpetrator. Is that perhaps what you mean by the dreaded Absolute Gender Symmetry? That we should all lighten up and realize that it's bad for a man to do it but ok for a woman to do it?
1
Clearly an over wrought, disturbed woman. Her infatuation with Tikkun Olam is also, sadly, off the mark. Orthodox Jews have a different take on that; it is meant to be accomplished by fulfillment of all the commandments/mitzvot given to us, not just seemingly humanitarian ones. Nonetheless, she went off the deep end with D.J.; a crazy situation where she largely imagined a relationship. Shows that even higher education doesn't always mean the person is rational, or right.
At the same time, while she took advantage of a disabled person, her motives weren't to cause him harm. The punishment is way out of line.
At the same time, while she took advantage of a disabled person, her motives weren't to cause him harm. The punishment is way out of line.
3
This woman's actions are reprehensible. I cannot believe that some people are saying that what she did was unethical but really not THAT bad: "I don't see anything that indicates that DJ was injured in any way. All indicators are the experience was not unpleasant for him. WHERE ARE THE DAMAGES?!"
OH MY GOD. What if D.J. was a female and Stubblefield was a male? Would these same people be saying things like "she enjoyed it" and "what's the harm?" Would they?
I guess it's the same old double standard. If it's an impaired girl who has sex with a male authority figure it's abuse. If it's an impaired male who has sex with a female authority figure it's lucky.
Anna Stubblefield is a predator who took advantage of someone who was incapable of making informed decisions for himself. She is a very sick, disturbed individual. A lengthy prison sentence is all she deserves and needs. Maybe a long prison term will make her wake up and see what she's done.
Maybe. At any rate, that's where she belongs. In prison.
OH MY GOD. What if D.J. was a female and Stubblefield was a male? Would these same people be saying things like "she enjoyed it" and "what's the harm?" Would they?
I guess it's the same old double standard. If it's an impaired girl who has sex with a male authority figure it's abuse. If it's an impaired male who has sex with a female authority figure it's lucky.
Anna Stubblefield is a predator who took advantage of someone who was incapable of making informed decisions for himself. She is a very sick, disturbed individual. A lengthy prison sentence is all she deserves and needs. Maybe a long prison term will make her wake up and see what she's done.
Maybe. At any rate, that's where she belongs. In prison.
6
The comments about this article have been mostly thoughtful and insightful. But my personal take on this is I am reading about an incredibly needy narcissist who " fell in love" with something that sounds an awful lot like a reflection of her own mind, to the detriment of those complex and untidy real people in her life, her family.
10
This is what happens when pseudo-science tries to pass as science.
She is the caricature of a pseudo-intellectual but she doesn't belong in a jail. At least not for that long.
She is the caricature of a pseudo-intellectual but she doesn't belong in a jail. At least not for that long.
10
I'm surrounded by pseudoscience in my family life. The presence of cancer further complicates things. And it's hard to be the doctrinaire, male, spokesman for science, when science itself is clearly imperfect and pseudoscience gives hope, comfort, and even a partial living to family members.
1
the entire spectrum of deviant behavior of the human race never ceases to astound!
6
From many of the comments i've read that support and give excuses for Stubblefield, most are men. I suppose you guys would advocate the changing of the sexual predator laws to allow female teachers to be able to have sex with their underage students. A 40 year old lady sleeping with say, a 10 year old boy. Sounds much like the crimes Catholic priests have done to their young "flock". Yet, those priests should be punished but this lady should be set free. What hypocrisy, stupidity and just plain obtuseness. Guys and gals- get a life and a brain!!!
11
Strange case it is, for she loved that young soul, and she is now punished for her love. The pin heads are at it again.
Love Is Not Enough, wrote Bruno Bettelheim.
No good deed will go unpunished... who said that?
Peter 2:20-21
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
John 10:32
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
To rule his only voice out of order is perfectly crazy...
That cripple belongs to his maker(s). It's all about control.
Sickening.
Love Is Not Enough, wrote Bruno Bettelheim.
No good deed will go unpunished... who said that?
Peter 2:20-21
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
John 10:32
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
To rule his only voice out of order is perfectly crazy...
That cripple belongs to his maker(s). It's all about control.
Sickening.
1
What is sickening is that FC, and these duplicitous manipulative charlatans, sorry 'facilitators', together have ruined the lives of those many family members wrongly accused of child molestation.
'15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'
~ Matthew 7 KJV:15-23
'15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'
~ Matthew 7 KJV:15-23
4
She's not going to to jail for loving him. She's going to jail for taking his clothes off, laying him on a mat, and forcing herself on him sexually. I must have missed that scene in the Gospels.
8
how is the term "double-blind" ablist-- and being able to perform well in front of someone who has contempt for you is pretty much one of the most valuable skills an independent person can learn
3
This is, indeed, a strange sad story with both professionals and lay observers reading into it their own opinions based on justifying personal morals and need. I too have a personal reason to both comment and question the validity of the psychology profession as science and its tendency to victimize far more often than help people. Many have forgotten how "facilitated communication" destroyed thousands of families several decades ago. I'm relieved the writer noticed and addressed the parallels.
5
If she had stolen a few hundred $million on Wall Street and Caused the invisible hand to unleash a tsunami of unemployment, poverty and crime, then she'd have gotten only a slap on the wrist
59
Why is there not more emphasis of how DJ viewed the relationship? He may not be a sophisticated thinker, but is he a vegetable? Are we to all be so high and mighty as to think we should decide for everyone not considered of "normal" intelligence whether they should be able to experience the joy of sex? At what level does this kick in--when talking about an adult, of course? Setting aside Anna's motives for a moment, lets think about this: Is it okay for DJ to get a non-sexual massage? And what, exactly, is the difference between a massage and a "massage"? I would submit that the difference is not as big as our Puritanical society has made it.
20
There is so much prudery here.
Does this lady deserve a felony record and prison time? And 40 years? That sentence shows our society is vastly more crazy and sick in regards to sex than she is. Also, to be perfectly frank, her only real sin was being unfaithful to her husband. As far as this "poor old guy". Give me a clucking break. Men are eternally and forever more open to physical relations with others as long as she (he if gay) is not fat or smelly or otherwise physically repulsive). Anyone saying otherwise is a pathetic liar. I have been sexually "used" by women of all ages for their own gratification when riding the packed subway and buses in Boston and New York and Los Angeles. I interpreted it as "I am attracted to you, I feel comfortable and safe showing you that in a personal way". I was very happy to allow them to do it. I thought it was something actually very beautiful, very sweet. It would have crushed me had they gotten into trouble for it. On the other hand, I feel it is an entirely different story for a guy to do same to a woman. That is life, nature. So let this lady go. Fine her. Give her a restraining order. That's it. No felony no prison time.
18
She deserves a felony record and prison time though 40 years seems excessive.
If a male facilitator had sex with a female in a similar situation, and claimed 'she seduced me - she told me so' no one would object to a felony conviction and prison.
If a male facilitator had sex with a female in a similar situation, and claimed 'she seduced me - she told me so' no one would object to a felony conviction and prison.
5
First of all, people need to calm down about OMG FORTY YEARS because if you read the article she has not been sentenced yet. Forty years was mentioned as the maximum sentence but I don't think there's much chance she's going to serve a long prison term.
"Men are eternally and forever more open to physical relations with others as long as she (he if gay) is not fat or smelly or otherwise physically repulsive)."
Speak for yourself. You are in a very different position as a presumably able-bodied, adult man of sound mind. You have no clue how a completely unanticipated sexual adventure would be experienced by a grown man with the mind of a 3 year old. Intense physical sensations in the absence of any understanding of what is happening can actually be terrifying, even if the sensations themselves are of pleasure rather than pain. Sex is enjoyable to people who feel they are in control of what is happening - when it is being done TO you and you weren't expecting it and have no option of stopping, it can be just the opposite. Ask me how I know!
Compare it to a roller coaster ride. Most people who get on a roller coaster know what it will be like. They're up for the thrill. Imagine then if you suddenly out of the blue found yourself at the top of the roller coaster, about to plunge down, and you had no idea how you got there and no understanding of what a roller coaster was!
"Men are eternally and forever more open to physical relations with others as long as she (he if gay) is not fat or smelly or otherwise physically repulsive)."
Speak for yourself. You are in a very different position as a presumably able-bodied, adult man of sound mind. You have no clue how a completely unanticipated sexual adventure would be experienced by a grown man with the mind of a 3 year old. Intense physical sensations in the absence of any understanding of what is happening can actually be terrifying, even if the sensations themselves are of pleasure rather than pain. Sex is enjoyable to people who feel they are in control of what is happening - when it is being done TO you and you weren't expecting it and have no option of stopping, it can be just the opposite. Ask me how I know!
Compare it to a roller coaster ride. Most people who get on a roller coaster know what it will be like. They're up for the thrill. Imagine then if you suddenly out of the blue found yourself at the top of the roller coaster, about to plunge down, and you had no idea how you got there and no understanding of what a roller coaster was!
2
My husband and I were discussing this story, and he raised a point I haven't yet seen here.
Did DJ receive any kind of financial assistance or disability benefits? Was there any chance that either party to the dispute--either his family or Stubblefield--might have made choices with those benefits in mind? DJ lived with his family, who presumably handled all the tasks required in his care--feeding, clothing, washing, the whole daily routine. This had to have been a daunting task. Now, along comes Anna Stubblefield, willing to leave her husband and take on all these duties, ostensibly out of "love". But was that the only reason she was willing--even eager--to take over the hard work of caring for a person with profound physical difficulties? And for the family, was there possibly another motivating factor besides the fear that DJ was being exploited? Behind the family's concern for their son and brother, was there any chance that they might have wanted to keep Anna from making any claim to DJ's benefit money?
I would much prefer to live in a world where such things were beneath consideration. Is there any evidence that would nullify either of those possibilities? I'd be relieved to hear some....
Did DJ receive any kind of financial assistance or disability benefits? Was there any chance that either party to the dispute--either his family or Stubblefield--might have made choices with those benefits in mind? DJ lived with his family, who presumably handled all the tasks required in his care--feeding, clothing, washing, the whole daily routine. This had to have been a daunting task. Now, along comes Anna Stubblefield, willing to leave her husband and take on all these duties, ostensibly out of "love". But was that the only reason she was willing--even eager--to take over the hard work of caring for a person with profound physical difficulties? And for the family, was there possibly another motivating factor besides the fear that DJ was being exploited? Behind the family's concern for their son and brother, was there any chance that they might have wanted to keep Anna from making any claim to DJ's benefit money?
I would much prefer to live in a world where such things were beneath consideration. Is there any evidence that would nullify either of those possibilities? I'd be relieved to hear some....
7
The benefits are so paltry --even for the severely disabled -- as to make this unlikely.
18
The federal and state benefits --even for the severely disabled -- are too paltry to make this likely.
I find this "theoretical" accusation extremely offensive toward D.J.'s mother and brother, Regina. The article mentions, at least in passing, that "P." was employed. This evidently loving family was not milking the system for what a presidential candidate recently called "free stuff." D.J. Is hardly a cash cow in any case. Do you know how hard it is to care for someone that disabled? What a dreadful way to view this!
4
"Strange" but not unique. A remarkably similar case went to trial in Australia last year. Martina Schweiger, a therapist described as a "wife" pleaded guilty to undressing and orally stimulating a young man with severe autism in her care. In court she argued "You must think I am a terrible person.....But I deeply loved him." She claimed he had communicated his love for her in their Facilitated Communication sessions.
The similarity of these cases tells us about a specific risk in helping professions which still employ FC: A therapist's romantic feelings for a client (not unheard of) coupled with a belief in the efficacy of FC, can lead to its use by the infatuated to provide 'consent'. Dangerous territory.
The principal difference in the two cases is also illuminating. Stubblefield faces a possible 40 year term. The Australian therapist was convicted and released with an 18 months suspended sentence, a verdict that satisfied the client's father, though it 'angered' his mother.
While the abuse of trust underpinning these cases is awful, to outside eyes the punitive response of the the US justice system is equally appalling. The therapist was foolish, but a misguided belief in a widely discredited therapy is ultimately to blame here. Rather than locking up deluded therapists for decades, the root cause of the problem should be addressed. Prosecute those who peddle this pseudo-science.
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/mother-angered-by-suspended-se...
The similarity of these cases tells us about a specific risk in helping professions which still employ FC: A therapist's romantic feelings for a client (not unheard of) coupled with a belief in the efficacy of FC, can lead to its use by the infatuated to provide 'consent'. Dangerous territory.
The principal difference in the two cases is also illuminating. Stubblefield faces a possible 40 year term. The Australian therapist was convicted and released with an 18 months suspended sentence, a verdict that satisfied the client's father, though it 'angered' his mother.
While the abuse of trust underpinning these cases is awful, to outside eyes the punitive response of the the US justice system is equally appalling. The therapist was foolish, but a misguided belief in a widely discredited therapy is ultimately to blame here. Rather than locking up deluded therapists for decades, the root cause of the problem should be addressed. Prosecute those who peddle this pseudo-science.
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/mother-angered-by-suspended-se...
40
Any professional who works in a counseling or helping profession has to have been introduced to the idea of counter-transference - that in the course of working with an individual, it is possible to begin interpreting their behavior and words as indicating a romantic or sexual interest in you, their service provider, and that you will then develop inappropriate feelings for them. That was covered in the very first graduate-school class I ever took, when I was training for my current profession. Stubblefield had a responsibility, as soon as she realized she had feelings for DJ, to detach from the therapeutic/assistive relationship, sever contact with the person she was helping, and seek therapy to understand why she was having these feelings. That is my obligation as a professional even though I work with non-disabled clients who can clearly communicate, so I imagine that Stubblefied's ethical obligation was even more stringent, given that she was dealing with vulnerable people. That she A. did not recognize the counter-transference for what it was, and B. went ahead and acted on it, makes her a reckless and irresponsible professional. And in my opinion, a sexual predator. DJ's mental capacity is a contributing issue here, but the real issue is the obligation Stubblefield had as a professional who was helping him. And any way you want to look at it, she violated major boundaries and deserves to experience consequences.
42
You assert "any professional who works in a counseling or helping profession has to have been introduced to the idea of counter-transference". But Stubblefield wasn't a 'professional'. She wasn't a 'therapist'. She wasn't even a psychologist. She was an Ethics Professor with a drive to heal the world and three days training in a discredited communications technique. It is quite possible she never heard the term.
It seems she was more akin to an well-meaning family acquaintance, who simply offered to help DJ out. The clear strictures around patient-client relationships may not have seemed as clear in such a situation, let alone to a person who wasn't, by profession, a therapist.
I have many friends who help each other out. Sometimes they overstep the bounds of what amateurs should be doing and bad things happen. Stubblefield was the worst kind of amateur (as most FC facilitators are). She mistakenly thought she was making a dramatic difference in his life, and was likely unaware of some of the significant risks this intervention posed for all parties. She was deluded, foolish and out of her depth. She wasn't "unprofessional".
The next time you offer to change friend's lightbulb, replace their flat tire, help their dyslexic child, diagnose that weird lump on their arm......ask yourself how many years in jail you deserve if it all goes wrong. What happened was tragic, but it isn't a crime deserving 10-40 years in jail.
It seems she was more akin to an well-meaning family acquaintance, who simply offered to help DJ out. The clear strictures around patient-client relationships may not have seemed as clear in such a situation, let alone to a person who wasn't, by profession, a therapist.
I have many friends who help each other out. Sometimes they overstep the bounds of what amateurs should be doing and bad things happen. Stubblefield was the worst kind of amateur (as most FC facilitators are). She mistakenly thought she was making a dramatic difference in his life, and was likely unaware of some of the significant risks this intervention posed for all parties. She was deluded, foolish and out of her depth. She wasn't "unprofessional".
The next time you offer to change friend's lightbulb, replace their flat tire, help their dyslexic child, diagnose that weird lump on their arm......ask yourself how many years in jail you deserve if it all goes wrong. What happened was tragic, but it isn't a crime deserving 10-40 years in jail.
20
Well said; thank you.
She's an academic PhD, not a therapist. Had she had any reputable training in working with disabled clients, she would have learned about counter transference.
1
Some of the commenters seem to believe that sexual crimes involve passion, not dominance.
10
and many sex crimes involve neither. unless there is something that i don't understand about urinating in an alley when restrooms are not available.
The FC community has all the traits of a religious cult: they live in an insular bubble of their own, they demonize dissenters, they growl at empirical research, and they believe their own deception. But religious manipulators and abusers do not get tenure at prominent universities. This is a horrendous exposé of the current state of liberal education in the United States.
8
And the really scary question to ask is, did this professor of philosophy get her tenure -- and career -- despite, or because, of these delusional cult-like traits?
From my experience, the answer is the latter.
From my experience, the answer is the latter.
There was no indication that she received tenure after this whole fiasco began. She was a tenured professor who began this FC nonsense as a side interest. It's not even her field. Your statement that this some horrendous expose of the current state of liberal education, therefore, makes zero sense. She could have been a postal worker and you would have said "what's wrong with the USPS?" She is clearly mentally ill or unstable (I call a variant of paranoid narcissism), and that afflicts both the educated and the uneducated.
1
This woman is clearly nuts, but up to 40 years for a couple acts that DJ doesn't remember is beyond absurd.
Give this crazy woman a couple years and then call it good. Make her get some counseling or something.
The US has been on a punishment kick for 40 years or more—three strikes, nonviolent drug offenses, you name it. It would be funny if it weren't so vicious.
Give this crazy woman a couple years and then call it good. Make her get some counseling or something.
The US has been on a punishment kick for 40 years or more—three strikes, nonviolent drug offenses, you name it. It would be funny if it weren't so vicious.
59
The woman is nuts and the family should have known better than to believe that their severely physically and mentally disabled son would be able to 'communicate', as if there was some magical potion.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on similar therapy in school systems in the US, rather than accept that all that can be done is to make these kinds of patients as comfortable and happy as they can be.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on similar therapy in school systems in the US, rather than accept that all that can be done is to make these kinds of patients as comfortable and happy as they can be.
10
Some random thoughts:
a) Racial aspect: How are the folks who are sympathizing with Dr. Anna will react if the D.J. was some white women and Dr. Anna a black male?
b) Sexual aspect: Some folks thinks that D.J. might have fun as he has sexual experience and get laid. For me it will be extremely excruciating if some woman will try to have non-consensual sex with me, no matter how pretty the woman is! Its emotional and physical exploitation. We are better than animals as we are emotional beings.
c) Dr. Anna definitely made a huge mistake here and 40 yrs seem long. But what if it was the case (a). Maybe the whole justice system needs reform and Dr. Anna can find a better cause for her life after experiencing the system first hand.
a) Racial aspect: How are the folks who are sympathizing with Dr. Anna will react if the D.J. was some white women and Dr. Anna a black male?
b) Sexual aspect: Some folks thinks that D.J. might have fun as he has sexual experience and get laid. For me it will be extremely excruciating if some woman will try to have non-consensual sex with me, no matter how pretty the woman is! Its emotional and physical exploitation. We are better than animals as we are emotional beings.
c) Dr. Anna definitely made a huge mistake here and 40 yrs seem long. But what if it was the case (a). Maybe the whole justice system needs reform and Dr. Anna can find a better cause for her life after experiencing the system first hand.
4
Kapil- your scenario a brings into it gender AND racial dynamics.
I believe if Anna was a black woman and D.J. a white man the outrage over the severity of her punishment would be sky high and involve very vocal protests by racial and feminist activists. Just like the incident with the Muslim boy and the clock, it would be seen as a witch hunt that was racial in nature as seen as a example of racial hysteria by white supremacy culture against blacks.
If Anna was a black man and DJ a white woman there would still be more advocacy then is currently being shown due to the extremely long prison sentence. I can think of two black on white murders in my city in which the black perps did not get half of the sentence Anna did. But yes, he would be seen as more dangerous due to the gender dynamics. But not without reason.
I believe if Anna was a black woman and D.J. a white man the outrage over the severity of her punishment would be sky high and involve very vocal protests by racial and feminist activists. Just like the incident with the Muslim boy and the clock, it would be seen as a witch hunt that was racial in nature as seen as a example of racial hysteria by white supremacy culture against blacks.
If Anna was a black man and DJ a white woman there would still be more advocacy then is currently being shown due to the extremely long prison sentence. I can think of two black on white murders in my city in which the black perps did not get half of the sentence Anna did. But yes, he would be seen as more dangerous due to the gender dynamics. But not without reason.
1
I'm perplexed why so many commenters who think Anna really, really loved D.J. and had this incredible ability to look beyond his physical and mental disabilities to see some true vision of his reality do not have any interest in her abandonment of her children, not to mention her husband.
Her family must live with the excruciating, now-public, graphics details of her molestation of a profoundly handicapped man. She's in the running for Guinness World record of how many ways to abandon and betray the people who most depend upon one.
Anna was an absolute disaster. And the people she hurt most bent over backwards to try to avoid criminalizing her. And in response, she behaved like an infatuated ten-year old.
This is no fairytale. It is an ugly, ugly story and the criminal justice system is not the villain, nor are the two shattered families.
Her family must live with the excruciating, now-public, graphics details of her molestation of a profoundly handicapped man. She's in the running for Guinness World record of how many ways to abandon and betray the people who most depend upon one.
Anna was an absolute disaster. And the people she hurt most bent over backwards to try to avoid criminalizing her. And in response, she behaved like an infatuated ten-year old.
This is no fairytale. It is an ugly, ugly story and the criminal justice system is not the villain, nor are the two shattered families.
63
Perhaps what is most ironic about this case is that it is the exact inverse of the cases that originally brought discredit to FC in the early 1990s. In those cases, it was the family members of disabled persons who were accused by the disabled persons (with the "help" of a facilitator), of sexual abusing him or her. (See http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wendrows-sex-abuse-cases-dismissed-facilita... )
9
This is a freaky case no doubt about it. The sexual assault charge strikes me as totally crazy and unfounded. Her sexual involvement with DJ is also very strange indeed.
Not only should she have known better than to get personally involved with her student, but the whole relationship is one of the kookiest things that I've ever come across in this entire weird world.
That having been said, the parental charge of sexual abuse has got to be, not only uncalled for, but the parents are in her debt for doing the dude, because I'm not sure anybody else is ever going to. So he had a little fun, is that the worst thing in the world? Only to the parents, who are also certifiable weirdoes.
And the court system is hilarious. Strait jacketed into conventional ways of seeing things, it just cannot get the sui generis nature of this case, that it just aint like anything that the abuse laws were designed to handle. There's such a fear of child abuse in the land, that non-abusers are really as throated as real victims by our laws and court system. If this is a case of child abuse, then my only question is how much should she be paid for her services.
But all in all, like I said, the strangest case ever. Makes Ann Sullivan and Helen Keller look like conventional grammar school classes.
Not only should she have known better than to get personally involved with her student, but the whole relationship is one of the kookiest things that I've ever come across in this entire weird world.
That having been said, the parental charge of sexual abuse has got to be, not only uncalled for, but the parents are in her debt for doing the dude, because I'm not sure anybody else is ever going to. So he had a little fun, is that the worst thing in the world? Only to the parents, who are also certifiable weirdoes.
And the court system is hilarious. Strait jacketed into conventional ways of seeing things, it just cannot get the sui generis nature of this case, that it just aint like anything that the abuse laws were designed to handle. There's such a fear of child abuse in the land, that non-abusers are really as throated as real victims by our laws and court system. If this is a case of child abuse, then my only question is how much should she be paid for her services.
But all in all, like I said, the strangest case ever. Makes Ann Sullivan and Helen Keller look like conventional grammar school classes.
8
This whole thing reminds of the old Groucho Marx joke about chickens and eggs. A guy goes to a shrink and says "My brother thinks he's a chicken." Doctor: Why don't you tell him he's not? Man: We need the eggs. Every one was deluding themselves. The doctor wanted to believe in FC. The family wanted to believe that DJ was getting better. It's a sad story all around. But the doctor should've known better. She's the smart one here. But a 40 year sentence? Welcome to the American "justice" system.
19
Actually that Marx quite was referenced in Woody Allen movie Annie Hall and it was a husband talking about his wife.
"if she were a man "experimenting" sex with a disabled girl, the opinion would be unanimous", a commenter wrote.
but stubblefield is not a man. legal definitions aside, males and females are different. heterosexual sexual activity involving genital penetration carries much greater risk for women, from pregnancy to stds. this is the basis of many cultural attitudes across the globe. the situation is quite different for males. while none of us know what is going on in dj's mind, many males below the age of consent would welcome sexual advances from an older woman- strong emotional connection unnecessary. I am not saying that rape can't occur. I am not saying that there is no risk for emotional damage in the context of coerced sexual activity. i am saying that, due to factors ranging from biological to cultural, the risk of harm, physical or emotional, is lower for young males in older female initiated sexual encounters.
but stubblefield is not a man. legal definitions aside, males and females are different. heterosexual sexual activity involving genital penetration carries much greater risk for women, from pregnancy to stds. this is the basis of many cultural attitudes across the globe. the situation is quite different for males. while none of us know what is going on in dj's mind, many males below the age of consent would welcome sexual advances from an older woman- strong emotional connection unnecessary. I am not saying that rape can't occur. I am not saying that there is no risk for emotional damage in the context of coerced sexual activity. i am saying that, due to factors ranging from biological to cultural, the risk of harm, physical or emotional, is lower for young males in older female initiated sexual encounters.
18
Social norms regarding men who are survivors of rape are a major and largely silent crisis in this country. Your comment is an unfortunate support of those current social norms.
1
This article had me locked in a state of awe and suspense through the very end. What a tragic and haunting tale. Thank you for telling it.
32
People keep saying, what if DJ were a fully functional 3 year old. But he's not, though he's certainly not a consenting adult either. He's something different than either of those things, and it doesn't help to try to put him in the same category as something we believe is less disputed. If I were the judge, I would want to hear a lot of expert testimony from both sides as to DJ's capacity, and I'd want to have a psych evaluation and a lot of testimony about Anna as well.
I don't think DJ can consent because I don't think FC actually works to the extent Anna thought it did. But, clearly Anna thought she had DJ's consent (even if she was mistaken about the fact of that consent), so I don't think she had the mens rea to rape him. That's why we have statutory rape laws, because consent isn't a defense to statutory rape. But this situation doesn't seem to fall under a statutory rape law, and it doesn't seem like she's charged with that, because the defense was trying to show consent or at least that she believed there was consent, so I think if I'm a juror, and I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she had the intent to rape DJ, I don't think she is guilty of the crime.
But, clearly there is something deeply wrong here. And this may be a situation where the law as written doesn't provide an adequate answer.
I don't think DJ can consent because I don't think FC actually works to the extent Anna thought it did. But, clearly Anna thought she had DJ's consent (even if she was mistaken about the fact of that consent), so I don't think she had the mens rea to rape him. That's why we have statutory rape laws, because consent isn't a defense to statutory rape. But this situation doesn't seem to fall under a statutory rape law, and it doesn't seem like she's charged with that, because the defense was trying to show consent or at least that she believed there was consent, so I think if I'm a juror, and I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she had the intent to rape DJ, I don't think she is guilty of the crime.
But, clearly there is something deeply wrong here. And this may be a situation where the law as written doesn't provide an adequate answer.
26
If Anna Stubblefield's case had not been taken seriously, and she had not been convicted, I imagine that every pedophile in the U.S. would be training as an FC therapist. How easy would it be to rape a disabled minor or adult--and then claim that it was "consensual"? This is why the guidelines about involvement between patient and therapist are in place and why they make sense. Anna abused her position of power, whether she understands that or not.
16
Just because a person has a mental and/or physical disability does not mean that they are like children and unable to consent to sex. Unlike a child, D.J. was an adult and fully developed sexually. I'm sure that he had sexual desires because every individual who has gone through puberty does. He could not communicate these desires in a "normal" way, but that doesn't mean that he did not desire Anna. Should a person with cerebral palsy or autism be deprived of sex for their entire life even if they make their desires obvious? Should a person who has sex with a person with cerebral palsy or autism go to jail for having sex? That seems unfair and unjust.
25
No, but if this is going to happen, it should happen the way it happens for the rest of us - with their peers, not with their caretakers.
17
Is a conclusion here that low IQ or impaired (e.g., cerebral palsy) people should be always qualified as victims in relationships unless they only date peers?
8
No, not 'always qualified as a victim.' But the greater the vulnerability (whether cognitive or physical limitations), the greater the risk of an imbalanced power differential that may lead to abuse.
1
Yes, by definition, as they cannot give consent and understand whether they are being exploited.
As a sex crimes prosecutor in California, I can say there is no possibility that my group would seek long-term incarceration for this woman. She is not the type of predator from which the public needs to be permanently protected. She has suffered enormous loss as it stands, which in fairness should be taken into account. I am personally dedicated to the pursuit of justice on behalf of victims, but is up to 40 years justice? I hope the sentencing judge has some discretion and can fashion something fair.
74
In California doctors are not allowed to sleep with patients. Lawyers, interestingly, are allowed to have sex with their clients.
5
I am disgusted by this. Married therapists may not have sex with their severely disabled patients. It's rape, and it's sickening.
16
What about unmarried therapists?
12
Perhaps she meant 'marriage therapists'?
Too many commenters are focusing on D.J.'s biological age and constructing a little fantasy where a thirty-year-old guy probably was thrilled to get laid.
But for people with complex disabilities, their biological ages are the least important measure.
I have a twelve-year-old autistic cousin. His intelligence is likely that of an older adolescent, perhaps more. His emotional age is likely in the range of four to six, depending on the day. His parents have insisted on having him mainstreamed and he's in a regular middle school--and they must fetch him every time he has a "meltdown" because the school staff is not appropriately trained to work constructively with autistic children.
D.J. is not a grown-up man. He is a young child in a man's body, and he has no way of understanding, responding appropriately to or giving consent to sexual advances.
And why have all these unappalled commenters ignored the description of D.J. physically removing himself from Anna's first attempts to sexually stimulate him? According to this article, she went to great lengths to sexually mount him in the subsequent encounter, removing him from his familiar home surroundings and basically cornering him on the floor, rather than on a bed which he was able to slide down from.
This has nothing to do with American Puritanism, and everything to do with a molester's elaborate fantasy life.
But for people with complex disabilities, their biological ages are the least important measure.
I have a twelve-year-old autistic cousin. His intelligence is likely that of an older adolescent, perhaps more. His emotional age is likely in the range of four to six, depending on the day. His parents have insisted on having him mainstreamed and he's in a regular middle school--and they must fetch him every time he has a "meltdown" because the school staff is not appropriately trained to work constructively with autistic children.
D.J. is not a grown-up man. He is a young child in a man's body, and he has no way of understanding, responding appropriately to or giving consent to sexual advances.
And why have all these unappalled commenters ignored the description of D.J. physically removing himself from Anna's first attempts to sexually stimulate him? According to this article, she went to great lengths to sexually mount him in the subsequent encounter, removing him from his familiar home surroundings and basically cornering him on the floor, rather than on a bed which he was able to slide down from.
This has nothing to do with American Puritanism, and everything to do with a molester's elaborate fantasy life.
79
You are probably right in the case of D.J. But what about other cases? There are cases of severe disability where a person's mental faculties are intact, but whose ability to communicate is severely limited. They might very well resent being infantilized in such a manner.
4
No mainstream school should be forced to take in children who are disruptive and violent, no matter the reason.
Do the rest of the students not matter at all?
Do the rest of the students not matter at all?
1
If you mean that they might resent having their sexuality denied, then perhaps they would feel infantilized. But consent requires that a person be given a chance to communicate preferences. There is no reason to believe that this man had that opportunity.
4
Anna is a complicated, well meaning and intelligent woman who lost her way. On many levels, she should have stepped back and realized the risks she was running in thinking DJ could be a real lover/partner. Even if FC really worked, there were too many issues for this to turn into a happy love story. That her ex-husband and DJ's family turned her over to the police and the subsequent 40 year sentence is doubly tragic. Nobody wins in this story and justice was not served. More importantly, DJ is more hurt and alone than ever.
8
One of life's cardinal rules, which most of us learn the hard way, is that we must control the impact of our emotions on ourselves. First, learning not to respond in haste to anger. Then eventually to learning that simply because you're emotionally attracted to someone who's also attracted to you, you cannot have a sexual relationship. Almost every married person has been faced with the latter temptation and who you are depends a lot on how you respond. It can be difficult to say "no," but when in a situation that statutorily makes the wrong choice a serious felony, you must come to the right action.
That being said, 40 years in jail is inexpressibly cruel.
That being said, 40 years in jail is inexpressibly cruel.
49
Is anybody else here disturbed by the fact that D.J.'s take on the whole situation was never sought? That, once again, other people, knowing so much better what is good for him (despite being family--maybe BECAUSE of being family) don't even give him the ability to state his own version of what happened.
And in truly mythic fashion, the courts and family are playing out the same dismissive attitudes that Stubblefield, her parents and other F.C. proponents were fighting against.
And in truly mythic fashion, the courts and family are playing out the same dismissive attitudes that Stubblefield, her parents and other F.C. proponents were fighting against.
13
It does bother me that FC was summarily banned from the trial. Except over the years there have been dozens of blinded trials of FC and they have universally agreed: FC cannot communicate anything that alleged communicator knows but the facilitator does not.
In other words, there's overwhelming scientific evidence that FC does not work. Consciously or unconsciously, it's the facilitator communicating.
In the absence of FC, DJ can't give his take. He can't communicate at all. That's consistent with the court holding that FC doesn't work, which is consistent with all the strong evidence to date.
The FC movement strongly objects to scientific testing. They could be right. But "could" isn't good enough. The point of rigorous testing is to separate maybes from yes or no. (Or at least probably yes or probably no!) You can't reject testing and just declare yourself right because you say so. That's the most bald-faced pseudoscientific lying you could undertake.
In other words, there's overwhelming scientific evidence that FC does not work. Consciously or unconsciously, it's the facilitator communicating.
In the absence of FC, DJ can't give his take. He can't communicate at all. That's consistent with the court holding that FC doesn't work, which is consistent with all the strong evidence to date.
The FC movement strongly objects to scientific testing. They could be right. But "could" isn't good enough. The point of rigorous testing is to separate maybes from yes or no. (Or at least probably yes or probably no!) You can't reject testing and just declare yourself right because you say so. That's the most bald-faced pseudoscientific lying you could undertake.
2
And when I say 'context' I mean also insight and compassion.
1
While there are many troublesome aspects of Ms. Stubblefield's "relationship" with D.J., particularly given the questionable legitimacy of FC and D.J.'s apparent incapacity to give informed consent, there is a difficult, perhaps very uncomfortable question that arises for family members and caregivers of the severely disabled. Given that there are at least some kinds of disabilities in which, while a patient's ability to communicate may be severely compromised, his or her mental faculties remain largely intact, there is a question of what are the rights of such a person as a sexual being, when such person is an adult who, after all, is likely experiencing the same biological drives and physical urges, not to mention a need for emotional intimacy, that any other functioning adult experiences? The disabled are, as a class, routinely de-sexualized, often regarded as asexual beings by family members who care for them. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what it must be like to be trapped in a body experiencing such urges, and to not have even the ability to address that need for oneself, let alone with another.
31
Ugly, sad story. Great reporting though.
Putting aside the question of whether FC is real, there seems to be a real injustice here. Hard for me to feel confident about that having not been in the jury box and witness to the evidence, but my gut tells me that there is more to this story.
I hope the judge has justice on the mind when Ms. Stubblefield is sentenced.
Putting aside the question of whether FC is real, there seems to be a real injustice here. Hard for me to feel confident about that having not been in the jury box and witness to the evidence, but my gut tells me that there is more to this story.
I hope the judge has justice on the mind when Ms. Stubblefield is sentenced.
12
what more could there be.. her defense team , quite capable, had the chance to tell it all.. so your reasoning is questionable at best. justice for DJ you mean, as for Stubblefiled, a trip to the loony house in prison for 20 years.
1
Please, please watch the extraordinary 1993 Frontilne episode: http://youtu.be/CzCGux7qD1c. Nothing more to be said. I think it will give you further context to this equally extraordinary feature article.
6
Fear not Anna, D. J. is closer to God than any of us. That is the spirit you fell in love with. Embrace it, let it carry you through your trials. No one else understands but in the end, God's love will set you free....
4
If people cannot imagine DJ as a sexual being with an ability to give and receive pleasure there is no way for this discussion to take place. If they cannot imagine someone finding him desirable there is no way for this discussion to take place. Could the judge, or the prosecutor or the jurors imagine themselves having sex with DJ. I doubt it on any conscious level. Who do they think would be a proper person for him to have it with. Probably no one. So what is their concern worth. Not much. All they have is the ability to do massive damage and they have done that.
16
It's not about sexuality and pleasure. It's about not being able to give consent. One-sided sexual adventure is always an abuse. Always.
21
This has NOTHING to do with anyone else's finding him desirable or anyone else's opinion about D.J.'s ability to give or receive pleasure. NOT WITH HIS THERAPIST!!
9
I can imagine DJ as a sexual being. I can also imagine him as a being incapable of even conceiving of sex. I can imagine him enjoying his sexual experience and I can imagine him being horrified by it and I can imagine his damaged brain giving him suffering from it.
It's all imagination. In the absence of any way of knowing, we prioritize protecting the helpless from abuse.
It's all imagination. In the absence of any way of knowing, we prioritize protecting the helpless from abuse.
11
I guess the upshot of this tale is that people with advanced disabilities such as cerebral palsy will be enrolling in college, dating, getting married, raising families and leading normal lives as long as their facilitator is present to guide them.
2
Though I agree with the (cynical) sentiment of this comment, I wanted to clarify one thing: cerebral palsy vs. mental incapacity. Many people with cerebral palsy have motor-only deficits and are intellectually and/or emotionally normal. It is a daily cruelty to have their capacitities for such things casually dismissed by the rest of us who assume that as we see the body, so is the mind.
That said, D.J. is a completely different story. He has more than motor-only cerebral palsy, by overwhelming evidence.
That said, D.J. is a completely different story. He has more than motor-only cerebral palsy, by overwhelming evidence.
1
First: she is no position to treat anyone.
Second: doing such a subjective "good" is antisocial at best and criminal at worst.
Third: if she were a man "experimenting" sex with a disabled girl, the opinion would be unanimous.
Fourth: FC is a pseudo-science created by self-aggrandizing, ambitious hacks and used by self-aggrandizing losers.
Fifth: she should rot in jail if only because of what she did to that family.
Second: doing such a subjective "good" is antisocial at best and criminal at worst.
Third: if she were a man "experimenting" sex with a disabled girl, the opinion would be unanimous.
Fourth: FC is a pseudo-science created by self-aggrandizing, ambitious hacks and used by self-aggrandizing losers.
Fifth: she should rot in jail if only because of what she did to that family.
11
The whole case turns on the validity of FC or lack thereof. Once the judge ruled that "facilitated communication failed New Jersey's test for scientific evidence", the verdict was a foregone conclusion. Reasonable doubt as to guilt is a matter of the reasonable doubt about the reliability of FC. The evidence for FC creates reasonable doubt about the case against Anna. I agree with the tort lawyer who asked what the damage was . At worst, a person who leads a miserable existence - incapable of even mastrubating - may have has a few moments of pleasure.
9
"The whole case turns on the validity of FC or lack thereof."
Not at all. Even if FC were completely valid and everything D.J. said using FC were legitimate and validated - his therapist enticed him into a sexual relationship. This is unethical.
Not at all. Even if FC were completely valid and everything D.J. said using FC were legitimate and validated - his therapist enticed him into a sexual relationship. This is unethical.
6
She was never anyone's therapist. Philosophy professors are not therapists.
It's all nonsense. They did an episode on this sort of fakery on Law and Order on Tv years ago. No clue why someone would try to pretend this...or why anyone would believe it. It's sad, and hurtful to the family. Throw rags in a corner and mice are created from them....same sort of wrong science by observation. While fascinating to read, it angers me that it happened.
4
Predator. Fraudster. Rapist. She got what she desired. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
15
Some how it brought up the memory of the book "The World According to Garp", by John Irving. What people will do out of their needs, either real or imagined.
I do not know why I am so disturbed. May be because I worked twenty years in an ICU. And "minimalist" communication (no aids, just eyes and, when possible , hands ) was a very individualized code to "talk" with patients.
May be ,because it is simply too much for me. Yes it is too much. Too many details, under lens magnification.
May be ,because it is simply too much for me. Yes it is too much. Too many details, under lens magnification.
6
Has anyone ever heard of transference? The patient transfers feelings of love towards their doctor because they help them get well. Then there is something called reverse transference. A medical professional does not engage in reverse transference.
12
stubblefield is not a medical professional.
countertransference happens to everyone, including medical professionals.
most medical professionals are not well trained to deal with countertransference.
even those best trained to be aware of countertransference are unable to identify and appropriately manage it every time.
laws and professional codes help to prevent problems.
countertransference happens to everyone, including medical professionals.
most medical professionals are not well trained to deal with countertransference.
even those best trained to be aware of countertransference are unable to identify and appropriately manage it every time.
laws and professional codes help to prevent problems.
2
P.S. I feel very sorry for Ms. Stubbblefield. We all make mistakes.
1
you are right about the transference
Since Anna Stubblefield was never trained in mental health,
and certainly not licensed as a therapist or psychiatrist she did not
recognize the danger
and of course poor judgement and rather delusional behavior on her part
Since Anna Stubblefield was never trained in mental health,
and certainly not licensed as a therapist or psychiatrist she did not
recognize the danger
and of course poor judgement and rather delusional behavior on her part
For some reason I'm reminded of Billy Bibbit in Ken Kesey's book.
1
As Facilitated Communication only expresses the communicator's thoughts and feelings, Dr. Stubblefield fell in love with herself.
36
Anna Stubblefield however skillful professionally she seems just as emotionally unstable. What kind of normal professional exploits and experiment sexually with a a disabled individual. She clearly needs help not necessarily jail.
11
Wow this is such a heartbreaking story especially the way it ended for Mrs. Stubblefield. I mean, after reading this excellent journalistic work, to end up as a felon and a rapist and subject to a possible maximum sentence of 40 years that to me doesn't sound right. Is this justice? I feel sorry for Anna.
17
I'm not defending Stubblefield -- without first establishing DJ's competence what she did was criminal. But why was this trial and a 10-40 year prison sentence in DJ's best interest? HIs mental capacity wasn't resolved. It's possible this was a horrific crime or maybe -- because we don't know -- a man in his thirties didn't want to die a virgin. Maybe he enjoyed his encounter with Stubblefield more than he enjoyed being walked into court by his mother as a piece of demonstrative evidence. We don't know because the trial wasn't about helping him; it was about throwing the book at her.
43
Ugh. The comments saying this wasn't rape are absolutely wrong. This is sexual assault. Keep all the variables but switch the genders--would you feel differently then?
31
Stubblefield is a flake of monumental proportions. I am not surprised by stories of different forms of self delusion though. The whole purpose of the 'blnd-doubleblind' design of experiments is to eliminate the well known effects of unconscious bias and communication. The child abuse hysteria of the nineties is another well known example of it.
However....to stick her in jail for FORTY years?? She performed acts that resulted in no physical harm while herself in a state of severe diminished capacity.
Obviously she will not be in prison for that long even if that is the sentence, but there is something wrong with a system that would mete out such disproportionate 'justice'.
She deserves to be kicked out of Rutgers for 'moral turpitude' or some such, and placed under long term court supervision to be sure she behaves herself.
We already have too many people in jail. She needs to be baby sat, not jailed.
However....to stick her in jail for FORTY years?? She performed acts that resulted in no physical harm while herself in a state of severe diminished capacity.
Obviously she will not be in prison for that long even if that is the sentence, but there is something wrong with a system that would mete out such disproportionate 'justice'.
She deserves to be kicked out of Rutgers for 'moral turpitude' or some such, and placed under long term court supervision to be sure she behaves herself.
We already have too many people in jail. She needs to be baby sat, not jailed.
30
I think the reaction that led to rape charges and prison was predictively puritanical. Sex seems to be what we see above all else. And lets everybody just freak out, as usual.
14
Stubblefield betrayed the trust of DJ's family.
In that regard, she could be seen as one of a long line of medical and therapeutic "experts" who betray the trust of vulnerable black people for their own uses.
Think of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, where poor black men with the disease remained untreated so scientists could study the natural history of the disease.
This was after penicillin was available and proven to be effective. In fact, the men were never told they had the disease.
In that regard, she could be seen as one of a long line of medical and therapeutic "experts" who betray the trust of vulnerable black people for their own uses.
Think of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, where poor black men with the disease remained untreated so scientists could study the natural history of the disease.
This was after penicillin was available and proven to be effective. In fact, the men were never told they had the disease.
10
Totally ridiculous! She gave the man pleasure, not syphillis, for gods sake!
1
Hang on Siobhan, the Tuskegee experiment was an abomination, undoubtedly. But what's the long history of betraying the trust of black people specifically? I don't recall any other such medical experiment. And as for Ms. Stubblefield, she married a black man and had kids with him, so racism can't be an issue really.
3
Dan please read -Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Educate urself. Tuskegee was the tip of the iceberg
Educate urself. Tuskegee was the tip of the iceberg
3
What a great piece.
Enbger's focus on both sides of the story have kept my mind straddling the fence. I am allowed now space to feel that this is possibly love and likely abuse.
To convict Stubblefield along the lines of abuse of power seems fair, yet denouncing DJ's ability to love and be loved seem like able-bodied oppression based on notions of beauty and other social constructs developed by dominant powers; in this case those considered mentally and physically fit.
Stubblefield will inevitably be used as an example, but hopefully too, as a catalyst for opening up the conversation and revolutionizing our thoughts about the relationship between mental ability and the right to romance. Should the mentally challenged be subjected to our overbearing protection based on what we think is best for them and "their kind"? The dilemma calls to mind societies beliefs about interracial and same-sex marriage.
Enbger's focus on both sides of the story have kept my mind straddling the fence. I am allowed now space to feel that this is possibly love and likely abuse.
To convict Stubblefield along the lines of abuse of power seems fair, yet denouncing DJ's ability to love and be loved seem like able-bodied oppression based on notions of beauty and other social constructs developed by dominant powers; in this case those considered mentally and physically fit.
Stubblefield will inevitably be used as an example, but hopefully too, as a catalyst for opening up the conversation and revolutionizing our thoughts about the relationship between mental ability and the right to romance. Should the mentally challenged be subjected to our overbearing protection based on what we think is best for them and "their kind"? The dilemma calls to mind societies beliefs about interracial and same-sex marriage.
6
If he could communicate with her, he should be able to communicate with others by the same method (he can read, write, type, yes? If not, she is obviously a fraud). Assuming he can do the above, get another impartial person to help him relay his wishes. It's quite simple. He will say either 'Has she gone? Thank God! She was performing oral sex on me! Disgusting!' or 'She was performing oral sex on me. BRING HER BACK!' His choice really.
11
Ms. Stubblefield is obviously mentally ill and so it is not surprising that she is being imprisoned - after all this is how we handle mentally ill people here in the US, we lock them up.
28
It does seem that this women really did care and tried to treat DJ. The sexual relationship was not appropriate, but a jail sentence of 40 years is ridiculous. What good would that serve the public? She was open about her feeling and although perhaps misguided she fell in love. Send this woman to therapy not prison.
21
I understand the antipathy that people are expressing about Dr. Stubblefield. I felt it myself.
However, going back to the article I noticed (in para 11) a link to a chapter she wrote in an academic book about accessing the minds of non-verbal people with bodily-based disabilities. It came to press in 2011, the same year as she announced her love for D.J. to his family. The chapter identified him only as a "dear friend." There is a lengthy discussion of adult diapers, expressed in tones meant to dispel embarassment or disgust. She doesn't mention F.C. or sex.
In the journalist's article, we learn that Stebblefield gave D.J. books he could read, she claimed, at autistic savant speed--10 pages per minute. He gave a paper at a academic conference, read by his brother; he sat in on a 400-level course on African-American literature at Rutgers University.
Surely, there is more going on inside of D.J.'s mind than his silence would suggest. Thankfully, I have not been asked to judge whether it was abuse or love; but I know of another reported case of an autistic boy who was sexually abused by a foster family, then expressed himself in poetry through a talking computer when adopted by a loving father.
However, going back to the article I noticed (in para 11) a link to a chapter she wrote in an academic book about accessing the minds of non-verbal people with bodily-based disabilities. It came to press in 2011, the same year as she announced her love for D.J. to his family. The chapter identified him only as a "dear friend." There is a lengthy discussion of adult diapers, expressed in tones meant to dispel embarassment or disgust. She doesn't mention F.C. or sex.
In the journalist's article, we learn that Stebblefield gave D.J. books he could read, she claimed, at autistic savant speed--10 pages per minute. He gave a paper at a academic conference, read by his brother; he sat in on a 400-level course on African-American literature at Rutgers University.
Surely, there is more going on inside of D.J.'s mind than his silence would suggest. Thankfully, I have not been asked to judge whether it was abuse or love; but I know of another reported case of an autistic boy who was sexually abused by a foster family, then expressed himself in poetry through a talking computer when adopted by a loving father.
4
The thing is, Stubblefield is the only person who was ever able to draw out those "abilities" in DJ. His family was never able to get him to even really communicate with them through FC, even though P (DJ's mom) trained to be a facilitator. So we have only Stubblefield's word to go on that DJ could read at incredible speeds, could understand what he read, could understand the content in a 400-level class. To accept that the relationship might have been consensual, you have to accept that FC is real. And time and again, FC has proven not to be real - the "facilitator" who works with the disabled individual is the only one who can elicit "correct" responses from the person. What happened here was that Stubblefield - who had married very young - had human weaknesses and frailties and needs (as we all do), and wanted companionship and love (again, as we all do). But she projected her needs and wants onto DJ, and made herself believe that what SHE wanted was what HE wanted, and he was expressing it through FC. If FC is real, and DJ wanted the relationship, another "facilitator" should have been able to elicit that information. But that didn't happen. Stubblefield made grave errors in professional and personal judgement. Does she deserve to be punished for that? I believe so. Not to the tune of 40 years in prison, but this kind of relationship between "facilitators" and the individuals they work with has to be discouraged, strongly.
4
so sad. while we may never be able to fully assess dj's cognitive function, it is clear that anna has genuine romantic feelings for him. misguided or not, the result of some pygmalion complex or not, the feelings she acted on are real to her. she did not intend harm and the possibility of decades in prison just doesn't fit the crime.
34
Having "genuine romantic feelings" for someone is NOT a get out of jail free card. The question is whether it was RIGHT to act on those feelings. The answer when one person is in a position of power over the other is no. By your reasoning it is perfectly all right for therapists to have sex with their patients as long as they have "genuine romantic feelings" for them.
8
This entire trial and possible long sentencing is disturbing. It looks like Ana is mentally not fit to face trial. Has anyone considered this? She not the bad evil person the prosecutor wants us to believe. She needs mental help, not prison!
166
Most adult molesters of children will say that their child victims were signalling to them that they wanted to have sex.
12
Most (actually all) child molesters do not voluntarily admit that the molestation happened unless they are caught. This case is clearly different - Anna voluntarily admitted everything, nobody had any idea before that. For Anna to be so delusional in her love for D.J. so she ignored and was ready to leave her own children speaks for a mental illness. I'm really surprised this was not mentioned in the article or the court proceedings.
2
For those who fail to see: the duty owed DJ by Anna is not that of a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor, or any profession of the sort. That is indeed an important technicality apparently lost on various commentators.
In many states, a sexual encounter that evolves over time as this one apparently did would be a statutory crime IF the perp was one of the above treatment professionals. But she wasn't.
Anna is more of a meddlesome professional ranging outside her field to play ouiga board with DJ on the computer; imagining that communication with another person equally locked inside themselves would be of mutual benefit to them both.
How many times have we seen people who obviously don't belong together still make that crazy love connection and somehow bring it off?
If voodoo had it's hand and facilitated communication was required for these two to become Romero and Juliet, so what? Folie à deux is endemic in the world of falling in love.
There is no evidence of a violation of professional codes here. Moreover, DJ's assessed low IQ did not disqualify him from being an adult of years. AND that Anna "knew" he was not a child but a grown man trapped by his disability. Could she have wanted to set him free in her desperate delusion of identity with his projected loneliness?
The interesting fact here is that the victim is perhaps oblivious to his injury. While the perp is so confused and unworthy of severe punishment that pity upon her seems merciful and just.
In many states, a sexual encounter that evolves over time as this one apparently did would be a statutory crime IF the perp was one of the above treatment professionals. But she wasn't.
Anna is more of a meddlesome professional ranging outside her field to play ouiga board with DJ on the computer; imagining that communication with another person equally locked inside themselves would be of mutual benefit to them both.
How many times have we seen people who obviously don't belong together still make that crazy love connection and somehow bring it off?
If voodoo had it's hand and facilitated communication was required for these two to become Romero and Juliet, so what? Folie à deux is endemic in the world of falling in love.
There is no evidence of a violation of professional codes here. Moreover, DJ's assessed low IQ did not disqualify him from being an adult of years. AND that Anna "knew" he was not a child but a grown man trapped by his disability. Could she have wanted to set him free in her desperate delusion of identity with his projected loneliness?
The interesting fact here is that the victim is perhaps oblivious to his injury. While the perp is so confused and unworthy of severe punishment that pity upon her seems merciful and just.
12
People also often think that children who are raped are "oblivious to their injury," if they are too young to talk about it, or nonverbal.
2
She should have gotten off based on insanity. She was clearly delusional and borderline- a very toxic combination.
12
I notices one concern commentators have is the length of Ms. Stubblefield's sentence.
It is important to note that she has not yet been sentenced for this crime. While it is possible she will receive the maximum sentence of 40 years (two maximum sentences, running back-to-back) it is also possible she will receive a sentence of 10 years (minimum sentences, running concurrently). Or she may be sentenced to something in between.
It is important to note that she has not yet been sentenced for this crime. While it is possible she will receive the maximum sentence of 40 years (two maximum sentences, running back-to-back) it is also possible she will receive a sentence of 10 years (minimum sentences, running concurrently). Or she may be sentenced to something in between.
10
Even if FC worked in D.J.'s case, it wouldn't matter. As the caregiver of a vulnerable patient Anna should never have allowed herself to get personally involved, and acting on it sexually would still be a crime.
As for sentencing, lets hope she gets the minimum, which appears to be 10 years.
As for sentencing, lets hope she gets the minimum, which appears to be 10 years.
8
10 years is insane. Prison time is inappropriate.
It is too bad that Marie Killilea is no longer with us. Perhaps her daughter, Karen, a very private person, would come out of her private life to speak to the subject of FC. I doubt she will, but more people who live with this (at least one has graciously commented here) could shed light on this, not just the critics and fans of FC and Anna Stubblefield.
2
I am confused by your comparison pf Karen to this man. Karen was not non-verbal. She was able to speak and be understood by the members of her family and others, if I remember correctly. Her mom may have had to hold her elbow so her hand didn't get stuck because of her CP, but her mom did not do the writing. If Karen had been forced to write something she didn't want, she could have spoken up. This man was not communicative before and only communicated via FC, which has been tested many times and has proven to be bogus.
1
I'm not sure that a forty year - if handed down - is correct. However, when reading many comments that appear to be supportive of Ms. Stubblefield, I have a recurring thought. If the genders were reversed, would these commenters be so quick to give the adult professional the benefit of the doubt?
192
Also, if the races were reversed. If the professional was a black man and the disabled person was a white woman, I wonder if people would be making the same comments indicating the sentence is too harsh.
5
Interesting comment. But I was also thinking: if the genders were reversed, would she be looking at 40 years?
1
In my view, you have perhaps raised the most pertinent question of all. If the genders were, indeed, reversed you would have likely had a premeditated rape case adjudicated and sealed in short order.
1
She was way out of bounds; this is no different than a willing minor having sex with an adult teacher. But prison seems also out of bounds.
7
Where are you getting that he was willing?
1
From reading the article carefully.
1
Cowboy, the only indications that he was willing came from Stubblefield herself.
3
What a sad story and what a horrible delusion.
While this is criminal behavior, I see a mental health issue underlying it all. I hope it can be treated.
While this is criminal behavior, I see a mental health issue underlying it all. I hope it can be treated.
9
I would certainly not condone Ms. Stubblefield's behavior, mainly as regards the therapist-patient relationship. But a possible "10 to 20 years for each of the two times that she and D.J. had sex"? That is utter nonsense. Disgusting, really. Our society's obsession with sex--and I mean the destructive, Puritain kind of obsession--is beyond my understanding. This will sound flip but I mean it: I suspect the harsh policies and penalties politicians and judges visit on these poor people--like the folks going to jail because they had sex on the beach--is a result of there own sexual frustrations and failures.
There is rape, which is horrible and vile, and there is what happened here. They are very, very different things.
There is rape, which is horrible and vile, and there is what happened here. They are very, very different things.
19
No, they are not different things. Would raping a toddler be vile to you? Then raping someone with the mind of a toddler should, too.
10
Interesting to see so many respondents defending Stubblefield or objecting to her jail sentence. I wonder whether they would be as sympathetic if Stubblefield were the man, and DJ the woman.
Perhaps there is some reverse sexism in some of these comments.
Perhaps there is some reverse sexism in some of these comments.
5
Actually I was thinking that her potential sentence of 40 years seems well beyond what male rapists face.
3
And what if she was right? Dragging a body into a courtroom as an exhibit isn't a real way to show ability. If Stephen Hawking was dragged into the same courtroom would they deem him incompetent?
23
Good point, with no keyboard, they would deem Mr. Hawking incompetent. Of course, when he does have a keyboard, he's clearly a genius with nobody helping him type things out.
6
She deluded herself and committed a crime, but a forty year sentence is totally ridiculous. People who commit violent rapes don't serve this kind of time.
432
Sometimes they do, especially for two counts. The person who raped me is serving thirty.
1
Performing oral and other sexual acts on a incapacitated helpless person is not rape and a violent crime? Do you or anyone have the capacity to ascertain the damage to this person?
3
People who commit violent rapes SHOULD be prevented from repeating their offense. Ever. Violent rapists may or may not "deserve" to be locked up for 40 years - but we as a society deserve to be protected from violent rapists.
1
I have a small point to raise, but for me it gets at why it came across to me that Anna lacked sufficient regard for D.J.'s best interests. Regardless of what Anna thought about D.J.'s capabilities, she had to know that he had legal guardians. To have sex with him behind their backs seems to me to flout an important protection vulnerable people are entitled to, regardless of what she thought the communication through F.C. indicated. While I could understand that a person might want to disregard the evaluation that lay behind the finding for guardianship, I don't see why she didn't discuss with the family having a new evaluation done (by somebody objective) if she really disagreed with the old one. And if a new evaluation disagreed with her, she should have walked away, without having touched D.J. sexually.
22
Hubris. Only she knew what was best for him.
1
You assume guardianship means a lack of legal/moral ability to consent. It does not. The judge erred in this point.
Did you wait until the age of majority to have sex? Did you ask your mother? Your partner's mother? Anna told in the first month that a 2 yr friendship had gradually become more. She was naive, not a monster.
Did you wait until the age of majority to have sex? Did you ask your mother? Your partner's mother? Anna told in the first month that a 2 yr friendship had gradually become more. She was naive, not a monster.
This is much like the case of the man who had sexual relations with his wife who was in a nursing home because of her dementia. There was no indication that she was harmed nor is there any indication that DJ was harmed. He may have actually enjoyed the experience, despite the family's abhorrence. Whose to say that an occasional romp in the hay might not have a beneficial effect for any adult so afflicted?
15
It's nothing like that case. The woman you are writing about married the man while she was of sound and they had years together before her dementia happened. There is no indication that DJ had ever sought a relationship with Stubblefield.
3
Shame on you. You'll change your tune the day your senile mother or your comatose daughter is raped in a care facility.
3
I wonder if you would feel the same way if DJ was a disabled woman and the "faciliator" an older man...
9
Ms. Stubblefield's behavior seems to be related to Munchhausen's Syndrome by Proxy, where parents, or caregivers, claim that one of their children is seriously ill, but it turns out they are making the child ill by things they do to the child. These situations of 'facilitated communication' are not illness behaviors, but are proof of a lack of illness, or a lack of disability. In that sense, it is like a reverse version of Munhausen's Syndrome by Proxy.
If I am correct in this assumption, it should be considered a variant on a bona fide mental illness, but, whether a person who suffers from it deserves harsh punishment is another matter. I do believe authorities should stop such behaviors when they come to their attention. Vulnerable people should not be preyed upon by the more able-bodied under false pretenses, even when the situation looks like it may be to help these people.
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/munchausen-by-proxy
6
There's another aspect to this story that ought to be considered. Anna's husband was perhaps not "black" enough for her; didn't need her to be his entrée and anchor into "white" society. He was a brilliant, successful musician and an important figure in the classical music world. Perhaps he was considerably smarter and more accomplished than she.
Plenty of people who devote themselves to the "struggle against racism" ad infinitum themselves harbor not very nice subconscious feelings about "the other."
Perhaps, between her parents and her brother and her husband, she was just never very special in her own right--or not, at least, to the degree she thought she deserved.
So Anna went out and found herself a black guy for whom she could indeed be a savior, and not just, you know, an ordinary upper middle class spouse...
And I guess it needs to be reiterated one more time. She raped him. She took the most dreadful advantage of a profoundly handicapped person and refused, even when given more than enough chances, to comprehend that and to desist from her attempts to have unfettered legal access to him.
No one believes, I think, that she will serve forty years in jail. But she must serve a sentence punitive enough to emphasize the seriousness of her crime.
Plenty of people who devote themselves to the "struggle against racism" ad infinitum themselves harbor not very nice subconscious feelings about "the other."
Perhaps, between her parents and her brother and her husband, she was just never very special in her own right--or not, at least, to the degree she thought she deserved.
So Anna went out and found herself a black guy for whom she could indeed be a savior, and not just, you know, an ordinary upper middle class spouse...
And I guess it needs to be reiterated one more time. She raped him. She took the most dreadful advantage of a profoundly handicapped person and refused, even when given more than enough chances, to comprehend that and to desist from her attempts to have unfettered legal access to him.
No one believes, I think, that she will serve forty years in jail. But she must serve a sentence punitive enough to emphasize the seriousness of her crime.
13
So when a young woman is sexually violated because she is inebriated and can't clearly say no, it's rape, but when it's a wacky do good professor virtually raping a very disabled, much weaker, and much younger man it's okay according to many of the comments here. What a sick and perverted individual Stubblefield is!
12
The severity of the charges and the pending sentencing are an insult to so many victims of violent sexual assaults whose assailants rarely serve more than a few years, if any time at all. Most sexual predators are a danger to the public at large. The horrific impact upon the victims as well as the general threat to others should necessitate very long sentences. Yet repeat offender violent rapists generally serve light sentences, even when the victims are small children. Violent sexual assault is an epidemic with thousands of perpetrators facing little or no opposition from the strong arm of the law. Yet the perpetrator in this bizarre -and very much unique- case faces 10-40 years for a crime that arguably has had little impact upon the victim (thanks fully to his family who completely removed him from the exploitation). This case highlights how disgracefully the justice system fails the victims of all too common violent sexual assaults. The pumped up muscles of justice are flexed only when the perpetrator is female and the crime has no impact on public safety. While in the face of the rampant violence by male sexual predators, the justice system reverts to anemic submissiveness.
24
The man who murdered John Lennon in cold blood got a lesser sentence. On college campuses, women are considered so helpless that they could not even be guilty to initiating sex much less assaulting anyone. How could someone with female genitals assault a man? In this bizarre case, the woman gets 40 years? 40 years? Would you sex crime experts please weigh in on cases when violent rapists are sentenced to 40 years in jail. This is beyond comprehension. Or maybe the only thing to comprehend is that in this judge's eyes, a woman who takes advantage of someone - mind you, does not maim or kill him - is so hateful that her entire life must be utterly destroyed. Are women presumed to be such saints that when a woman does something heinous she must be punished for life? The answer seems to be yes.
13
She hasn't been sentenced yet.
3
No, the woman hasn't gotten 40 years. That's the maximum that she could get. Big difference.
2
This is the most fascinating and troubling article that I have read in a long time. I have to think that Stubblefield was definitely in the wrong, morally and ethically. It leaves me with so many question. If everything she said was true, why did she destroy her credibility by having a sexual relationship with him? If she really loved him, why didn't she keep working with him without consummating the relationship? Why couldn't D.J. have been tested with another facilitator? Why did his family fail at communication, if what Stubblefield said was true? The whole story is terrifying.
13
She's mentally ill. A lot of people who want to save the world are.
3
I was most disturbed by this in depth potrayal of sexual abuse from the perspective of the abuser. Nothing was revealed by the lengthy description of the abuser's delusion and having violated this man's body as well as fundamental professional and ethical principles this is neither a close nor murky case. A harsh sentence is appropriate and deserved.
7
Whatever the failings of FC in general, I am not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that DJ could not and did not consent:
A Rutgers undergraduate named Sheronda Jones, recruited by Anna, used F.C. to help him do his homework. ‘‘He pretty much read the books,’’ Jones remembered in a statement to the police. ‘‘I can’t tell you what he read. And he typed out the information.’’ She added, ‘‘I know because one of my roommates was in the class with him, and they pretty much wrote some of the same things.’’
A Rutgers undergraduate named Sheronda Jones, recruited by Anna, used F.C. to help him do his homework. ‘‘He pretty much read the books,’’ Jones remembered in a statement to the police. ‘‘I can’t tell you what he read. And he typed out the information.’’ She added, ‘‘I know because one of my roommates was in the class with him, and they pretty much wrote some of the same things.’’
9
From the standpoint of a speech pathologist, I find Anna's actions both understandable and troubling. Often, working with people who seem completely lost to everyone, it is possible to form a type of bond with that person which you feel you are the hero, the savior of a lost and lonely person. This complex creates a drive to continue to be with that person; you have not only solved the mystery of no communication and helped someone (which feels amazing), but you get to create some supposed bond between you and that person. In order to work with people with disabilities, one must avoid these traps and continue to do your job without the accolades or strong emotional reactions.
Facilitated communication is NOT an object and accurate way to get nonverbal people to communicate. There are MANY MANY options out there in 2015; you can use your head, fingers, knuckles, leg, etc. etc. to touch a switch and access communication on a device. You can use eye gaze to access communication on a device. There are many appropriate methods now that leave a secondary person's opinion out of it, once the person learns how to use the device successfully.
Unfortunately, DJ's family must not have had access to this information in the 90s, when these devices were just starting to become available to the mainstream public. Hope he has found better methods to communicate now!
Facilitated communication is NOT an object and accurate way to get nonverbal people to communicate. There are MANY MANY options out there in 2015; you can use your head, fingers, knuckles, leg, etc. etc. to touch a switch and access communication on a device. You can use eye gaze to access communication on a device. There are many appropriate methods now that leave a secondary person's opinion out of it, once the person learns how to use the device successfully.
Unfortunately, DJ's family must not have had access to this information in the 90s, when these devices were just starting to become available to the mainstream public. Hope he has found better methods to communicate now!
17
Thank you for explaining so clearly the many options available. Eye pointing has been around for centuries, but there are so many options available now.
Thank you! I've been looking to see if anyone commented on augmentative and alternative communication methods that do not rely on facilitation. Part of the tragedy of the story for me is the lost opportunities for D.J. to learn how to communicate using aided systems independently.
2
A dysfunctional, but intelligent woman lacking in judgment and without any regard for boundaries and the heavy responsibility she undertook to aid a disabled young man. A disabled young man not likely to have understood how to say "no." Criminal? Possibly. Prison time instead of probation might nevertheless be inappropriate. Hopefully, the sentencing judge will act fairly and rationally, without responding to calls for blood.
5
Really disturbing, tragic story. My gut feeling is that she became obsessed with him and took advantage of him. He was very vulnerable. She took advantage of his family's trust. I am strongly against therapists crossing the line of having sex with their patients in any case. It's highly unethical. I can't speak to whether or not her sentence is fair, but she should not have introduced sex or romance into a patient/professional relationship. His mother and brother gave her the chance to return to her family and end the relationship. She should have taken that chance and walked away. I'm sure P. and Wesley were also badly hurt by this breach of their trust.
12
Anne Stubblefield used DJ like a character in a sexual fantasy. If the object of her desire had been a man of free agency that man could have objected to being objectified, but since he was not, it's a violation. The fact she had a clinical relationship with him compounds the crime.
That Anne believes her victim communicated his love to her and was a willing participant in their various exchanges, sexual and otherwise, is clear. People with vivid imaginations, authors, or simply creative masturbators often use their minds, the most powerful sexual organ to enhance their sexual experiences, but Anne Stubblefield took it one step further. She took a passive hand, had it write her fantasy for her, and then brought it to life.
I’m not so sure if this is any different from the delusions of a pedophile who imagines the child he has raped from a very young age and eventually sexualized, is now a willing lover in a romantic relationship. I understand why some might find the prison sentence extreme, but you have to see this from the perspective of the victim, not from the anguish of the perpetrator. In some cases the child initially accepts the delusions of his abuser, only to break down later. Recovery is difficult and sometimes impossible.
As to the anguish of the perpetrator? Hopefully there is help within the prison system by which people like Anne Stubblefield can be made to see what they have done is wrong. Forty years is a long time and I hope she gets there.
That Anne believes her victim communicated his love to her and was a willing participant in their various exchanges, sexual and otherwise, is clear. People with vivid imaginations, authors, or simply creative masturbators often use their minds, the most powerful sexual organ to enhance their sexual experiences, but Anne Stubblefield took it one step further. She took a passive hand, had it write her fantasy for her, and then brought it to life.
I’m not so sure if this is any different from the delusions of a pedophile who imagines the child he has raped from a very young age and eventually sexualized, is now a willing lover in a romantic relationship. I understand why some might find the prison sentence extreme, but you have to see this from the perspective of the victim, not from the anguish of the perpetrator. In some cases the child initially accepts the delusions of his abuser, only to break down later. Recovery is difficult and sometimes impossible.
As to the anguish of the perpetrator? Hopefully there is help within the prison system by which people like Anne Stubblefield can be made to see what they have done is wrong. Forty years is a long time and I hope she gets there.
13
"You have to see this from the perspective of the victim" -- I agree, but this trial never resolved that. DJ is disabled, but he is also a human being who has been alive for decades. He is a man in his thirties. If he experienced this as aggravated rape, then sure, lock her up for forty years; lock anyone up for forty years. But it's also possible -- because this was never resolved -- that he prefers having sex to being treated like demonstrative evidence. He is not in fact a toddler or an inebriated college student. Maybe he was a victim of a horrific crime or maybe he enjoyed himself. Should she have done it: absolutely not. But forty years on this evidence?
6
How do you know that Anne Stubblefield created this love fantasy? What do you base it on?
"But D.J. kept sitting up, and then he lowered himself onto the floor. Anna offered him the keyboard and asked if anything was wrong. Nothing’s wrong, he typed, he was very happy, but also overwhelmed — he needed a minute. Anna said O.K., and D.J. scooted out into the hall."
Who did the scooting? Who tried to remove himself from the situation? Who was in control of the typing that explained his behavior exactly as she wanted it explained?
Sure, maybe DJ is capable of great depth. The issue is not what he might have felt or thought, but whether or not one can know, and if we cannot, then we are each writing the story as we choose fit: that is NOT consent to sex.
Who did the scooting? Who tried to remove himself from the situation? Who was in control of the typing that explained his behavior exactly as she wanted it explained?
Sure, maybe DJ is capable of great depth. The issue is not what he might have felt or thought, but whether or not one can know, and if we cannot, then we are each writing the story as we choose fit: that is NOT consent to sex.
1
This is another example of the limits of the law. There are simply areas of human relations where, even with the best of intentions by all concerned, even if one has the best legal system, it cannot supply "justice."
Such is also the case with abortion and doctor assisted suicide, which is why, individually and as a society, we all need to acquire a large dose of humility, why even while nobly working to protect the vulnerable, we must be extremely cautious in advocating solution by law.
Such is also the case with abortion and doctor assisted suicide, which is why, individually and as a society, we all need to acquire a large dose of humility, why even while nobly working to protect the vulnerable, we must be extremely cautious in advocating solution by law.
4
So here is tragic case of the legal system making a bad situation worse. Why procecute Anna? She hurt no one but herself, attempted to have sexual realtions with someone who at worst, had no idea of what was happening - and was deluded to the point where she clearly needs help. But no help will come the Prosecutor and the system will make sure of that - our criminal justice system sought this strange scenario a good occasion to ruin many lives... for nothing. Nice work to the fool Procecutor who saw this as worth pursuing another verdict under the belt - without the slightest benefit to society and at an enormously high human cost. Shame on you.
8
The benefit to society is in deterring others from preying on the vulnerable.
4
Of all the wise and rich sayings that come to mind, the one that seems most apt is: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I have no doubt, not even a little one, that Anna had (and has) only the very best of intentions from every angle. If that were the question on the jury verdict sheet, she would have won the trial. At the same time, I have no doubt, certainly not a reasonable one, that this victim could not have consented, from any angle, the sexual contact of any sort. So, what is the just result? Anna is not "insane" -- but can we really call her a well-intentioned rapist? Does anyone believe she intentionally raped this victim? There is so much crime, violent, sexually abusive crime in Essex County -- was this the case the prosecutors HAD to pursue? In the end, what went wrong here was a serious abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Now that the bell has been rung, though, it can't be un-rung. Nobody wins, no justice is done-- "everything's broken and nobody cares" as the saying goes.
7
Leave the cerebral palsy or other impediments to communication out of it and the picture becomes much more clear. A therapist and a client fell in love, or one party decided that the other loved them and they reciprocated.
The point is that the client/therapist relationships are utterly forbidden, precisely to avoid this sort of mess. This is Medicine 101, or Psych, or Yoga Instructor, or whatever the particular dynamic is. You realize you have feelings, and you choose not to act on them. If you can't handle that, you end the professional relationship, and after a period of serious introspection you try again, as two consenting adults meeting as equals.
Love is a many-splendored thing. But you have to be an adult to handle it.
The point is that the client/therapist relationships are utterly forbidden, precisely to avoid this sort of mess. This is Medicine 101, or Psych, or Yoga Instructor, or whatever the particular dynamic is. You realize you have feelings, and you choose not to act on them. If you can't handle that, you end the professional relationship, and after a period of serious introspection you try again, as two consenting adults meeting as equals.
Love is a many-splendored thing. But you have to be an adult to handle it.
13
Well,, except that she wasn't actually his therapist. Or any kind of therapist. She was a philosophy professor with an agenda that he fit perfectly. And she used him to advance her professional career. She was actually never more than a glorified friend of the family (who grossly abused that friendship).
10
Although I have great sympathy for Ms. Stubblefield, whose attraction for D.J. suggests deep rooted psychosexual issues, it is disturbing that legislatures and academic institutions haven't clearly and emphatically prohibited the use of health care modalities such as facilitated communication, which virtually all independent blind studies have clearly and unequivocally shown to be that of the facilitator rather than the client.
Until rooted out, the damage to parents wrongfully accused of sexual abuse and their families, some even criminally prosecuted, as a result of machinations by FC "facilitators" FC will continue.
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitated_communication
Until rooted out, the damage to parents wrongfully accused of sexual abuse and their families, some even criminally prosecuted, as a result of machinations by FC "facilitators" FC will continue.
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitated_communication
10
I'm fascinated by the number of comments that assume that no harm was done to DJ. How would we know? Why is everyone so quick to assume that regardless of his developmental levels, he must have enjoyed it somehow? It's possible that he did, but it's also possible that he didn't ... and it's possible it meant nothing to him. As things stand now, we can't possibly know. The assumption of minimal/no actual harm reveals unconscious biases on the parts of the people writing comments.
27
It's also possible that he is mentally functioning but prefers males to females, which would make this woman's conduct that much more appalling.
2
Regardless of the facts, there are some things very disturbing about this story. And the fact that Ms. Stubblefied may face 10-20 years of jail time for each sexual encounter is just one of them. This cannot possibly, in any way, shape or form, be justice.
9
This story is almost unreadable because of the very disturbing details and it seems obvious that Anna Stubblefield is mentally ill because I see no other explanation for her behavior. Her poor children! Can you imagine having a mother like this?
18
This provocative, well-written article has my mind running into so many closed doors. Anne was a successful woman whose career was still advancing. She had a family, and I'm sure would have led a normal life with them if it weren't for meeting and working with D.J. Why would she knowingly give up everything? She was convicted, she had to really love him. Unless she was so obsessed with the idea that the keyboarding worked and had a strange, intense satisfaction with his and her accomplishments, something she had seen and admired for years in the past.
I do not know if I believe that she should be put in jail for so long for something such as this, but there is no way to find out her real intentions I suppose.
I do not know if I believe that she should be put in jail for so long for something such as this, but there is no way to find out her real intentions I suppose.
1
Even if one accepts hypothetically that at least some people with CP or autism have rational thoughts like the rest of us they simply can't express, to leap to the conclusion that after a 3 day -- 3 DAY! -- workshop for lay people one miraculously has "developed" the ability to help such people express their inner thoughts is not only self delusion but gross arrogance. One 3 day workshop wouldn't qualify for yearly continuing education in most regulated fields. That "facilitated communication's" developers have apparently made no serious effort in its history to rigorously certify its practitioners, develop ethical standards, conduct rather than dismiss rigorous studies of their own, and police those who practice it -- who in effect are given power of attorney over an extremely vulnerable population -- is simply breathtaking. The implicit assumption that all FC practitioners work in the disabled person's best interest, that there need be no regulation of it, that unlike every other healthcare intervention we need not worry about charlatans and hacks, or that those who raise such challenges are hide-bound misanthropes is mind-boggling. Freed from such obvious but paralyzing questions, it becomes easier to understand why Dr. Stubblefield felt she "knew" what D.J. wanted, including that he wanted sex with her. How even the most ardent adherents of FC could defend her defies belief. One 3 day workshop and she could help unlock another human being's innermost desires.
15
Under what principle of harm should Ms. Stubblefield be jailed? Other than her husband and children who was harmed? And if D.J. is in the state of mind described by the prosecution what possible harm has he experienced? Very strange.
2
What possible harm? He was raped. We don't take our disabled folks. Due to his disabilities, he can't say how he was affected and can't get appropriate therapy.
3
Being a special educator for 30 years and working with students with similar disabilities, I think this story is very difficult to interpret. Some times families are invested in unconsciously keeping their child disabled. Certainly, this relationship was not accepted by the family, but I don't honestly think it is a criminal case. I believe this woman fell in love with this man and he with her. The people around this couple could not accept this. Personally, I think it is incredibly unlikely that an "able" individual could really relate so completely to someone so "disabled". I know parents that would have seen this as a wonderful event that they would dream about for their disabled child. I think there is an element of race in this whole discussion. It is very sad that this woman who gave so much is seen as a criminal.
11
Was the sexual relationship harmful to DJ, or did it give him pleasure? He's of the age of consent, probably never had a sexual experience before, and, for all we know, is delighted to share in one of life's pleasures. Severely handicapped people have needs too, and for all we know, this is true for DJ.
5
For all we know, he could be gay, and appalled by her forced sex acts.
2
It is so wrong to cross that line, but prison doesn't seem like much of a good answer, either.
3
It's the legal consequence to what she did. This should serve as a deterrent to other people who may be tempted to cross this line, if they are not too deranged to see it.
1
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE SO-CALLED LIBERATED U. S. . . .
...still has its roots in the Puritan ethic which began our country. Other Western nations hear about our sexual concerns and are puzzled. The adherence to literal religious beliefs on our part vis-à-vis as Europe (even Italy, the host of the Vatican) uses religion as ritualistic ... and they don't believe that the Earth 6,000 years old and God created our planet in six days and took a holiday on the seventh.
It's all related ... as sex sells ... we become far too interested in every aspect of it.
...still has its roots in the Puritan ethic which began our country. Other Western nations hear about our sexual concerns and are puzzled. The adherence to literal religious beliefs on our part vis-à-vis as Europe (even Italy, the host of the Vatican) uses religion as ritualistic ... and they don't believe that the Earth 6,000 years old and God created our planet in six days and took a holiday on the seventh.
It's all related ... as sex sells ... we become far too interested in every aspect of it.
1
As the parent of two teenagers who are severely autistic, this is just typical of the contempt that many so-called professionals (not a few of whom work for school districts) show to parents. "I attended a THREE-DAY WORKSHOP on facilitated communication! I know how to unlock your child's potential! I can do what NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD can do." Seriously?
Anna Stubblefield clearly believed, like many other so-called professionals, that parents are stupid and incompetent and the time we devote to our severely disabled and often very difficult children is meaningless. Moreover, it is an insult to the true professionals who spend years, not a few days, training to engage and educate the severely disabled, and are willing to do the hard work necessary to sometimes get very fragile and tentative results.
If she had sex with a three-year-old boy she would go to prison and none of us would be questioning how much harm she did. I fail to see why that same criteria does not apply to a severely disable man completely unable to give consent.
Anna Stubblefield clearly believed, like many other so-called professionals, that parents are stupid and incompetent and the time we devote to our severely disabled and often very difficult children is meaningless. Moreover, it is an insult to the true professionals who spend years, not a few days, training to engage and educate the severely disabled, and are willing to do the hard work necessary to sometimes get very fragile and tentative results.
If she had sex with a three-year-old boy she would go to prison and none of us would be questioning how much harm she did. I fail to see why that same criteria does not apply to a severely disable man completely unable to give consent.
34
They fell in love. Happens a lot. Nurses/patients, teachers/students, supervisors/candidates, significant public figures/biographers. It seems a not too strange human instinct.
However folks you just have to control youselves and realize that the relationship society has described forbids it. And of course there is the husband and the children.
However I dont think this is that extreme.
However folks you just have to control youselves and realize that the relationship society has described forbids it. And of course there is the husband and the children.
However I dont think this is that extreme.
2
It's not clear at all that DJ feel in love. Any emotional relationship could have been all in her mind. Given his inability to defend himself or ask for help, this looks very much like rape.
3
She says they fell in love. We have no idea whatsoever what he made of the whole thing.
1
If I didn't have sinus a headache, I'd be shaking my head in disbelief that this case ever made it to court. The fact that it did leads me to believe that the prosecutors and the defense should be declared legally insane along with Anna.
Putting this woman on trial, and sending her to prison with all the attendant costs is absurd. The money should have be spent on aiding families such as D.J's. I'm not condoning the abuse, just pointing out the need for better use of context when we consider ideas of crime and punishment. There were other ways to handle this tragic situation than criminalizing what is clearly a mental health issue for all concerned. Surely there will be an appeal.
Putting this woman on trial, and sending her to prison with all the attendant costs is absurd. The money should have be spent on aiding families such as D.J's. I'm not condoning the abuse, just pointing out the need for better use of context when we consider ideas of crime and punishment. There were other ways to handle this tragic situation than criminalizing what is clearly a mental health issue for all concerned. Surely there will be an appeal.
5
I wonder if you'd feel the same if the genders were reversed.
1
Leo, the absurdities in life have no gender preference. But it's a fair question.
I worked with many individuals such as this D.J. and there were many staff members (the teachers in general) who would project greater cognitive abilities onto their students than was realistically fathomable. But in this case, Anna seemed in all likelihood, to want to help this person at the same time she obviously projected her own needs to prove how 'altruistic and equalitarian' she could be in a society that clearly discriminates against both race and disabilities. However unlike other cases where victim of sexual assault suffer egregious harm, there is the question here whether there was harm or how severe it was. Perhaps Anna will face a 'compassionate' and realistic sentencing of community service and counseling, but I doubt it. After all we are dealing with New Jersey here and that is the state where a number of years ago during the ridiculous 'buried memory/satanic abuse" cases that a woman Kelly Michaels was sentenced to 47 years in jail before finally being exonerated after losing five years of her life. The content of 'sexual scandals' changes throughout history; unfortunately the level of hysteria never wavers.
9
I have three observations to make after reading this disturbing story. First, all of the F.C. I have witnessed has been no more believable than the outcome of a ouija board session (and is similarly guided, I believe). The speech pattern and vocabulary choices of the statements attributed to D.J. sound an awful lot like Anna. "Valiantly" does not spill off the fingertips of a man who has been treated as -- and spoken to as -- a toddler his entire life. Second, some years ago I had extended contact with an especially endearing young man who had C.P. He was higher functioning, I assume, than D.J., but was functionally non-verbal (he could form a few almost-words). This fellow was adored by all of his carers, and was quite a flirt. That flirtatious behavior was (perhaps unfortunately) reinforced and rewarded because everyone found it so genuinely sweet and heartwarming. But such overt affection could easily be misinterpreted and abused.
Third and last, the writer's comment that Anna pronounces her name with the "aristocratic" a heard in "nirvana" comes off as a dig. I didn't like Anna after reading this, but I would expect the writer to remain neutral.
Third and last, the writer's comment that Anna pronounces her name with the "aristocratic" a heard in "nirvana" comes off as a dig. I didn't like Anna after reading this, but I would expect the writer to remain neutral.
7
That photo says so much to me and my opinion of the system of injustice.
That is a picture of the bad people who are supposed to be good being bad to someone who is good to those who are in need.
That is a picture of the bad people who are supposed to be good being bad to someone who is good to those who are in need.
2
Self delusion. Fantastical thinking. Love. And ultimately, total destruction. A tragedy worthy of Sophocles.
11
This apparent cult of 'FC' is terrifying. People shouting out at conferences like evangelicals? Yikes -- lest anyone be fooled, wish thinking is powerful.
@otherminds
@otherminds
9
Do healthcare providers and their patients ever fall in love? Yes, they do. Do faculty and students ever fall in love? Yes, they do. And, there exists a process to follow to have a romantic relationship in these circumstances. It involves terminating the provider-patient/faculty-student relationship prior to beginning the romantic relationship. If this relationship were real, Anna should have, as soon as she and DJ acknowledged their feelings for each other, terminated their professional relationship and begun discussions with his family to work towards facilitating their romantic relationship.
It probably would not have resulted in their living happily ever after together, but at least she would not be facing 40 years in prison.
It probably would not have resulted in their living happily ever after together, but at least she would not be facing 40 years in prison.
17
I fail to see the crime here. Sorry, but I just can't get there. I look at the comments from the PhDs below and one is quoting a 1993 study that is 22 years old and another is so presumptuous that she insists the Professor wanted to feel important and skilled. OMG, really?
I fail to see the crime folks. What purpose does prison time serve. That woman could have fallen in love with anyone and it happened to be a handicapped person. So what? Not only is this country abusive to our mentally, physically impaired, we are abusive to those that help them.
I fail to see the crime folks. What purpose does prison time serve. That woman could have fallen in love with anyone and it happened to be a handicapped person. So what? Not only is this country abusive to our mentally, physically impaired, we are abusive to those that help them.
5
The crime: she forced herself sexually on a person who had not given consent due to 1.) his inability to communicate either verbally or physically, and 2. his mental capacity, which is that of a 3 year old. There is also the fact that her relationship with him was professional in nature, which alone made it unethical to have sex with him. And person can't have sex with someone just because they have fallen in love; it takes two to tango and it takes two people to consent - both of legal age and mental capacity.
6
I can't imagine of any court in a European country handing down such a cruel sentence. In my opinion, it is the result of a legal system gone crazy.
6
I agree. It's insane. I don't think D.J. was actually communicating, and the whole thing was Anna's fantasy. But the punishment is wildly out of line with the crime.
1
I think the saddest part of the story is when DJ kept sitting up, lowered himself to the floor and scooted out of the room while this woman was trying to sexually abuse him. What clearer message could he, with his disabilities, have sent to this delusional person? Yet she convinced herself he was just being shy or something and went back to do it again. It sounds exactly like male pedophiles who insist little girls try to seduce them by looking at them. Awful.
45
This is a very human story about a woman's compassion turning into passionate love for a disabled man she helped to communicate with the outside world. I do not understand the howls of outrage over her conduct or the government's need to prosecute her for criminal acts. She appears to be the victim of hysteria in this unusual case.
4
Doctors, therapists, teachers, clergy, etc. have to understand that it is unethical to engage in sexual behavior with people who are entrusted to their care, people who are vulnerable, dependent, and who allow people into physical and emotional spaces under circumstances made possible by that provider/client relationship. Sexual behavior under those circumstances is abusive. Anna Stubblefield crossed the line and violated the trust that had been placed in her.
17
Despite Ms. Stubblefield's intellectual achievements, it is clear that she lacks something many people in this culture lack and that is emotional maturity. Sadly, there are far too many so-called intelligent professionals who are adults in age only. Just witness the childishness among the GOP House members and others like Trump etal, who are obviously only emotionally five or six at best. Indeed, it takes more than post-graduate degrees and professional advancement to become a genuine fully mature adult. Sadly for all involved, somewhere along the way, Ms. Stubblefield's emotional growth has been arrested. Only time will tell what will happen to her following years in prison.
6
From the article: "It was, after all, white elites, she wrote, who first devised measures of I.Q. ‘‘as both a rationalization and a tool of anti-black oppression.’’"
What? Benit is credited with creating one of the first IQ tests in 1905. His work began largely at the request of French public school officials. The black population at the time was so small, it is difficult to think that racism, rather than educational advancement was motivating the request. Here in the US, I.Q. Tests took off during WWI. With segregation a terrible given, the military didn't need I.Q. testing in order to discriminate. They needed it to quickly assess draftees.
True, I.Q. testing shows a gap between whites and blacks. Most believe that this difference is due to environmental factors. Some think it is due to flaws in the range of intelligence that is tested. Others have other explanations. Whatever the case, the tests and how they are used needs improvement. These test's flaws however, are not the result of racist intentions.
But believing that white people intentionally developed these tests ‘‘as both a rationalization and a tool of anti-black oppression" indicates someone in thrall of psychopathological conspiracy thinking, or other cognitive impairment. Her lawyers might have done better to enter an insanity plea.
What? Benit is credited with creating one of the first IQ tests in 1905. His work began largely at the request of French public school officials. The black population at the time was so small, it is difficult to think that racism, rather than educational advancement was motivating the request. Here in the US, I.Q. Tests took off during WWI. With segregation a terrible given, the military didn't need I.Q. testing in order to discriminate. They needed it to quickly assess draftees.
True, I.Q. testing shows a gap between whites and blacks. Most believe that this difference is due to environmental factors. Some think it is due to flaws in the range of intelligence that is tested. Others have other explanations. Whatever the case, the tests and how they are used needs improvement. These test's flaws however, are not the result of racist intentions.
But believing that white people intentionally developed these tests ‘‘as both a rationalization and a tool of anti-black oppression" indicates someone in thrall of psychopathological conspiracy thinking, or other cognitive impairment. Her lawyers might have done better to enter an insanity plea.
26
Binet only wanted to identify the "retarted" children, so that they may receive additional help. He believed that intelligence was not fixed, highly malleable, strongly influenced by the environment, and that its measurement only made sense as a means of identifying clear deviations among homogenous groups. And the French have never adopted the American approach to IQ, its testing being still largely confined to its original intent - determine possibly "abnormal" intelligence levels of individuals needing psychiatric help.
The Binet test was introduced to the US by eugenists, who were firmly convinced of the superiority of the "white race". They argued that IQ was highly inheritable, were fascinated with "genius" and found that IQ proved the superiority of white (read: of Northern European ancestry) men. They considered the "Negroes", "Mexicans", "Italians", to be genetically stupid, "unable of abstract thought", who should be confined to menial physical tasks at best, and argued against allowing for the further "breeding" of their "feeblemindedness".
You may want to consider why intelligence testing and the whole language around "IQ" differ so much between the country it was invented in and the USA...
The Binet test was introduced to the US by eugenists, who were firmly convinced of the superiority of the "white race". They argued that IQ was highly inheritable, were fascinated with "genius" and found that IQ proved the superiority of white (read: of Northern European ancestry) men. They considered the "Negroes", "Mexicans", "Italians", to be genetically stupid, "unable of abstract thought", who should be confined to menial physical tasks at best, and argued against allowing for the further "breeding" of their "feeblemindedness".
You may want to consider why intelligence testing and the whole language around "IQ" differ so much between the country it was invented in and the USA...
I can't even imagine what it would be like to be trapped in a body that does not function, with a mind that is intact to some degree. What a horrible prison the body can be.
I am sorry Anna was compelled to sexualize her interactions with the young man. Her love and support only seemed to open up his world, what would the harm have been if she could have left it at that? She seems to have been driven by some strange mental illness which caused her to see a fantasy mate where there was none --- a real projection of her own longings and desire for control. She is just another female teacher who has had sexual relations with a young charge --- a fantasy imposed on a vulnerable person, easily controlled and without personal power.
I am sorry Anna was compelled to sexualize her interactions with the young man. Her love and support only seemed to open up his world, what would the harm have been if she could have left it at that? She seems to have been driven by some strange mental illness which caused her to see a fantasy mate where there was none --- a real projection of her own longings and desire for control. She is just another female teacher who has had sexual relations with a young charge --- a fantasy imposed on a vulnerable person, easily controlled and without personal power.
7
Why did her defense team not go for diminisked capacity? She is pretty clearly as crazy as they come. These unlicensed "therapist" types are so so dangerous as they are true believers in their delusions...
20
What a complex and puzzling story. As seen through the lens of this article's author, Anna Stubblefield is a sincere, thoughtful person with the best intentions. But she selfishly acted on her feelings of love, and the consequences are tragic. Now her two children have experienced the destruction of their family as a result of her behavior. Her conviction and potential prison sentence seems unduly harsh, but that is somewhat tangential to the trauma she has already inflicted on her children and her former husband. Experiencing feelings of love doesn't give you the right to act on them.
6
being sincere in one's delusions doesn't justify a person to commit a crime.
1
It seems clear from the article that Anna really believed this.
She believed he could and did consent. She really believed that. Even her accusers shared her beliefs for awhile.
This feels like the wrong result.
Chuck here suggests a defense based on her own diminished capacity. I'm not sure if that is the correct answer, but I feel that with some work, something along those lines of her state of mind should be developed.
Precluding evidence of her state of mind, of the reasonableness of it as seen by others she might reasonably trust, seems an error by the trial judge. I expect reversal on appeal.
This is our system run amok.
She believed he could and did consent. She really believed that. Even her accusers shared her beliefs for awhile.
This feels like the wrong result.
Chuck here suggests a defense based on her own diminished capacity. I'm not sure if that is the correct answer, but I feel that with some work, something along those lines of her state of mind should be developed.
Precluding evidence of her state of mind, of the reasonableness of it as seen by others she might reasonably trust, seems an error by the trial judge. I expect reversal on appeal.
This is our system run amok.
7
She's a sexual predator who groomed her victim, starting by bringing him to conferences (overnight trips I'm sure) and lavishing him with attention. I bet she brought him candy.
She even lured him to come see her etchings, so to speak, using porn to get him in the proper mood and condition. Btw, how was he so knowledgeable about porn stars being exploited that he had and was able to express an opinion about that?
She took advantage of him. She used her power and control over him to form him into her personal boytoy and traveling exhibit to make her famous. The fact is that he did not invite her into his life and he wasn't able to leave her either. It's right and good that they took her away.
Justice was served.
She even lured him to come see her etchings, so to speak, using porn to get him in the proper mood and condition. Btw, how was he so knowledgeable about porn stars being exploited that he had and was able to express an opinion about that?
She took advantage of him. She used her power and control over him to form him into her personal boytoy and traveling exhibit to make her famous. The fact is that he did not invite her into his life and he wasn't able to leave her either. It's right and good that they took her away.
Justice was served.
28
The prosecutors, the jury, and the judge show a bias against sexuality. If D.J. did not have the ability to give consent, then everything that is done for or to D.J. is done without his consent. He is fed whatever food, bathed in water whose temperature is not necessarily his choosing, and is placed in front of a TV and forced to watch whatever the care taker chooses. The fact that somebody kisses, holds him in their arms, and has sex with D.J., thereby possibly giving D.J. warmth and pleasure, should be a plus. Do people really think D.J. is better off without Anna even though the F.C. probably was not really working.
Additionally, to even think about a prison sentence in this case emphasizes how cruel our justice system is. A system that incarcerates many more people than the rest of the world. Are we really that mindless and merciless?
Additionally, to even think about a prison sentence in this case emphasizes how cruel our justice system is. A system that incarcerates many more people than the rest of the world. Are we really that mindless and merciless?
16
A bias shown by many commenters here. Good ol' American prudery. Kim Kardashian is a goddess, but a mentally disabled man having a sexual experience? Horrors.
The prosecutors, jury and judge depended on laws, as passed by the legislature. The law stipulates that those in charge of dependent persons - whether children, the severely disabled, the sick, or the frail elderly - have a duty to feed, bathe, clothe, provide medical care, and otherwise take care of them. At the same time, the law explicitly defines sex with a person who cannot legally consent to be rape. So, yes there is a "bias" against rape, if you will. Sex is not considered UNDER THE LAW as something that people need the same as they need food or warmth. If you have problem with that, you can petition to change the law.
5
Imagine if it were a forty year old white man initiating intercourse with a 30 year old, highly disabled black woman.
3
I had never heard of FC before reading this (well-written) piece. Whether FC works or not – and I'm now fairly convinced that it's bogus – Anna Stubblefield's behaviour toward DJ and his family was bizarre in the extreme and wrought a great deal of emotional damage to all concerned. There was nothing ethical or professional about her conduct. Clearly delusional, perhaps a stint in prison will give her time to reflect and acknowledge that she is the one most in need of mental counselling.
8
In this day and age of highly evolved digital photography, I wonder what the editors are trying to say by using a black & white image. Dramatic effect? Just being artsy?
4
Had she never learned the term transference? She was raised with concern for the disabled and in this case she got so caught up with this young man that she lost all perspective. Any mitigating - and self-protective - objectivity evaporated. Sad.
5
I am amazed that people are claiming Ms. Stubblefield should not be incarcerated. I wonder if they would feel the same if it were Mr. Stubblefield and DJ were a woman - of course not, people (women in particular) would be screaming for blood.
12
Like you?
This is a perfect cautionary tale about the dangers of pseudo-science. Facilitated communication is a sham and has been disproven by a number of peer-reviewed studies. Apart from the sensational aspects of this case, one thing stands out: the inability of parents and teachers to accept that mental impairment is not an elite conspiracy against the downtrodden. Some people are really born with low IQ. Some disabled children will never grow up to have a normal life. Some brain damage cannot be reversed. Just accept it and move on.
4
I feel terrible for Anna's children. It seems that only when Anna's freedom and future were on the line did she even think beyond herself.
The horrible part is that Anna seems to have deluded herself into an alternative reality.
The horrible part is that Anna seems to have deluded herself into an alternative reality.
9
Nothing Anna Stubblefield did warrants 40 years in jail. As much as many people believe that she abused D.J., it's also an abuse of power by the legal system. I think there's much more than a reasonable doubt that she abused him. I had a haunting image of D.J. never again being contacted for his innermost thoughts and feelings.
6
A bizarre and disturbing story. Some readers say she clearly fell in love with D.J. but if FC is entirely bogus, whom was she falling in love with--an imagined version of herself?
18
Although it adds to the drama, quoting D.J. as if he really communicated the things Ms.Stubblefield typed for him may be confusing some readers who obviously wish to join in the make-believe and cast this sad tale as a love story.
9
FC is snake oil.
Even if it wasn't - even if it truly worked - Anna Stubblefield is guilty of sexual abuse. She was someone in a position of extreme power and authority over D.J. The relationship was akin to therapist and client, doctor and patient, teacher and student. For her to engage in a sexual relationship with D.J., even were he capable of requesting it, would be egregious.
She satisfied her own twisted needs with an incredibly vulnerable person. Since Stubblefield acted as D.J.'s very voice, he could not even say "No."
Even if it wasn't - even if it truly worked - Anna Stubblefield is guilty of sexual abuse. She was someone in a position of extreme power and authority over D.J. The relationship was akin to therapist and client, doctor and patient, teacher and student. For her to engage in a sexual relationship with D.J., even were he capable of requesting it, would be egregious.
She satisfied her own twisted needs with an incredibly vulnerable person. Since Stubblefield acted as D.J.'s very voice, he could not even say "No."
15
I don't understand. What she did was awful yes. She crossed so many professional boundaries, and appeared not to have any concern for the lives she was ruining. But in the end how does locking her away for 30 or 40 years help anything? We're paying for her incarceration, when we often don't people away for that long for killing people.
5
A modern day Pygmalion. Ms. Stubblefield fell in love with her own creation.
The great sadness is that after all that work, DJ continues to have no way to communicate, and his family has no way to know if there is a way to reach him, and to do what is best for him. And they have no idea if the person Ms. Stubblefield introduced to them ever existed.
The great sadness is that after all that work, DJ continues to have no way to communicate, and his family has no way to know if there is a way to reach him, and to do what is best for him. And they have no idea if the person Ms. Stubblefield introduced to them ever existed.
10
The dreadfulness and criminality of Anna's actions are one thing. Not much less appalling to me was the willingness of the disability rights crowd to believe that D.J. could have formulated and written, from his own intellect and with only editorial and physical facilitation by Anna, the papers he presented at conferences.
Might he have had ideas and opinions? Sure--even three-year-olds can express themselves vigorously. But they do so in language appropriate to three-year-olds. That no one questioned his vocabulary and syntax and grammatical choices makes we wonder just exactly how credulous these people are. The fantasy that inside every profoundly-physically-disabled person resides an Einstein or Voltaire is not helpful towards the acceptance of, you know, boring old severely-intellectually-disabled people.
But this is what happens when every medical condition is politicized and the "rights of the individual" are taken to their most absurd, out-in-the-far-reaches-of-space limits. The tragic reality that not every caregiver is worthy or capable of the responsibility doesn't mean that every person in care can make the best judgments about his or her life.
Might he have had ideas and opinions? Sure--even three-year-olds can express themselves vigorously. But they do so in language appropriate to three-year-olds. That no one questioned his vocabulary and syntax and grammatical choices makes we wonder just exactly how credulous these people are. The fantasy that inside every profoundly-physically-disabled person resides an Einstein or Voltaire is not helpful towards the acceptance of, you know, boring old severely-intellectually-disabled people.
But this is what happens when every medical condition is politicized and the "rights of the individual" are taken to their most absurd, out-in-the-far-reaches-of-space limits. The tragic reality that not every caregiver is worthy or capable of the responsibility doesn't mean that every person in care can make the best judgments about his or her life.
20
Her client is childlike, I would call it child molestation. As far as I am concerned, this professional should have know better, she is the adult here. Many clients are attracted to their teachers and vise versa. You go over the line when it becomes personal.
6
None of the major players in this story granted an interview to Daniel Engber, and yet he managed to write an extraordinary piece, exquisitely presenting the viewpoints of all involved.
As other commenters have mentioned, Stubblefield had every opportunity to remove herself from the fabricated relationship she'd engineered and devote energy to the welfare of her children. She chose not to do so, and seems to be utterly delusional.
I am amazed by the patience and compassion of D.J.'s family (I don't blame them for being blinded by hope and love for D.J.) and by the phenomenal reporting by Mr. Engber.
As other commenters have mentioned, Stubblefield had every opportunity to remove herself from the fabricated relationship she'd engineered and devote energy to the welfare of her children. She chose not to do so, and seems to be utterly delusional.
I am amazed by the patience and compassion of D.J.'s family (I don't blame them for being blinded by hope and love for D.J.) and by the phenomenal reporting by Mr. Engber.
39
It is clear that facilitated communication is bogus. I am sure with practice a small number of non-communicators do learn to type by themselves. For the rest, it is clear that the facilitators are doing the writing. I love that they think doing any double study is demeaning to their clients. Study after study shows that even with simple words the facilitators view of the picture is always the one spelled out. I remember in its heyday seeing very complex political comments spelled out as answers to simple question.
This whole article is a very lengthy synopsis of a woman taking advantage of a vulnerable child in a man's body. Spelling in English is very complex. His family should have known right away that something was amiss, especially when they couldn't facilitate also. I understand that families are desperate for any communication at all. It is hard to believe that the professor actually believes what she is doing is genuine.She reminds me of those psychics bilking their customers. She is definitely taking advantage of a vulnerable person. She is about to find out in prison how that feels.
This whole article is a very lengthy synopsis of a woman taking advantage of a vulnerable child in a man's body. Spelling in English is very complex. His family should have known right away that something was amiss, especially when they couldn't facilitate also. I understand that families are desperate for any communication at all. It is hard to believe that the professor actually believes what she is doing is genuine.She reminds me of those psychics bilking their customers. She is definitely taking advantage of a vulnerable person. She is about to find out in prison how that feels.
13
This reminds me the Mary Kay Letourneau case some years ago,and how severe some penalties can be in the United States.So,no surprise that very high rate: number of inmates/total population.This woman did´t do any significant harm,on the contrary,she spent a lot of time and effort to improve the quality of life of other human being.Without a relevant degree of scientific confidence throughout these fluid fields of research she should be considered innocent.
6
Harm may be relative. She didn't injure D.J. physically. Discount the words she puts in D.J.'s mouth. Look at his actions.
From the article:
"They tried to kiss while lying down on D.J.’s bed, on the theory that it would be easier, given his impairments. But D.J. kept sitting up, and then he lowered himself onto the floor."
"...she pushed down his pants, loosened his diaper and performed oral sex on him. They never finished —"
This sounds like the description of someone being raped. Someone who is physically barely able to control his movements - and who is trying to get away. Someone who is not interested in, and not responding to what is happening.
I think that constitutes harm. Depending on how much D.J. truly understands and what her feels about this - it may be significant, lasting harm.
From the article:
"They tried to kiss while lying down on D.J.’s bed, on the theory that it would be easier, given his impairments. But D.J. kept sitting up, and then he lowered himself onto the floor."
"...she pushed down his pants, loosened his diaper and performed oral sex on him. They never finished —"
This sounds like the description of someone being raped. Someone who is physically barely able to control his movements - and who is trying to get away. Someone who is not interested in, and not responding to what is happening.
I think that constitutes harm. Depending on how much D.J. truly understands and what her feels about this - it may be significant, lasting harm.
11
The part where she is describing his futile attempts to get away from her are so horrifying as to be almost unreadable.
1
"When the judge explained that Anna had been convicted of two counts of a first-degree felony and that further bail would be impossible, she collapsed onto the defense table in loud, convulsive sobs. ‘‘Please,’’ she begged, ‘‘what about my daughter?’’
Where was this concern for her children when she was engaging in inappropriate and unethical behavior with her client?
Where was this concern for her children when she was engaging in inappropriate and unethical behavior with her client?
31
Is there a better display of "Facilitated Communication" than the infamous McMartin Preschool nightmare in Southern California? It played out like the Salem Witch Trials of long ago. All of it based on the "facilitated communication" of one demented woman, who created the entire event by coaching the children to accuse teachers of, not just abuse, but murder. Google it and see that nothing is new under the sun.
12
Kudos to the Times for this article.
You give us conservatives lots of reasons to (sorry) dislike much of what you publish but a superb article like this can offset much of that.
You give us conservatives lots of reasons to (sorry) dislike much of what you publish but a superb article like this can offset much of that.
1
Great story, well told, and tragic. But why is she called an "ethics professor"? Did she teach ethics somewhere? Is her PhD in ethics? Or is that just to embellish the story?
2
priceofcivilization
Start reading in the third paragraph of the section starting with her full name in bold.
Start reading in the third paragraph of the section starting with her full name in bold.
Did you read the article? The fourth paragraph ... "that she was a tenured professor of ethics at Rutgers University in Newark"
1
A great story, intensely distressing, a reminder of how many troubled people walk among us and another checkmark in the cons column for the widely discredited "facilitated communication."
One question: Why the "they" in the last line of the second graf? How could "they" announce anything?
One question: Why the "they" in the last line of the second graf? How could "they" announce anything?
7
Yes. I had the same thought as soon as I came upon it, and throughout the piece. Sadly, an artificial dramatic device in an otherwise lovely piece.
People have trouble understanding the concept of "consent" when it comes to sex. That confusion seems to be even more heightened when traditional gender roles are reversed. This is rape by any reasonable definition of the word. Why are we discussing this as if it is just a tragic case of miscommunication or misunderstanding?
29
"As the years went by, her mission seemed to broaden and merge into her mother’s." An insightful observation. God protect us from morally self-righteous parents who know with absolute certainty what is good for people and in that process of "saving" the oppressed of the world sorely neglect the emotional needs of their own children.
11
I can't believe that commenters question the fact that this woman is facing serious time in prison. If this was a man taking advantage of a woman of similar mental and physical capacity there would be no arguments of a restraining order or probation. This was a professional who was placed (likely questionably) in a position of great trust with a very debilitated person and violated that trust heinously, seemingly, based on the article, to prove her own theories about the nature of disability.
12
Really? She seems so obviously in need of major psychiatric help to me -- not jail.
1
The sever penalties for the sexual abuse of vulnerable people is to deter the all too common sexual abuse of special needs patients by unskilled institutional staff. Only and highly educated intelligent person would be so stupid as to not get the message. Doctor heal thyself.
9
Whether Professor Stubblefield was in the right or in the wrong, this is a classic Pygmalion tale--only, unfortunately, without the happy ending that Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle enjoyed. Although I do regard it as unethical that anyone in Professor Stubblefield's position would act on her feelings as she did, the feelings she that she developed for someone in whom she had invested so much professional and emotional energy do not surprise me.
3
The issue appears not to be 'facilitated communication'; courts of law are not the best venues to determine scientific validity.
However, this is a case of abrogating the institution's human subjects rules, and abusing her powers as a 'professor', 'researcher', and 'therapist'. (and I am not sure of the last 2)
A professor should never abuse the power which he/she has over others. This was an obvious case of on-going abuse.
If she is considered a 'researcher' (and I doubt it, doubt if she was trained that way) she violated human subjects rules, and she violated research ethics.
If she is considered a 'therapist' once again she very much violated the therapist-patient (client) relationship.
I doubt she was training in the latter 2. But even ignoring the FC controversy, what she did was a monstrous ethical breach.
Was there consent? Almost a null issue because this was ethical abuse of power anyway, even with consent.
Was the criminal conviction excessive? Most likely. She seems to be a very sad personality disorder or possibly delusional. She obviously needs to be relieved of academic responsibilities she currently has, and if she is able to teach philosophy to be closely supervised. She needs psychiatric help. But not sure a long jail sentence really is in the best interests of society.
However, this is a case of abrogating the institution's human subjects rules, and abusing her powers as a 'professor', 'researcher', and 'therapist'. (and I am not sure of the last 2)
A professor should never abuse the power which he/she has over others. This was an obvious case of on-going abuse.
If she is considered a 'researcher' (and I doubt it, doubt if she was trained that way) she violated human subjects rules, and she violated research ethics.
If she is considered a 'therapist' once again she very much violated the therapist-patient (client) relationship.
I doubt she was training in the latter 2. But even ignoring the FC controversy, what she did was a monstrous ethical breach.
Was there consent? Almost a null issue because this was ethical abuse of power anyway, even with consent.
Was the criminal conviction excessive? Most likely. She seems to be a very sad personality disorder or possibly delusional. She obviously needs to be relieved of academic responsibilities she currently has, and if she is able to teach philosophy to be closely supervised. She needs psychiatric help. But not sure a long jail sentence really is in the best interests of society.
21
This has to be one of the most tragic stories I have read in some time. Was there no one that she could talk to about this? A friend who could give her some kind of reality check? As soon as she felt "romantic feelings" for DJ, she should have severed the relationship, or at least gone into therapy to find out why she was succumbing to this, and to put a stop to it. Undone by hubris. I feel such pain for the family, the anger, the betrayal. I hope DJ forgets this person and lives his life happy in the warmth of his family.
The photo of her is haunting. Does she even yet understand what she did? Is prison where she belongs? She should work at something repetitive and menial (that would be a big ego buster), where no one talks to her and she's not allowed to talk to anyone else. Maybe then, forced to contemplate what she did, she may eventually realize how she exploited DJ. In prison, she'll just think of herself as a victim.
The photo of her is haunting. Does she even yet understand what she did? Is prison where she belongs? She should work at something repetitive and menial (that would be a big ego buster), where no one talks to her and she's not allowed to talk to anyone else. Maybe then, forced to contemplate what she did, she may eventually realize how she exploited DJ. In prison, she'll just think of herself as a victim.
84
Perhaps she understood what she did, but did not expect there would be criminal punishment for her crime.
Lord. So black person with CP goes to predominantly whit-structured University to have communication "facilitated?" Regardless of the lack of scientific validation for the method her violation of her professional sacred trust - no dual role relationships allowed - stands out. Here is someone with boundary issues on all fronts, racial, socio-economic, ethnic and personal. More surprising are the readers feelings which express support for DJ's sexualization, "no harm done", "probably the only experience with sex he'll ever have"....Yikes. If my only possible experience with sex would be having a mentally ill charlatan professor give me fillatiao after pulling me out of my wheelchair..and undressing me...well...I'll pass.
25
It's shocking to me how many commenters disagree with the length of Anna's sentence and claim no "harm" has been done. I wonder if there's bias here not unlike the bias that occurs when female teachers sleep with underage male students: that the youth in question wasn't actually violated but instead "got lucky." If D.J. is truly mentally on par with a three-year-old, this is exactly like a grown man raping a three-year-old girl. Their ability to consent to sexual act is exactly the same.
43
Oh, no it is not. A grown man would cause major physical damage to a three-year-old girl in addition to the violation -- and I do think it is a worse violation in that it is an invasion of the body.
This is a violation too, OF COURSE. And it is terrible! But it is different in kind. Let's not draw analogies that only work so-so and then be very insistent about them.
This is a violation too, OF COURSE. And it is terrible! But it is different in kind. Let's not draw analogies that only work so-so and then be very insistent about them.
1
Violating people's rights (by brute force or by taking advantage of people without the capacity to consent) is sick and deranged and delinquent, no matter what physical harm is or isn't a result. Rape "damage" is not only about physical harm. Violating the rights of others always causes harm.
1
The article states:
"Facilitated communication arrived in the United States during a hysteria over child sexual abuse, fueled by memories 'recovered' during hypnosis or elicited from children. By the end of 1994, some 60 users of facilitated communication had made claims of sexual abuse."
Fascinating! Let us consider the implications of this statement:
If we accept the preponderance of scientific evidence that F.C. is a hoax and that the intermediaries / facilitators created the output of the disabled individuals, we encounter a very frightening question about humankind:
Why did so many facilitators generate lurid tales of kinky, undesired, abusive, sexual encounters? Hmm?
Facilitated Communication seems to be a new Rorschach Test with random interlopers projecting their inner sexual fears and, more disturbingly, their sexual fantasies onto the blank slates of autistic individuals.
Again -- if the facilitators create the output -- what does this tell us about the psychosexual repression of those people? It seems they indirectly use autistic individuals as proxies for their own erotic obsessions. Would you want such facilitators around your disabled child?
At the very least, Facilitated Communication is a curious tool for revealing the darker corners of the human mind; specifically, the minds of the facilitators. I'm reminded of Oscar Wilde's observation: "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
"Facilitated communication arrived in the United States during a hysteria over child sexual abuse, fueled by memories 'recovered' during hypnosis or elicited from children. By the end of 1994, some 60 users of facilitated communication had made claims of sexual abuse."
Fascinating! Let us consider the implications of this statement:
If we accept the preponderance of scientific evidence that F.C. is a hoax and that the intermediaries / facilitators created the output of the disabled individuals, we encounter a very frightening question about humankind:
Why did so many facilitators generate lurid tales of kinky, undesired, abusive, sexual encounters? Hmm?
Facilitated Communication seems to be a new Rorschach Test with random interlopers projecting their inner sexual fears and, more disturbingly, their sexual fantasies onto the blank slates of autistic individuals.
Again -- if the facilitators create the output -- what does this tell us about the psychosexual repression of those people? It seems they indirectly use autistic individuals as proxies for their own erotic obsessions. Would you want such facilitators around your disabled child?
At the very least, Facilitated Communication is a curious tool for revealing the darker corners of the human mind; specifically, the minds of the facilitators. I'm reminded of Oscar Wilde's observation: "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
29
If you think about it, people who have sexual desires which they overwhelmingly feel they just MUST carry out, would choose to work with those whom they consider they can most easily manipulate. Whom better than those who cannot communicate?
This is a very interesting story.
I do believe that facilitated communication could be legitimate, but it is difficult to tell.
There is not question that Anna had feelings for DJ. And, probably DJ had feelings for her, just as any patient would develop an attachment to a caregiver over years.
But, what is clear is that Anna has psychiatric problems. She was so infatuated with DJ, that it destroyed her life -- family, career, job. She was in love, and there is nothing wrong with that, but she did not deal with it in a healthy way.
However, it is a shame that she was convicted. She needs mental health treatment, not jail time.
I do believe that facilitated communication could be legitimate, but it is difficult to tell.
There is not question that Anna had feelings for DJ. And, probably DJ had feelings for her, just as any patient would develop an attachment to a caregiver over years.
But, what is clear is that Anna has psychiatric problems. She was so infatuated with DJ, that it destroyed her life -- family, career, job. She was in love, and there is nothing wrong with that, but she did not deal with it in a healthy way.
However, it is a shame that she was convicted. She needs mental health treatment, not jail time.
10
She was married woman. If we are going to talk about ethics, she was ethically obligated to end the relationship when she realized she was edging into adultery, even setting aside the ability of the other party to consent to sex.
1
I am surprised a defense of diminished capacity was not offered. As I recall my criminal law course, in order to be convicted of a crime, you must have committed a criminal act, 'Actus Reus' - Guity Act, and intended to commit the act 'Mens Rea' - Guilty Mind.
Say what you will about Anna, (and there are many awful things you could say about her) she did not think she was doing any harm. She was, in every sense of the word, delusional.
So while it might feel good (and just) to send her to prison, I think it would be a waste. This isn't the type of crime she will ever be able to commit again. She should be barred from any activity involving work with clients, patients, or students. If she had a job as a sales clerk at Walmart, she wouldn't pose a further threat to anyone, and it would save the taxpayers a lot of money.
Say what you will about Anna, (and there are many awful things you could say about her) she did not think she was doing any harm. She was, in every sense of the word, delusional.
So while it might feel good (and just) to send her to prison, I think it would be a waste. This isn't the type of crime she will ever be able to commit again. She should be barred from any activity involving work with clients, patients, or students. If she had a job as a sales clerk at Walmart, she wouldn't pose a further threat to anyone, and it would save the taxpayers a lot of money.
32
Ms. Stubblefield's behavior was reprehensible and profoundly wrong on so many levels, not to mention downright bizarre. And I still don't understand how a professor of philosophy could get involved in the treatment of a disabled person in this pseudo-professional capacity....what qualified her to deliver such "treatment"?
36
Welcome to modern academia, Kathy Mac. Since disability is not a "real" condition that can be objectively and scientifically assessed, but only "a social construction," which, like all "social constructions," only represents repression of somebody by the big, bad, white, Anglo-Saxon male wolf, philosophers, sociologists, historians, English professors, and other devoted connoisseurs of oppression are much better qualified to have a say about somebody's disability than, you know. actual scientists who are bound by scientific rigor and a code of professional ethics. I hope you didn't miss the open contempt for the latter group amid the FC community?
1
Love is strange. When a goat falls in love with a pig, You-tube viewers are all agog at the miraculous and marvelous ways of nature and find it so cute how animals have feelings and needs too. Acknowledging that people aren't really that much different from animals in those same kinds of needs and feelings, is a much bigger and more difficult pill for many people to swallow.
11
This woman had NO RIGHT to do what she did.
1st - she was married.
2nd - DJ did not have the mental ability to decide the right or wrong of the relationship.
3rd - she broke all moral and ethical rules.
Stories like this give professionals that do good ETHICAL WORK a bad name.
This woman will pay for her lack of judgment in prison and more.
So much for a higher education - she must have skipped the moral and ethics training.
1st - she was married.
2nd - DJ did not have the mental ability to decide the right or wrong of the relationship.
3rd - she broke all moral and ethical rules.
Stories like this give professionals that do good ETHICAL WORK a bad name.
This woman will pay for her lack of judgment in prison and more.
So much for a higher education - she must have skipped the moral and ethics training.
6
Sad that the guardians were willing to go along with the "facilitated" business until it told them something they didn't want to hear.
9
Wow, really interesting story on many levels.
It seems to me that Anna is not guilty of a calculated plot to advance her sexual and career aspirations, but of something more complicated. I think she took advantage of the dependent person she was trying to help because her intense personal and political convictions drove her to fall in love with him and deluded her into imagining that the feeling was mutual. The story captures this tragic irony, and it offers a sobering warning to those who aim to help others. The fact that someone so intelligent could put her own words in another person's mouth without realizing it also reminds us of the fallibility of the mind and the power of emotion.
More understandable, and more heartbreaking, is how families may be quick to accept the interpretations of people like Anna because they purport to offer a connection with their loved ones. Emotion is surely a valid and necessary way of learning and knowing things, but reading this reminds me that it can often mislead us, especially when our needs are greatest.
It seems to me that Anna is not guilty of a calculated plot to advance her sexual and career aspirations, but of something more complicated. I think she took advantage of the dependent person she was trying to help because her intense personal and political convictions drove her to fall in love with him and deluded her into imagining that the feeling was mutual. The story captures this tragic irony, and it offers a sobering warning to those who aim to help others. The fact that someone so intelligent could put her own words in another person's mouth without realizing it also reminds us of the fallibility of the mind and the power of emotion.
More understandable, and more heartbreaking, is how families may be quick to accept the interpretations of people like Anna because they purport to offer a connection with their loved ones. Emotion is surely a valid and necessary way of learning and knowing things, but reading this reminds me that it can often mislead us, especially when our needs are greatest.
151
Sorry--but the basis of mature romantic love is equality of mental/emotional capacities.
The Hollywood fantasy of the adoring child-man awakened to joy by the older woman is just that--fantasy. We recognize its repugnance and dangers when the sex roles are reversed and it's a creepy older man preying on a child-woman. And here are the many commenters--male and female--imagining the thrilling joy for D.J. of being initiated into sex with Anna.
One of the great terrors for parents/guardians of adolescent-to-adult profoundly handicapped people of how they can be exploited for sexual gratification by caretakers.
Certainly there are happy stories of adults whose incapacities are only physical, and who find loving partners with the tenderness and creativity to enable consensual, rewarding sexual relations.
Those are not this. D.J.'s own actions would seem to indicate an attempt to evade Anna's predations. Everything to the contrary is her fantasy.
D.J. was already a very much loved and cared-for member of a family that constantly strived to find ways of unlocking whatever potentials and capacities he had. They weren't trying to keep him a shameful prisoner; they sought what they hoped might be the "miracle cure." What they got was a severely-disturbed though very intelligent woman apparently incapable of appropriate adult relationships and willing to torpedo her husband's and children's lives in her quest for the "perfect man"--one incapable of independent action.
The Hollywood fantasy of the adoring child-man awakened to joy by the older woman is just that--fantasy. We recognize its repugnance and dangers when the sex roles are reversed and it's a creepy older man preying on a child-woman. And here are the many commenters--male and female--imagining the thrilling joy for D.J. of being initiated into sex with Anna.
One of the great terrors for parents/guardians of adolescent-to-adult profoundly handicapped people of how they can be exploited for sexual gratification by caretakers.
Certainly there are happy stories of adults whose incapacities are only physical, and who find loving partners with the tenderness and creativity to enable consensual, rewarding sexual relations.
Those are not this. D.J.'s own actions would seem to indicate an attempt to evade Anna's predations. Everything to the contrary is her fantasy.
D.J. was already a very much loved and cared-for member of a family that constantly strived to find ways of unlocking whatever potentials and capacities he had. They weren't trying to keep him a shameful prisoner; they sought what they hoped might be the "miracle cure." What they got was a severely-disturbed though very intelligent woman apparently incapable of appropriate adult relationships and willing to torpedo her husband's and children's lives in her quest for the "perfect man"--one incapable of independent action.
10
This is another example of the limits of the law. There are simply areas of human relations where, even with the best of intentions by all concerned, even if one has the best legal system, it cannot supply "justice." Such is also the case with abortion and doctor assisted suicide. That is why, individually and as a society, we all need to accept a large dose of humility, why even while nobly working to protect the vulnerable, we must be extremely cautious in advocating solution by law.
6
Amazing article. So very well written. But this being a non-fiction topic. I ultimately feel that Anna has a pretty significant psychological disorder that causes her to victimize herself under the premise of working toward the greater good. Basically delusional. Anyone with that many degrees and years of specialty training should have taken the proper steps if there were truly any future of an actual relationship. Not sure prison is the right resolution for this situation either.
3
What really is surprising is that there is so much support for this convicted rapist, by many Times readers, as if her PhD and her sex gives her a pass. DJ obviously has a greater mental capacity then many of you. One person said that DJ could have enjoyed the sex and that the shrink should be spared a long prison sentence. With that reasoning might as well legalize most rapes, and incest. Some Times readers would think Statutory rape should also be legal. A truly disgusting bunch of commentators. Evidence be damned.. Double blind studies don't mean anything, only this quack's intuition, supposed "love" and compassion count. Anyone remember Mary Kay Letourneau? Stubblefield makes her look like Mother Teresa
28
What a very disturbed woman. How long did this abuse go on? And how little we know even now about people.
4
While at first blush, the sentence may seem excessive, I find too much of a discrepancy in the eloquence of some of the statements purportedly made by D.J. and others compared with other “utterances” to put too much faith in F.C. Therefore, the facts of the case for me really come down to a person of authority taking sexual advantage of a severely developmentally disabled individual who was unable to give proper consent. With that as my starting point, I find it rather shocking that so many commenters seem to be arguing that the sentence is too harsh because no real harm was done.
To that I say two things: (1) if the facts of the case were slightly different and we substituted a young child in for D.J. would you still feel the same? (2) If you feel as though no harm has been done, or that “no one died” as one commenter put it, aren’t you implicitly arguing that D.J.’s rights (and those of his guardians) aren’t as important as an able bodied child/adult given he could not give proper consent?
At the end of the day, rape is rape, and should be punished accordingly.
To that I say two things: (1) if the facts of the case were slightly different and we substituted a young child in for D.J. would you still feel the same? (2) If you feel as though no harm has been done, or that “no one died” as one commenter put it, aren’t you implicitly arguing that D.J.’s rights (and those of his guardians) aren’t as important as an able bodied child/adult given he could not give proper consent?
At the end of the day, rape is rape, and should be punished accordingly.
10
It is troublesome to conflate many issues and the certainty by which certain professionals dismiss augmentative communication. There are many modalities of two-way communication that involve touch - such as deaf/blind sign. We MUST address the issue of relationship, trust and touch in the needed support of many individuals with disabilities, not as "tragic"' but as enabling. But let's move on a bit. The ethics of a teacher-student is of primary importance. This should not be blurred into a valid way of communication. 2. Yes, it can be abused - I don't agree with facilitator "stealing voice" for the purposes of looking good. 3. Testing - there are lots of people who are willing to be tested. However, it is important, to do so ethically, to engage participatory research methods. The rhetorical use of "ethics" in this case needs further discussion. This is essential in the way we do research even more so with vulnerable, non-speaking populations. There is much more research into this methodology. It is ethically problematic to engage in tests with presupposition of I.Q'ism bias (to name one). Tests can be established in accommodating ways and may have to occur over a period of time in order that the person with X needs or impairment may not be able to swiftly appease the time constraints of many of these studies. If we discuss influence, the same holds true for the negative influence of the testers/studies/researchers who seem already pre-determined to prove the method invalid.
3
Being predetermined to prove the method invalid is the correct approach. This is how scientific testing works. They're SUPPOSED to try every possible way to prove it doesn't work. Only if ALL vigorous efcorts to debunk it fail, do we decide that it does work.
1
There are several factors at play. Belief perseverance is the persistence of one's initial conceptions such as when the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives. I wonder how many facilitators suffer from belief perseverance? Is there a fee associated with F.C. workshops? Finally, Dr. Stubblefield may possibly suffer from a personality disorder which may explain her questionable (at minimum) and quite possibly maladaptive behavior.
5
This is either the most extreme example of transference ever or one of the greatest love tragedies ever known. Or maybe both.
219
If I got to vote, I'd vote for transference.
3
Actually, it sounds more like counter-transference (therapist projects feelings onto client).
1
Counter transference, or as you say, maybe both
Mark's better half.
I am not only horrified at this story, but shocked that there are people still practicing FC when plenty of research has shown it lacks reliable validity needed to "establish an intervention or a methodology as trustworthy or noteworthy". The baloney behind this method has been well established through a lot of research. In fact, sometimes, this method is used to show students how people can easily buy into a treatment out of desperation, hope or good advertising. And what about the ordinary ethics of not getting too emotionally entangled, or even mildly physically entangled, with one's clients, students or patients? How can a Professor of Ethics (!!!) cross that one...which is bad enough, and then go further to exploit a very disabled vulnerable person?
But why put this on "her deeply caring belief system"? There are many people who deeply care and do wonderful work without crossing ethical lines, or basic decency. Kindly do not project or stretch someone's caring personality, or commitment to "helping" values, through one terrible case of perversion, or a psychopathic personality. There are many who merely vent their frustrations with work or society by writing out their anger, talking to themselves or sharing with friends and family. They do not cross ethical lines.
I am not only horrified at this story, but shocked that there are people still practicing FC when plenty of research has shown it lacks reliable validity needed to "establish an intervention or a methodology as trustworthy or noteworthy". The baloney behind this method has been well established through a lot of research. In fact, sometimes, this method is used to show students how people can easily buy into a treatment out of desperation, hope or good advertising. And what about the ordinary ethics of not getting too emotionally entangled, or even mildly physically entangled, with one's clients, students or patients? How can a Professor of Ethics (!!!) cross that one...which is bad enough, and then go further to exploit a very disabled vulnerable person?
But why put this on "her deeply caring belief system"? There are many people who deeply care and do wonderful work without crossing ethical lines, or basic decency. Kindly do not project or stretch someone's caring personality, or commitment to "helping" values, through one terrible case of perversion, or a psychopathic personality. There are many who merely vent their frustrations with work or society by writing out their anger, talking to themselves or sharing with friends and family. They do not cross ethical lines.
3
On what basis did this woman feel she has the qualifications to treat anyone, for any condition? I believe she would feel fine about operating on someone defenseless, too. That alone makes her a criminal. Or crazy. Her self-indulgence is definitely borderline psychopathic.
4
Practically next door to Rutgers is the Matheny School and Hospital in Peapack, where my son (who had profound cerebral palsy and passed away in 2012) learned to communicate with the same devices that Steven Hawking uses. Although he could not use his hands or feet, my son learned to drive a wheelchair, communicate and control electronics in his environment with a set of switches in his wheelchair headrest. Matheny is world class and my family is eternally grateful to them. Unimaginable that the events of this story could happen in New Jersey.
13
Fran Lexcen,
Then you would be shocked to know of organized decades long abuses of the children kept at the Essex County Children's Emergency Shelter and the disabled children kept in the Isolation Hospital.
They spouted a lot of things lacking in critical thought that sound an awful lot like what Anna who is from Michigan did to me.
The authorities refuse to investigate and the people of NJ government conspire to make difficult to impossible any attempt to turn up the facts by the processes available. I was denied my own medical records based on an executive order to prevent prisoners from getting records of their victims! And at the cost of $12,500 that denial was upheld by a judge!
Then you would be shocked to know of organized decades long abuses of the children kept at the Essex County Children's Emergency Shelter and the disabled children kept in the Isolation Hospital.
They spouted a lot of things lacking in critical thought that sound an awful lot like what Anna who is from Michigan did to me.
The authorities refuse to investigate and the people of NJ government conspire to make difficult to impossible any attempt to turn up the facts by the processes available. I was denied my own medical records based on an executive order to prevent prisoners from getting records of their victims! And at the cost of $12,500 that denial was upheld by a judge!
2
Why not New Jersey?Is NJ so special that catastrophes don't happen there?
4
Didn't you know NJ stands for No Justice?
And regarding your surprise about this happening in NJ you just need to open your eyes a bit more.
When we were first looking for our daughter, I saw one residential facility that I wouldn't send my dog to.
When we asked if only female aides would shower our daughter, and take her to the bathroom, because our 19 year old has no ability to express her thoughts, they said "no, we use a nursing model" - when I asked if they had nursing degrees they replied "no, most don't have college degrees."
I shook their hands and said "so nice to meet all of you" and said goodbye. Subsequently I found that this facility had issues with sexual abuse. Surprise, surprise.
New Jersey, a nice place to ...... leave!
Jon Singer
www.Drive4Rebecca
http://bit.ly/Drive4RebeccaOnFacebook
And regarding your surprise about this happening in NJ you just need to open your eyes a bit more.
When we were first looking for our daughter, I saw one residential facility that I wouldn't send my dog to.
When we asked if only female aides would shower our daughter, and take her to the bathroom, because our 19 year old has no ability to express her thoughts, they said "no, we use a nursing model" - when I asked if they had nursing degrees they replied "no, most don't have college degrees."
I shook their hands and said "so nice to meet all of you" and said goodbye. Subsequently I found that this facility had issues with sexual abuse. Surprise, surprise.
New Jersey, a nice place to ...... leave!
Jon Singer
www.Drive4Rebecca
http://bit.ly/Drive4RebeccaOnFacebook
4
Can't help but view this from a tort lawyer's point of view. First question, where are the damages? How was DJ hurt? What can be shown that would merit compensation in some way, shape, or form?
I don't see anything that indicates that DJ was injured in any way. All indicators are the experience was not unpleasant for him.
Even if Anna was delusional and borderline psychotic with DJ in those moments of a fantasy love affair in which she was the all powerful nurturing woman. Even if DJ was without capacity to resist or demure from his innocent participation in this pathetic charade. After all the heinous loathing we can muster for the perp. Still and all, WHERE ARE THE DAMAGES?
Clearly we have a "crime" of unusual proportions that defies ordinary understanding. But Anna is not really a monster so much as she is extremely confused. Race appears to have played a big hand in how others and the authorities have seized on this case "to set an example'.
A proper sentence would be a permanent restraining order barring Anna from further contact with DJ, six months of incarceration, and a protracted supervised probation with obligatory counseling paid for by Anna.
The prosecutor of course is asking for the Max in this now high profile case. But the judge surely will take everything into account that mitigates guilt; the lack of malevolent intent, Anna's shaky mental status, and most importantly no significant damages have been show by the State
I don't see anything that indicates that DJ was injured in any way. All indicators are the experience was not unpleasant for him.
Even if Anna was delusional and borderline psychotic with DJ in those moments of a fantasy love affair in which she was the all powerful nurturing woman. Even if DJ was without capacity to resist or demure from his innocent participation in this pathetic charade. After all the heinous loathing we can muster for the perp. Still and all, WHERE ARE THE DAMAGES?
Clearly we have a "crime" of unusual proportions that defies ordinary understanding. But Anna is not really a monster so much as she is extremely confused. Race appears to have played a big hand in how others and the authorities have seized on this case "to set an example'.
A proper sentence would be a permanent restraining order barring Anna from further contact with DJ, six months of incarceration, and a protracted supervised probation with obligatory counseling paid for by Anna.
The prosecutor of course is asking for the Max in this now high profile case. But the judge surely will take everything into account that mitigates guilt; the lack of malevolent intent, Anna's shaky mental status, and most importantly no significant damages have been show by the State
706
"Not unpleasant for him."
So the bar for prosecution for rape is how good it is for the recipient?
So the bar for prosecution for rape is how good it is for the recipient?
35
But this is NOT a tort law case. It is not a civil case; it is a criminal case. So the issue of "damages" is not relevant here at all.
Even if FC were indeed efficacious, anyone like Anna should know that no one in a practicioner/client relationship of any kind may have sex with the client. Under any circumstances. The whole issue of the validity of FC is not important. She had no justification for disregarding her obligations to DJ whatsoever.
Even if FC were indeed efficacious, anyone like Anna should know that no one in a practicioner/client relationship of any kind may have sex with the client. Under any circumstances. The whole issue of the validity of FC is not important. She had no justification for disregarding her obligations to DJ whatsoever.
39
Oh, Nelly. It has nothing to do with torts. It's a criminal proceeding.
16
Fantastic article, and troubling case here. It seems obvious to me that FC is every bit as scientifically valid as Ouija boards or phrenology (deducing personality traits from bumps on the skull). Wishful thinking and nonsense, and while people who can't talk or coordinate movements may still have adult intelligence, this isn't the way to reach them.
Luckily there is a way coming, already we can get people to move a cursor just by thinking about it. Unfortunately right now that involves implanting electrodes in the brain, a tricky and somewhat risky procedure due to the possibility of infection. But soon there may be a way that these disabled people will be able to communicate through computers.
I also have no doubt that Ms. Stubblefield is guilty of sexual assault. Just as when someone has sex with a minor, or someone with Down syndrome, or someone in a coma, there was no way to acquire consent. Non-consensual sex is rape, I can't see any other way to handle it.
I feel pity for her though, she fell victim to her own ideology, constructed a love that wasn't there, and threw her life away chasing something that didn't exist. Lots of people do this in various ways, it's always unfortunate. People tried to help her snap out of it too, but she wouldn't listen, so she's responsible for the outcome.
I don't think she should spend the rest of her life in jail, because really not much harm was done. This was probably the only sexual experience D.J. will ever have, sadly.
Luckily there is a way coming, already we can get people to move a cursor just by thinking about it. Unfortunately right now that involves implanting electrodes in the brain, a tricky and somewhat risky procedure due to the possibility of infection. But soon there may be a way that these disabled people will be able to communicate through computers.
I also have no doubt that Ms. Stubblefield is guilty of sexual assault. Just as when someone has sex with a minor, or someone with Down syndrome, or someone in a coma, there was no way to acquire consent. Non-consensual sex is rape, I can't see any other way to handle it.
I feel pity for her though, she fell victim to her own ideology, constructed a love that wasn't there, and threw her life away chasing something that didn't exist. Lots of people do this in various ways, it's always unfortunate. People tried to help her snap out of it too, but she wouldn't listen, so she's responsible for the outcome.
I don't think she should spend the rest of her life in jail, because really not much harm was done. This was probably the only sexual experience D.J. will ever have, sadly.
308
How can you give a college professor who has sex with a disabled student (who has no legal consent), a free pass?. You can't give DJ a high five and Prof. Stubblefield a wink. Legal sex requires consent. Period.
3
And thus you are guilty of the behavior she displayed - putting your own ideas on another. None of us know if he wanted it or not. By her own admission he got off the bed and went into the hall when she initiated Then suddenly she was naked. How would you react if the genders were reversed? Read it more closely and then put yourself in the same position of a small child not wanting to displease the one person who lavished so much attention on them. Maybe he wanted it, and maybe he didn't. My guess is that, whether he has an adult mind or not, without her he would have been completely unaware of that part of life. This thing about saying he didn't like pornography because it objectifies women... well, how did he figure that out? He's not up nights surfing the web on his own if he can't type without help. So why would she think he could answer whether he wanted to look at it, and then, who was showing him porn? Her? I wanted to be sympathetic and support a man who is handicapped, but there are too many holes and lines crossed.
9
I agree with your comments. Yes, sadly, this will probably be the only sexual experience D.J. will ever have. It will also be the only romantic experience he will ever have. I wish Anna could spend zero time in prison and the rest of her life with D.J.
2
Why wasn't DJ allowed to interact with Anna in the Courtroom in front of the jury? Or in chambers with judge, attorneys and court reporter? Where was the effort to find out what HE wanted during this trial?
22
Would you allow a rapist to interact with a three-year-old?
We simply don't know whether this man has an adult mind hidden in there. If he does, it is a love affair gone tragically wrong. If he doesn't, he has escaped a life of abuse from a delusional woman. Actually even if he had an adult brain and she lied about the typing being his, it could be an awful life. I think that you can find out brain activity, but don't know about seeing cognitive levels with current technology.
We simply don't know whether this man has an adult mind hidden in there. If he does, it is a love affair gone tragically wrong. If he doesn't, he has escaped a life of abuse from a delusional woman. Actually even if he had an adult brain and she lied about the typing being his, it could be an awful life. I think that you can find out brain activity, but don't know about seeing cognitive levels with current technology.
1
This really amazes me how not only Ms. Stubblefield is in denial but her family and some of her patients are as well. What was so hard for them to realize that this man had the mental capacity of a 5 year old? It seems to me that D.J. has a greater mental capacity than Stubblefield and her family.
9
The woman believed that there was consent. Bizarre charge, trial and case. A shame as well. Let the punishment fit the crime, but what was the crime?
5
The crime was rape.
1
Any pedophile or rapist may also delude him/herself that there is consent.
Over to you.
Over to you.
1
...In which altruism and narcissism meet at the crossroads of delusion and lead to wrong...
15
Sending this woman to prison is what is mentally ill, not her patient, nor her.
The worst she should get is her license removed, and even then...
The worst she should get is her license removed, and even then...
4
You don't get that she has no "license"? She was an "ethics" professor. A woman obsessed with race and disability, two things that she dismissed as "social constructs" yet which she obviously found highly attractive.
2
she does not have a license
she is not a licensed mental health or medical professional
she is a PhD Professor who was volunteering her services to the family
she is not a licensed mental health or medical professional
she is a PhD Professor who was volunteering her services to the family
Whether you believe in FC or not (and I do not), I feel that Ms. Stubblefield is mentally unstable and what she did to D.J. was criminal, and a gross abuse of her position.
17
Prosecuting Anna purely on DJ's capacity to consent to sex rather than also on his capacity to enjoy sex is unjust, both for Anna and especially for DJ.
Disabled adults (could) have sex drives. In the Nordic countries, sex facilitators are available and paid for by the state to help guide disabled adults to their full sexual capacity, whatever that may be.
To say that DJ is incapable of consent is correct, but it would be an error to then conclude that he cannot ever enjoy what he cannot demonstrably consent to: Consent is cognitive, sexual enjoyment is physiological, and no doctor could conclude the latter based purely on the lack of the former, for a conscious adult. Doing so would deny DJ a capacity for sexual fulfillment for the rest of his life based purely on his ability to demonstrate consent.
To punish Anna for engaging in sex without DJ's consent is correct, but it would be an error to punish her with a 20 year imprisonment because that assumes that DJ was undoubtedly harmed by the sex as though he were violently raped. The court had no such evidence.
While DJ has the mental capacity of a toddler, he has the physiological capacity of a man. The law, the courts, the scientific community need to consider both aspects.
Disabled adults (could) have sex drives. In the Nordic countries, sex facilitators are available and paid for by the state to help guide disabled adults to their full sexual capacity, whatever that may be.
To say that DJ is incapable of consent is correct, but it would be an error to then conclude that he cannot ever enjoy what he cannot demonstrably consent to: Consent is cognitive, sexual enjoyment is physiological, and no doctor could conclude the latter based purely on the lack of the former, for a conscious adult. Doing so would deny DJ a capacity for sexual fulfillment for the rest of his life based purely on his ability to demonstrate consent.
To punish Anna for engaging in sex without DJ's consent is correct, but it would be an error to punish her with a 20 year imprisonment because that assumes that DJ was undoubtedly harmed by the sex as though he were violently raped. The court had no such evidence.
While DJ has the mental capacity of a toddler, he has the physiological capacity of a man. The law, the courts, the scientific community need to consider both aspects.
52
@Wallace,
You are wrong. Most pedophiles "seduce" their victims pretending all the time that it is an act of sexual love when it is in fact rape. The violence of rape is not just the physical fight that the victim puts up and the perp uses to dominate. It is also a mental and emotional violence as the mind struggles to cope with powerlessness and violation and betrayal and .....
While I would never encourage anyone to trust any State of NJ employee involved in any way with child care, it seems very unlikely from the families own experience of their son/sibling that DJ is as he was diagnosed, trapped in toddlerhood.
The fact of his physical adulthood plays not part in this drama your point about his needs is valid but not the topic of discussion. That is something you bring up in a different venue at a different time. This Anna person is a sick woman who projected her lifelong delusions onto a helpless person whom is a toddler in a stunted adult body to fulfill her own rescue fantasies. Her side of this is really a story describing how she dealt poorly with her insecurities and self doubts which it seems her own rearing gave her no tools for dealing with.
You are wrong. Most pedophiles "seduce" their victims pretending all the time that it is an act of sexual love when it is in fact rape. The violence of rape is not just the physical fight that the victim puts up and the perp uses to dominate. It is also a mental and emotional violence as the mind struggles to cope with powerlessness and violation and betrayal and .....
While I would never encourage anyone to trust any State of NJ employee involved in any way with child care, it seems very unlikely from the families own experience of their son/sibling that DJ is as he was diagnosed, trapped in toddlerhood.
The fact of his physical adulthood plays not part in this drama your point about his needs is valid but not the topic of discussion. That is something you bring up in a different venue at a different time. This Anna person is a sick woman who projected her lifelong delusions onto a helpless person whom is a toddler in a stunted adult body to fulfill her own rescue fantasies. Her side of this is really a story describing how she dealt poorly with her insecurities and self doubts which it seems her own rearing gave her no tools for dealing with.
1
So only "violent" rape is strongly reprehensible? The real crux is that the woman was in a position of trust, and abused her charge.
5
You talk so well about something I was thinking about -- IF (not wholly the case, controversy remains and of course it is NOT judges who should make these decisions) ) DJ were somehow proved to have only the very low level of mental functioning he was assigned years ago, would we regard it as a crime if someone provided him with some kind of legal (-ized) sex worker to visit him?
So many things having to do with sex become so problematic, and to me
contaminated by complex factors, in American life and legal situations.
So many things having to do with sex become so problematic, and to me
contaminated by complex factors, in American life and legal situations.
Good heart, lapse of judgement. She should have waited till they got married.
3
D.J. reminds me of someone I once knew very well. His name was Jim Ren***. He had Cerebral Palsy and for years his doctors and parents thought he couldn't communicate. When I met him in 1981 he was a student at Michigan State University, I was in my first year of the MBA program, and our dorm rooms shared a bath. By that time he had earned multiple undergraduate degrees even though he couldn't talk, could only crawl with difficulty, and had a tiny body like D.J.'s. His means of communication was pointing at letters on a board. We became friends.
If his disability had been a little more severe, he, like D.J., would not have been able to communicate. At that point, the two of them would have seemed very similar. One thing I remember about Jim, beyond his love of pizza and a keen sense of humor, was his strong libido. One of his student caregivers, who bathed him, and who I dated for a spell, shared that insight with me. Her story was supported by the presence of skin magazines spread around the floor of his room.
It also was supported when, in the dining room, a well-meaning student sat down at our table and sang to Jim in the manner one might expect of a mother singing to a toddler. After she left, Jim explained what he would like to do to her, given the opportunity, and he howled with laughter.
D.J. might not have an intellect, but the possibility that he has one, along with a libido, makes me wonder if the time he spent with Anna was the social apex of his life.
If his disability had been a little more severe, he, like D.J., would not have been able to communicate. At that point, the two of them would have seemed very similar. One thing I remember about Jim, beyond his love of pizza and a keen sense of humor, was his strong libido. One of his student caregivers, who bathed him, and who I dated for a spell, shared that insight with me. Her story was supported by the presence of skin magazines spread around the floor of his room.
It also was supported when, in the dining room, a well-meaning student sat down at our table and sang to Jim in the manner one might expect of a mother singing to a toddler. After she left, Jim explained what he would like to do to her, given the opportunity, and he howled with laughter.
D.J. might not have an intellect, but the possibility that he has one, along with a libido, makes me wonder if the time he spent with Anna was the social apex of his life.
24
It seems to me that although Ms. Stubblefield may have succumbed to self-delusion, and clearly has serious emotional and social issues, to be indicted under the same charges that would apply to "a violent gang rape" is grossly out of proportion. She did not hide her actions and motives, or otherwise behave like a serial sexual predator. A forty year prison sentence in such a case strikes me as draconian in the extreme.
1073
Yes, I too find the parallel to a "violent gang rape" troubling. I don't think the 2 are comparable at all.
I see it differently. She was prosecuted severely for using her position and access to a vulnerable, disabled person to exert her power over that person. And isn't that what rape and molestation is about -- power?
10
"She did not hide her actions and motives, or otherwise behave like a serial sexual predator"
She kept her feelings and the sexual encounters secret from DJ's family until the announcement that they were "in love."
She kept her feelings and the sexual encounters secret from DJ's family until the announcement that they were "in love."
11
I don't know these people, I wasn't there, I have no special education or insight to qualify me to even type in this box. However, I'm an American & when did we ever let these things stop us from voicing our opinion?
As a man I can't only look at this story from a male point of view, though I always try to channel my inner-female. According to this story, for 35 years D.J. had rolled around his room, perhaps much loved, but never considered to have a thought of his own or any chance of a better future. Profoundly disabled & considered profoundly retarded, my only guess, & it is a guess, is that days for D.J. must have felt like years.
After reading this story I must decide what is the truth? Either Anna found a way into D.J. locked mind or it was all a carnival sideshow trick? The jury verdict says it was all a trick & that D.J. doesn't know if he's a bird or a tree. Is the verdict definitive proof? I don't know, I wasn't there.
To try to make sense of this all I can do is ask my male side if I was a 35 year old male heretofore considered only to be one step up from an amoeba, would I be offended if a woman came & held my hand or my arm, spoke nicely too me, treated me like a human & eventually undressed & performed sex acts with me? I hardly have to type my answer....NO OFFENSE TAKEN KIND WOMAN!!!! Must you go home? What are you doing tomorrow?
When you have a cold it's because tiny germs are having sex in your body. Plants have sex! Anna committed a kindness!
As a man I can't only look at this story from a male point of view, though I always try to channel my inner-female. According to this story, for 35 years D.J. had rolled around his room, perhaps much loved, but never considered to have a thought of his own or any chance of a better future. Profoundly disabled & considered profoundly retarded, my only guess, & it is a guess, is that days for D.J. must have felt like years.
After reading this story I must decide what is the truth? Either Anna found a way into D.J. locked mind or it was all a carnival sideshow trick? The jury verdict says it was all a trick & that D.J. doesn't know if he's a bird or a tree. Is the verdict definitive proof? I don't know, I wasn't there.
To try to make sense of this all I can do is ask my male side if I was a 35 year old male heretofore considered only to be one step up from an amoeba, would I be offended if a woman came & held my hand or my arm, spoke nicely too me, treated me like a human & eventually undressed & performed sex acts with me? I hardly have to type my answer....NO OFFENSE TAKEN KIND WOMAN!!!! Must you go home? What are you doing tomorrow?
When you have a cold it's because tiny germs are having sex in your body. Plants have sex! Anna committed a kindness!
52
Don't cold viruses reproduce asexually?
Just because you personally don't mind being raped doesn't make rape OK, D.J. was not able to consent, and an physiological arousal is not consent. And for what it's worth, most "germs" reproduce asexually.
3
I'm guessing you don't have children. If you do, I hope their mother is the one choosing their babysitters.
7
Whether FC works or not is not the issue. As a therapist Anna had the responsibility to treat DJ in an ethical way. She did not. All the power in the relationship resides with her. No person in this position of authority and responsibility should become romantically involved with the patient. Not the doctor, not the psychologist, not the therapist...nobody.
40
There is something very wrong with Anna, and this whole business is based on fraud. A family has been victimized and that is the real story.
19
The justice system has crucified this woman and deprived a severely disabled man of what may be his best friend, a woman he may very well love deeply. The harm of Anna's imprisonment, to both parties, hugely outweighs any possible harm that might have come from her private encounters with D.J. I believe many judges, many scientists, and most especially juries, are not equipped to assess the complex inner worlds of autism-spectrum persons (or others trapped in non-communicative states) or the nature of their affectional attractions. Jurors asked to judge unusual sexual relationships are naturally subject to biases based on what they privately consider normal or acceptable. What a terrible outcome for a woman and a man whose true connection the rest of us will never understand.
20
Beautifully stated.
Two businessmen were just convicted of marketing adulterated cancer drugs. For this morally repugnant act of opportunism, which almost undoubtedly led to patient deaths, the two received 30 month sentences.
But a misguided woman who falls in love with a disabled man and naively believes he is fully conscious is facing a possible 40 year sentence. The reason is clear: she didn't make any money from the transaction.
If people can turn a profit, they are allowed to demolish the environment, launch wars of aggression based exclusively on lies, which leave hundreds of thousands dead; drive half the country into bankruptcy with their financial service industry and Wall Street abominations, etc etc etc.
Sick country.
Shouldn't exist.
But a misguided woman who falls in love with a disabled man and naively believes he is fully conscious is facing a possible 40 year sentence. The reason is clear: she didn't make any money from the transaction.
If people can turn a profit, they are allowed to demolish the environment, launch wars of aggression based exclusively on lies, which leave hundreds of thousands dead; drive half the country into bankruptcy with their financial service industry and Wall Street abominations, etc etc etc.
Sick country.
Shouldn't exist.
93
Yes, our so-called "society" and "the American Way" is so splintered and blinded by helplessness to grasp the enormity of the damages wrought by corporate criminals as well as by outdated criminal codes re the abuses of the rich and powerful upon the many, and what appropriate punishments might pertain, as to overlook most of these crimes and thereby almost condone them. While this terrible example of an obviously delusional woman who raped her own client and violated his and the family's trust is given a criminal sentence of perhaps 40 years. She should receive a criminal sentence, but maybe not be locked up in a penititentiary for 40 years. Maybe a number of years in a psychiatric treatment facility, and lifelong monitoring afterwards. I feel worse for her own children than for anyone else. But the harm she inflicted on D.J. and his family definitely deserves punishment.
What she did is wrong, and facilitated communication is utterly bogus. Having said that, I hope she isn't punished too severely. Nobody died in this case.
But you should never trust someone purporting to be an expert in "ethics". Either it's a matter of right and wrong, where we are all on equal footing, or it's pure made-up malarkey.
But you should never trust someone purporting to be an expert in "ethics". Either it's a matter of right and wrong, where we are all on equal footing, or it's pure made-up malarkey.
7
No shortage of horror stories like this as so called ethical professionals certified by the medical industry take over care for disabled people formerly part of nurturing communities. A blind trust in science creates many dr. frankensteins.
1
Academics are not immune to profound delusions or dangerously deviant behavior.
We learned last week about the renowned planetary astrophysicist Geoffrey Marcy, who had to resign from his prestigious position at UC Berkeley, after 20 years of using his position as a leverage for sexually preying on his students finally caught up with him (or, finally caught up with Berkeley being any longer to look the other way).
Smart people are sometimes just smart, and sometimes, their intelligence is also facilitating behavior and crusades that are dangerous or even criminal.
But that is in fact one of those old prejudices we tend to have about intelligence -- that it must also confer some kind of moral intelligence -- that Dr. Stubblefield would have been wise to also put under her scrutiny. She could not see her own dangerous and delusional bias, at the same time she built a career around deconstructing the litany of biases she saw in the society around her.
We learned last week about the renowned planetary astrophysicist Geoffrey Marcy, who had to resign from his prestigious position at UC Berkeley, after 20 years of using his position as a leverage for sexually preying on his students finally caught up with him (or, finally caught up with Berkeley being any longer to look the other way).
Smart people are sometimes just smart, and sometimes, their intelligence is also facilitating behavior and crusades that are dangerous or even criminal.
But that is in fact one of those old prejudices we tend to have about intelligence -- that it must also confer some kind of moral intelligence -- that Dr. Stubblefield would have been wise to also put under her scrutiny. She could not see her own dangerous and delusional bias, at the same time she built a career around deconstructing the litany of biases she saw in the society around her.
18
The family was OK with everything until she stated that there were feelings between them. There seems to be more at play here. At the very least this woman should not be going to prison. If he was completely unable to communicate and unable to understand anything that was going on, why in the world would the family allow him to be in her care and be alone with her behind closed doors where this kind of thing happens? They went with her to speak the praises of his communicating in public. Seems like a case of sour grapes that resulted in this woman going to prison. Shameful. The family bears some of the responsibility for this if there is a crime at all.
10
Ms. Stubblefield was basically unknowingly playing Ouija with herself. Of course she was going to fall in love with the wonderful man she projected onto this disabled man. F.C.'s capacity to delude the facilitators seems to be a genuine psychological phenomenon that should be taken into account at her sentencing. The penalty that she faces is draconian. This was not aggravated sexual assault, just a poor self-deluded woman who thought she was having consensual sex.
49
Many pedophiles groom victims into "consenting" to sex acts, and sincerely believe they are having an equal relationship when they are having sex with prepubescent children. That doesn't excuse their behavior, and it doesn't excuse hers. Deluding yourself into thinking your victim is willing doesn't make you any less a rapist.
1
A very harsh and, in my opinion, unjust sentence to someone who tried her best to help.
14
The link claiming that some studies show merit in FC links to nothing of the kind. It's a paper questioning the value of experimental data versus anecdotal accounts.
9
american sentencing is excessive. this case really shows this. ask what harm was ultimately caused by her acts, and then ask the harm to a society that punishes with such enormously lengthy sentences. a comparison of europe reveals our over-reliance on lengthy sentences as expressions of justice. they feel more like revenge than justice.
10
Exactly! The notion that this woman, no matter how misguided or unethical her actions may have been, deserves a 40 year sentence is absurd. Many of the commenters here have referred to her as a "predator," which appears to be a currently fashionable word to refer to anyone who is charged with a sexual crime. To my mind, a "predator" (human or otherwise) is a being that continuously hunts for "prey" that it can abuse or harm or kill -- and that obviously does not apply to this woman, who has never been charged with anything else in her entire life.
I am not in a position to judge her actions or the merits of facilitated communication, but the harshness of some of the comments here just takes my breath away. Maybe that's because I have lived in Europe for so long (over 30 years), where even the Norwegian mass murderer, who killed over 70 people, received only the maximum sentence in Norway of 20 years (though it is fairly certain that he will remain in custody for much longer). How will American society benefit from keeping this woman locked up until she is 80 years old? Do you really think she is such a danger?
I am not in a position to judge her actions or the merits of facilitated communication, but the harshness of some of the comments here just takes my breath away. Maybe that's because I have lived in Europe for so long (over 30 years), where even the Norwegian mass murderer, who killed over 70 people, received only the maximum sentence in Norway of 20 years (though it is fairly certain that he will remain in custody for much longer). How will American society benefit from keeping this woman locked up until she is 80 years old? Do you really think she is such a danger?
2
I am flummoxed by the many commenters who are sympathetic to Anna Stubblefield. Her behavior toward D.J. is an obvious, clear-cut case of violating professional ethics - which she, as a specialist in ethics, was clearly aware of, or should have been. D.J. was her client; that alone was enough to make him off-limits as an object of sexual desire, even setting aside the significant issue of his capacity for consent.
I agree in general with others that we are often too quick to criminalize sexual behavior. But in this case, the therapist actually did commit a serious offense and should be held accountable for it.
My personal opinion, for what it's worth (based on this article), is that she is nuts. The totality of what she did - leaving her husband and children, jeopardizing her career and faking a client's progress all in order to take up a sexual relationship with a man who has been severely impaired both physically and mentally since birth - speaks of distorted thinking on a grand scale.
I agree in general with others that we are often too quick to criminalize sexual behavior. But in this case, the therapist actually did commit a serious offense and should be held accountable for it.
My personal opinion, for what it's worth (based on this article), is that she is nuts. The totality of what she did - leaving her husband and children, jeopardizing her career and faking a client's progress all in order to take up a sexual relationship with a man who has been severely impaired both physically and mentally since birth - speaks of distorted thinking on a grand scale.
50
I'm assuming the only reason her attorneys didn't pursue an insanity defense is because she would not let them. The woman is crazy.
1
I'm with you that this is a case of violating professional ethics, but it is not "clear-cut" It's apparent that Anna believed in the effectiveness and reliability of facilitation. How can you fall in love with someone by faking their response? Think of the 19 century case of "Clever Hans" the horse that was supposedly able to do arithmetic but in fact was "facilitated" by unconscious nods of the head by Han's owner. The human capacity to believe what we wish to believe is very powerful. The Clever Hans story did not end well. After it was shown that Hans was not capable of doing the arithmetic in the absence of the owner, the owner committed suicide. He fell victim to his own delusion.
It is very strange that a tenured professor of ethics thought that a basic rule of patient care - namely not to enter into a personal relationship with a patient to protect the patient from abuse - did not apply to her. If she wanted to be a romantic partner with this man, then she needed to stop acting as health care professional in his case. It is very strange too that she did not think about the serious implications of her actions to her family until way too late. Justice was served, and much can be learned from this case - but most importantly, she is now a shining example in ethics courses for future health care professionals about the importance of keeping to the ethical rule about not becoming romantically involved with patients in their care.
15
Stating that Facilitated communication (FC) is controversial is wrong. There is no controversy in the scientific and medical establishment because dozens of well-controlled studies over the past 30 years have completely and scientifically debunked FC. Not only is the method bogus, but the rationale for using it with people diagnosed with autism --that these individuals are smart and verbal people locked inside bodies that don't work sufficiently for them to communicate independently--is completely unfounded. The rational for people with cerebral palsy may be a little more reasonable, but in the absence of any documented ability to communicate (i.e, talk or write), the rationale becomes flimsy at best. Even then, the potential for facilitator influence (which has been documented in every scientific investigation of FC for more than 30 years) is so great, that appropriate controls need to be put into place. Not to do so is to put words into the mouths of people being facilitated, which is clearly unethical.
This case is only the most recent tragedy resulting from the uncritical use of a method that promises, and seems to deliver, miracles.
This case is only the most recent tragedy resulting from the uncritical use of a method that promises, and seems to deliver, miracles.
405
"Too good to be true" comes to mind. I haven't finished the article yet but I am fairly sure there was a scandal about FC in the 90's and it was debunked then too.
2
I see you are a BCBA. I would also question the amount of abuse and man-handling of people labeled with autism in this discussion of "science" and "influence" in the name of independence before the right of inclusion and participation in society; for afterall, this is how ABA has marketed itself. There is no mention here of ethics by way of participatory research but by positivist methods which already predetermine autistic incompetency and the need to normalize.
Thank you for a clear and direct response to the article and the posts herein.
(I would like your reaction to a comment made by a friend years ago: "The proliferation of new theories in the liberal arts and social sciences, is a direct response to the amazing advances made since WWII, in the hard sciences. They have to have their breakthroughs too.")
(I would like your reaction to a comment made by a friend years ago: "The proliferation of new theories in the liberal arts and social sciences, is a direct response to the amazing advances made since WWII, in the hard sciences. They have to have their breakthroughs too.")
A fascinating and, I must say, beautifully written story. The writer balances the delicate issues perfectly and some of the imagery is powerful - 'at a nearby zoo, keepers fed the cougars ice pops made of blood'. Wonderful image underlining the suspicions that Anna Stubblefield has predatory intentions at this point in the story.
The point where I had to raise a skeptical eyebrow was in Stubblefield's account of her attempts to have intecourse with D. J. when he demurs at the suggestion of watching pornograpjy as it exploits women. Rather a sophisticated understanding of gender politics for a young man of any background, let alone the social isolation and limited education experienced by D. J.
Nonetheless, a harsh sentence given Anna Stubblefield's lack of any previous history of predation and her obvious good intentions initially when first helping D. J.
The point where I had to raise a skeptical eyebrow was in Stubblefield's account of her attempts to have intecourse with D. J. when he demurs at the suggestion of watching pornograpjy as it exploits women. Rather a sophisticated understanding of gender politics for a young man of any background, let alone the social isolation and limited education experienced by D. J.
Nonetheless, a harsh sentence given Anna Stubblefield's lack of any previous history of predation and her obvious good intentions initially when first helping D. J.
63
Her good intentions are indisputable. Regrettably, even if she inadvertently performed a mitzvah, she perpetrated a crime. As to the punishment, disproportionate, exceeds protection and has a frightening inevitability.
12
not disproportionate at all. Why do you say that, because she has a PhD? She has no priors? She is a threat to other mentally disabled patients. Reading her bio , she sounds more and more like that woman in Spokane, WA, Rachel Dolezal who thought she was black, but the difference is Stubblefield has a PhD. It's been rumored that most shrinks become shrinks in order to figure out their own mental illness. I heard that a long time ago. I'm beginning to believe the rumor.
7
I have a son with roughly the same capabilities of D.J. I am in full agreement with the sentence, and want to extend my sincere apologies to the family for what happened. The sentence should be as harsh as it can be. She abused the trust of the most vulnerable of all individuals. I don't know what words to use, other than appalled. If this happened to my son, I don't know what I would do, but I would feel awful beyond belief, like I hadn't protected him when he needed me. And the abuser was someone I trusted and brought into the fold. Substitute DJ for a 3 year old, and see if people are still so sympathetic.
There is no way that she should be excused. In the end, as the author says, she became exactly what she wrote about. A person of privilege abusing her power to her own advantage, based on her bizarre delusions about disability.
There is no way that she should be excused. In the end, as the author says, she became exactly what she wrote about. A person of privilege abusing her power to her own advantage, based on her bizarre delusions about disability.
346
Your son is 3, this man is 30. I believe for this guy experiencing sex, someone loving him like a man, feeling a woman´s hands other than his mothers was the most wonderful thing that could ever happened to him. And now that has been taken away.
No way to compare miss.
No way to compare miss.
2
Imagine for a moment that the therapist was male and the patient female. Would you ever say something similar? The idea that men and boys sexually assaulted by women have not been harmed is a very damaging one built on our society's double standards.
That said, I do believe the sentence was excessive and that Anna's legal representation may not have been as competent as it should have been.
That said, I do believe the sentence was excessive and that Anna's legal representation may not have been as competent as it should have been.
3
I didn't say my son is 3. My son is 20. This is a betrayal of trust to the brother, the mother and D.J. My position stands!
7
Am I the only one who thinks that the patient had so many experiences (and not just the sex) which he would never have otherwise had?
Maybe she's delusional, but I don't see evidence here of how he was harmed by it. Sadly, since everyone is coming down on the side against the only method that might have enabled him to express his point of view on the matter, we'll never know.
Maybe she's delusional, but I don't see evidence here of how he was harmed by it. Sadly, since everyone is coming down on the side against the only method that might have enabled him to express his point of view on the matter, we'll never know.
20
@AJ,
So do a thought experiment and imagine DJ actually is a fully functioning toddler. Is he still unharmed?
FC is not real. This was proven long ago, I think I remember a scandal in the 90's by another person pushing FC whom I think was after money and fame. There may also be a 60 minutes piece on that.
So do a thought experiment and imagine DJ actually is a fully functioning toddler. Is he still unharmed?
FC is not real. This was proven long ago, I think I remember a scandal in the 90's by another person pushing FC whom I think was after money and fame. There may also be a 60 minutes piece on that.
5
Dear A.J.,
There's no doubt that these are experiences he would not likely have had otherwise. There is plenty of doubt that he actually wanted these experiences. And thus the criminal charge.
There's no doubt that these are experiences he would not likely have had otherwise. There is plenty of doubt that he actually wanted these experiences. And thus the criminal charge.
4
Wonderful story, nevertheless it remains tragic on so many levels. Ultimately, Dr. Stubblefield had poor legal representation, for one, she clearly is mentally ill. I am not excusing Stubblefield's unprofessional, unethical, and predatory behavior; however, just reading this bizarre tragedy of seemingly one implausible act built upon another leads me to wonder why Stubblefield's counsel didn't seek out such a defense.
Once the judge ruled against the science of "FC" communication how could consent by the victim be proven? I do feel for the families on both sides of the case, and I do hope, Dr. Stubblefield receives the mental health medical treatment she desperately needs as well as a new trial.
Once the judge ruled against the science of "FC" communication how could consent by the victim be proven? I do feel for the families on both sides of the case, and I do hope, Dr. Stubblefield receives the mental health medical treatment she desperately needs as well as a new trial.
22
This should be a wake up call to a society that can be too trusting of so-called experts in treatments or therapies that have no "face validity." Families want successful treatments for their loved ones so desperately that they are easily exploited by "professionals" who may be acting out their own delusions. And when questioned, these experts accuse critics of "hate speech" and attempt to attack rigorous scientific standards.
Ask yourselves: does this treatment make sense? Is there any credible evidence supporting this?
I think many well-meaning people know a treatment is baloney but say nothing, thinking "what harm will it do? It makes everyone feel better." The truth is, of course, that false treatments can do a great deal of lasting harm.
Ask yourselves: does this treatment make sense? Is there any credible evidence supporting this?
I think many well-meaning people know a treatment is baloney but say nothing, thinking "what harm will it do? It makes everyone feel better." The truth is, of course, that false treatments can do a great deal of lasting harm.
33
And exactly what harm was done in this case? How specifically wasd.J. traumatized or harmed by his interactions with this woman?
1
This is a very sad story. I think it's clear that Anna believed she was communicating with DJ and that she was in love with him. It's wrong for her to be found guilty of criminal sexual assault. I suspect that Facilitated Communication isn't a complete fraud. Even if the person assisting the other may be responsible for some of the typing, I doubt they're responsible for all of it. Imagine being DJ, trapped in a body that doesn't allow you to speak and having others think you have the intelligence of a preschooler. From reading this, it seems to me that he was in love with Anna but he has no control over her fate or his own. Tragic.
5
Whoever she was in love with, it was not DJ. It was the fantasy of DJ she created to meet her needs. She needs as much or more therapy than he does. She's far more dangerous.
3
Setting aside, for the moment, the issue of FC - even if DJ were an ordinary adult man clearly able to give consent, it is well-established that it is unethical for therapists, medical professionals, or counselors to have sexual relationships with their patients. This is because therapy requires a high level of trust, the participants' roles are inherently unequal, and there is a high risk of coercion. Anna is a professor of ethics and she knew this, yet even assuming (as she did) that DJ 'consented', she repeatedly breached even the most basic rules of ethics.
239
Exactly. The "facilitated communication" piece of this story, while fascinating, is irrelevant to the whole thing. There's a reason therapists aren't supposed to have sex with their patients, or teachers with their students.
4
Odd and sad story. I find myself not wanting Anna to have to go to jail, and also not really able to accept the proposition that she has exactly committed a crime, rather than a breach of judgment, possibly some self-delusion, and possibly a violation of the ethics of her profession.
IF she thinks the man is functionally in peer range, which she seems to do (and the more so having been raised in the environment she was), then I guess she's guilty of an ethics breach maybe (but what ethics would obtain here? she's not a health worker, in a way she's more like a private tutor), and her assessment of him as a peer is controversial but not unsupported -- you can't regard it as a private delusion when there's a whole school of thought and practice that would agree with her, even if that school is seriously questioned.
IF she thinks the man is functionally in peer range, which she seems to do (and the more so having been raised in the environment she was), then I guess she's guilty of an ethics breach maybe (but what ethics would obtain here? she's not a health worker, in a way she's more like a private tutor), and her assessment of him as a peer is controversial but not unsupported -- you can't regard it as a private delusion when there's a whole school of thought and practice that would agree with her, even if that school is seriously questioned.
2
There is no end to sexist feminizm
If SHE had been a HE, we would not even be reading this.
We'd only be hearing the slam of the jail and the screams of rape hysteria.
As it is men get 63% more jail time for the exact same crime.
If SHE had been a HE, we would not even be reading this.
We'd only be hearing the slam of the jail and the screams of rape hysteria.
As it is men get 63% more jail time for the exact same crime.
13
Society generally believes that women are incapable of committing a crime like this. Society is pretty thick headed especially the sentencing judges.
1
Pfffttt. In the U.S., most female rape victims are under the age of 18, and 96% of rapists never see one day of jail time.
2
You realize she is facing prison time, right? Are you able to read the comments of me and other women saying she raped him and she deserves it?
4
A good control would be to blindfold the facilitator
28
Best comment all day. cwc in Georgia writes: "A good control would be to blindfold the facilitator". Yep, simplest, clearest, best.
>> He cast his complaint in terms that harked to Anna’s scholarship in racial justice: ‘‘Her continued attempts to see [D.J.] and her insinuation that my mother and I do not know what is in [D.J.’s] best interest is insulting and straddles the racial assumptions about the capacity of black parents to properly raise their children.’’
I hope that after making her career trading in the language of "privilege" and "oppression," Ms. Stubblefield appreciates the irony of being hoist with her own petard.
I hope that after making her career trading in the language of "privilege" and "oppression," Ms. Stubblefield appreciates the irony of being hoist with her own petard.
21
;Wondering what happened to DJ? Could another practitioner provide the same service with FC? How about the day program he had been in? Hopefully he is not being left hanging. Hope Anna can appeal.
4
How will imprisoning this woman deter crime or protect society? Our sentencing laws need to return to judges the ability to exercise common sense in the pursuit of justice.
23
I think (and hope) it could be a huge deterrant to practitioners of this sham treatment.
1
Perhaps by reinforcing that (a) a caregiver should not abuse their position of trust, and (b) sexual activity with someone unable to consent is RAPE.
3
Disturbing on so many levels. As a mother, I cannot understand ever doing anything that would jeopardize my ability to care for my children. Marriages might fail but your duty as a parent trumps everything. Anna's selfish, manipulative and delusional behavior destroyed so many lives. Her prison sentence is harsh but she effectively raped a man with the physical and mental attributes of a toddler. It doesn't matter if it wasn't done in some dark alleyway or while the victim was under the influence of drugs. DJ had no ability to control his body, to resist if he felt uncomfortable or ask her to stop if he was scared. She is a predator and deserves to be punished as such.
34
What do you think she did to the man? how would you know if he has been "harmed"? how would you define the harm? -- real questions.
When I was in High School, I'd see a girl in an electric wheelchair. She was very disabled, arms and legs completely rigid and they appeared to move with uncontrollable jerks, and she unable to speak beyond moaning noises. She always went around with an aide, presumably hired by the state, who helped move her wheelchair and assisted her in other ways. I didnt know her (my highschool was huge) and assumed she was mentally disabled and in one of the special ed classes as she couldnt speak, walk, or even move much.
Fast forward 5 years, and I am in the local community college sitting in the student center eating my lunch. I looked over and saw the same severely disabled girl with a pile of thick textbooks in front of her, reading one with the help of the aide to turn the pages and a stick in her mouth, which she would use to (jerkily and not quickly) point to things she wanted or symbols on a pad in front of her.
I leaned a valuable lesson that day. I have a very mild physical disability, so I understand on some level what its like to feel like people think you are mentally disabled because you have mild hemiparesis. But at least I can speak clearly, so its obvious my disability is only physical. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone who couldn't.
This is a travesty. DJ appears to be like the girl I saw, a healthy mind trapped in a nonfunctional body. He should be allowed to make his own choices in life the same as any adult.
Fast forward 5 years, and I am in the local community college sitting in the student center eating my lunch. I looked over and saw the same severely disabled girl with a pile of thick textbooks in front of her, reading one with the help of the aide to turn the pages and a stick in her mouth, which she would use to (jerkily and not quickly) point to things she wanted or symbols on a pad in front of her.
I leaned a valuable lesson that day. I have a very mild physical disability, so I understand on some level what its like to feel like people think you are mentally disabled because you have mild hemiparesis. But at least I can speak clearly, so its obvious my disability is only physical. I can't imagine what it would be like for someone who couldn't.
This is a travesty. DJ appears to be like the girl I saw, a healthy mind trapped in a nonfunctional body. He should be allowed to make his own choices in life the same as any adult.
13
"As any adult"? He has the mental capacity of a 5 year old, how can you say that?
1
Dear R.,
That's a great story, very hopeful. But I think your conclusion is off. DJ does not appear to be a healthy mind trapped in a nonfunctional body; if one sets aside the fraudulent FC manipulation, there is no evidence at all that he has more than the intellect of a child.
I too know someone with C.P., that I worked with when he was a child, trying to get him to control his movements. We were working on teaching him to crawl and brachiate, and he could do these things after a fashion, but only when we were actually moving his limbs for him.
He is still in my neighborhood, has a wheelchair with a keyboard, just buttons for simple words. Can't walk, talk, or move with coordination. Sometimes he uses his keyboard to say hello, sometimes he types, "puppy, puppy, puppy". His disability has stunted his intellect too, or so it seems.
For anyone to pretend he was in love with them and force him into sex would be rape. He's not the same as any adult and it's nonsense to pretend he is.
That's a great story, very hopeful. But I think your conclusion is off. DJ does not appear to be a healthy mind trapped in a nonfunctional body; if one sets aside the fraudulent FC manipulation, there is no evidence at all that he has more than the intellect of a child.
I too know someone with C.P., that I worked with when he was a child, trying to get him to control his movements. We were working on teaching him to crawl and brachiate, and he could do these things after a fashion, but only when we were actually moving his limbs for him.
He is still in my neighborhood, has a wheelchair with a keyboard, just buttons for simple words. Can't walk, talk, or move with coordination. Sometimes he uses his keyboard to say hello, sometimes he types, "puppy, puppy, puppy". His disability has stunted his intellect too, or so it seems.
For anyone to pretend he was in love with them and force him into sex would be rape. He's not the same as any adult and it's nonsense to pretend he is.
2
What you fail to take from this story is that it was questionable that this young man was actually making his own choices. Because his physical disabilities were similar to the young lady you speak of in the wheelchair does not mean that he was similar to her intellectually. Please don't make the mistake of categorizing every individual with a physical disability someone who has a "healthy mind trapped in a nonfunctional body." Unfortunately, sometimes the mind is nonfunctional as well.
13
Some continue to advocate that we simply need more studies of facilitated communication. Do we also need more studies examining claims of telepathy? Should we invest our limited resources into studying astrology? Such notions are preposterous, but this is what apologists for pseudoscience do in the name of inclusion and disability advocacy.
Numerous studies have been conducted and none have ever found a bit of evidence to support the claim that FC is legitimate. The bogus method emerged out of pseudoscientific methods (relying on anecdote rather than data; appealing to emotion; moving the goal posts; shifting the burden of proof; and etc.).
Show me one person who can pass simple messages as described in this story. I assure you there are none. Burke, Rubin, Higashida, and all the others have never passed such a test. FC has never been demonstrated to work for anybody, but proponents relentlessly claim it “works for some people.” Some people also claim to speak with the dead.
FC proponents reject the opportunity to demonstrate the authenticity of FC, and for $100,000 to boot. Should we believe Ashby's claim of moral superiority when the chance to demonstrate FC is provided? Faith healers and fortunetellers make the same excuses; the pressure of performance is demeaning.
What will change minds? I know precisely what would change my mind: One user who successfully passes messages. What would it take to change the mind of an FC believer? Nothing. Therein lies the problem.
Numerous studies have been conducted and none have ever found a bit of evidence to support the claim that FC is legitimate. The bogus method emerged out of pseudoscientific methods (relying on anecdote rather than data; appealing to emotion; moving the goal posts; shifting the burden of proof; and etc.).
Show me one person who can pass simple messages as described in this story. I assure you there are none. Burke, Rubin, Higashida, and all the others have never passed such a test. FC has never been demonstrated to work for anybody, but proponents relentlessly claim it “works for some people.” Some people also claim to speak with the dead.
FC proponents reject the opportunity to demonstrate the authenticity of FC, and for $100,000 to boot. Should we believe Ashby's claim of moral superiority when the chance to demonstrate FC is provided? Faith healers and fortunetellers make the same excuses; the pressure of performance is demeaning.
What will change minds? I know precisely what would change my mind: One user who successfully passes messages. What would it take to change the mind of an FC believer? Nothing. Therein lies the problem.
55
To me this shows the danger of the corporatization of higher ed. The center at Syracuse that is churning out this method is funded by a billionaire hedge fund manager, who earnestly believes that FC works. Institutions are so hard up for research money in order to maintain their rankings (which are based in large part on research budgets but less on research results) that they'll take the cash, even when there's reason to question what is being asked in exchange.
70
There is an awful lot of sympathy for Anna from commenters. I wonder how much sympathy would be felt if the genders were reversed. If it was a man that laid a helpless woman down onto his office floor and had sex with her. I don't care how Anna felt about DJ, as a professional she should have kept the emotional separation. The minute she recognized her attraction she should have ended the relationship and sought help for herself.
343
Yes, but, 40 years?!
1
Yes I agree. Also if the races were reversed I somehow doubt there would be so much sympathy.
2
Reversing the genders in the roles would make this a completely different scenario.
Many people drawn to the "helping professions" have what can be called "savior complexes." They imagine that they alone have the wisdom, insight and courage to forge past institutional or social barriers and rescue/cure/understand where lesser mortals fail.
The "ordinary" relationships requiring devotion, self-control, maturity and endurance--such as longterm intimate partnerships, the parenting of "normal" children--aren't thrilling enough for them.
Anna's concern for her own children is notably absent until the moment she's being hauled off to jail.
The issue in this case isn't really about the validity of FC. It's about the dangers of obsessive people being allowed access to the most vulnerable among us. Anna was given sufficient opportunity to get a grip on herself, consider the devastation she was causing to two families, and seek professional help. She failed to take it, and has brought this entirely upon herself.
The "ordinary" relationships requiring devotion, self-control, maturity and endurance--such as longterm intimate partnerships, the parenting of "normal" children--aren't thrilling enough for them.
Anna's concern for her own children is notably absent until the moment she's being hauled off to jail.
The issue in this case isn't really about the validity of FC. It's about the dangers of obsessive people being allowed access to the most vulnerable among us. Anna was given sufficient opportunity to get a grip on herself, consider the devastation she was causing to two families, and seek professional help. She failed to take it, and has brought this entirely upon herself.
116
Yes, you're right. Even if FC were completely valid and D.J. were capable of eventually forming a mature romantic or sexual relationship with someone, it wouldn't be with ... HER. Her role would have been to get out of his way and let him go lead his own life with someone he fell in love with all on his own, not - viewing herself as having liberated him sexually - now proceed to use him to fulfill her own sexual or romantic fantasies.
3
Best comment yet on this story. Thank you, SCA.
What an interesting story. I have an aunt with cerebral palsy who passed away at age 40 when I was 8 years old. I am now 29 and I remember her so very clearly. We all knew that even though she could not speak or move (she lived laying on a bed her entire life) she was very perceptive and understood everything that was happening around her. I will never forget one day when a soap opera was playing on tv (we all knew she liked soaps) and I changed the channel, boy was she upset. In my little ignorant mind I had thought that she wouldn't care but she did, she wanted to watch her soap and her eyes said so. She would get upset when my grandparents argued, when her sisters fought, everything. She must have suffered so much feeling all those feelings and thinking all those thoughts while trapped in an unresponsive body. God bless her sould! Because of her I always assumed that people with cerebal palsy were not necessarily mentally disabled. I do not find it impossible that D.J. and Anna fell in love, although I would question, because of D.J.'s vulnerabilities, whether it is appropriate for them to have a relationship. Either way D.J. is the one who loses. Very sad.
251
Protesting, as your aunt did when you changed the channel or she heard people arguing, is a very early-developing skill in humans. It should not be considered a proxy for intelligence; rather, it indicates some awareness of and urge to control some part of one's surroundings. It sounds like your aunt was well-loved; bravo to you and your family.
4
This is a fascinating story, kudos to the author for bringing this odd, but compelling report to the public's attention. I say odd because it is difficult to fathom Stubblefield's seemingly honest commitment to racial equality and mental challenges, and yet take such a risk on the issue of consent here, thereby jeopardizing the validity of her past work. Even as an unwavering advocate for due process and fair play in the criminal justice arena, I have trouble with her judgment for relying on "facilitated communication"; not because she did not believe in the method, but because it must have been obvious to her that the technique was controversial and surely not yet accepted in the scientific community of her peers. I do believe, however, that she is sincere (based only upon the article) and do not think she should suffer a substantial loss of liberty.
252
So many people seem to miss the fact that she is not a scientist, but a philosopher and teacher of ethics. She does not have scientific peers, but certainly she had peers in ethics, or should have had, who could have advised her that she was breaching ethical boundaries in a criminal way. If she had consulted any.
8
"surely not yet accepted in the scientific community of her peers."
R. Miller: That is an astonishing post, given the facts presented in the article. So, your take is that the "scientific community" is simply behind the curve that this deluded woman is drawing in the sand.
R. Miller: That is an astonishing post, given the facts presented in the article. So, your take is that the "scientific community" is simply behind the curve that this deluded woman is drawing in the sand.
2
Stubblefield´s seeming honesty is what delusional and psychopathic people express., many times very well indeed. They are dangers to society.
8
During my training as a school psychologist, we learned to administer many types of intelligence tests - some that were language-free and intended for people of other nationalities or those who were severely impaired. In this day and age, it's highly unlikely that a person could be labeled profoundly retarded by mistake.
This article should certainly have emphasized the difference between autism (which does not imply low intelligence) and mental retardation (far below average intelligence).
This article should certainly have emphasized the difference between autism (which does not imply low intelligence) and mental retardation (far below average intelligence).
56
I work in the medical field as a physician, and also have experience with patients with disabilities. It is unfortunate, but there are a large number of medical providers that don't go into the detail and many that skip much of the important part of getting patient history. As a result, there is a lot of misdiagnosis and mislabelling. Also, if someone does not fit the textbook mold, it is more likely for them to get mislabelled/misdiagnosed. So, definitely, it is very likely that a person who does not fit the textbook, can be mislabelled by mistake.
2
Yes, likewise cerebral palsy. Both autism and CP have a very wide range of effects on different people, some of whom are highly intelligent and some profoundly cognitively disabled. The human brain is by far the most complicated structure in the known universe, and when it is damaged or disordered, the effects are complicated as well.
2
Discussion of people with developmental disabilities largely centers around those with relatively mild impairment these days. In fact, "retarded" has been stricken from the record and is no longer allowed as a way to differentiate people most vulnerable. The consequences are both helpful and harmful. Many people face less discrimination and stigmatization but others are rendered invisible. Unfortunately, people like D.J. are ignored in present day discussion because we are supposed to focus only on what he can do, his potential, our own prejudice. The problem is that talk regarding the need to protect and care for the most vulnerable isn't happening. If we can't acknowledge the very real limitations some live with that is our own egotistical problem.
I agree, the testing now should be fairly accurate in regards to intellectual ability as well as functional impairment. While even those markers do not define the whole person they are plenty enough in regards to defining ability to give informed consent.
I agree, the testing now should be fairly accurate in regards to intellectual ability as well as functional impairment. While even those markers do not define the whole person they are plenty enough in regards to defining ability to give informed consent.
1
My, I thought I had encountered most/many of the strange behaviors of humans in over 40 years of practicing medicine.
I was clearly wrong.
I was clearly wrong.
70
I don't believe a single word about DJ's communications with Anna. That said, her harsh sentence is an absolute abomination and testament to the cruelty and insanity of our so-called justice system.
481
She hasn't been sentenced yet.
5
She hasn't been sentenced yet. Sentencing is set for November 9th. Is 10 years (the minimum sentence) with the chance of parole inappropriate?
8
Yeah, hold your horses there. I think 40 years would be overly harsh by far. 10 years with possibility of parole means probably out in 4, which is light for having committed rape on someone incapable of resisting.
What I'm confused about is that no one tried to do exactly what was done with Anne McDonald. Show and say 5 random words to DJ when Anna Stubblefield is out of the room, then bring her back in and have DJ type.
If anything, what's most surprising is that Anna didn't suggest this at any point to Wesley, knowing the case history of Facilitated Communication. If she had done that, it would have been made clear either way what was going on.
If anything, what's most surprising is that Anna didn't suggest this at any point to Wesley, knowing the case history of Facilitated Communication. If she had done that, it would have been made clear either way what was going on.
130
I agree with you. The agon of the story is whether DJ was communicating thru Anna or whether she was manipulating him. If the former, she is clearly innocent and wronged; if the latter, she is clearly guilty and wrong. And it's very easy to find out for sure. So, one wonders, why wasn't it done?
4
I agree it is strange that no definitive answer is provided regarding whether the F.C. communications were all invented. DJ sat in college classes, etc. Instead of spending the money to lock Anna up (a lot of money for 40 years), isn't it more important to understand what DJ's intellectual potential is in fact? OK, Anna lost it -- I'm not so much as defending her as saying that why is it in the best interest of DJ to spend resources punishing her instead of uncovering his potential and, perhaps, what other treatments may help him.
4
I had the same thought. Robert Caldini, in his book Influence, wrote about commitment/ consistency, both of which are evident here. Once Anna (just like other facilitators) committed herself to FC, she became a proponent and only acted consistently with her belief that it worked. She had blinders on and only saw what she wanted to see.
1
Why do I keep thinking of the old game and fraud, the Ouija board?
Perhaps FC works honestly and is not an extension of the helper's wishes and hidden feelings for helping the client -- or her own reputation and ego or id. But without testing, repetition, and analysis of of results, all we have is some person using her muscles to complement her hopes and intuitions. Tell me: What if the client had initiated the call to sex? Would Anna have continued the therapy or run off?
No, any assistance that can be suspect should be treated with greater care than Anna used. Her client was no hand-puppet for her pleasure. I am also reminded of the daycare kids who became agents of their interrogators' suggestions about sexual abuse -- and the sentimentalist fools who were seduced into trusting those "guided communications". She may not be a person with fraudulence on her mind, but Anna is another fool unaware of ethics, science, and the Ouija board.
Perhaps FC works honestly and is not an extension of the helper's wishes and hidden feelings for helping the client -- or her own reputation and ego or id. But without testing, repetition, and analysis of of results, all we have is some person using her muscles to complement her hopes and intuitions. Tell me: What if the client had initiated the call to sex? Would Anna have continued the therapy or run off?
No, any assistance that can be suspect should be treated with greater care than Anna used. Her client was no hand-puppet for her pleasure. I am also reminded of the daycare kids who became agents of their interrogators' suggestions about sexual abuse -- and the sentimentalist fools who were seduced into trusting those "guided communications". She may not be a person with fraudulence on her mind, but Anna is another fool unaware of ethics, science, and the Ouija board.
12
It's sad, and a shame, that the love for someone with special needs can lead to so much tragedy and devastation.
My love for my daughter Rebecca, who has a rare autism based genetic disorder (Phelan McDermid Syndrome with around 700 known cases in the world), and especially my passion for helping parents advocate for their children, lead to so many misunderstandings and horrible false accusations about me but, thankfully in my case, everything is slowly getting cleared up as the truth comes out:
http://bit.ly/JonSingerNotGuiltyClosterTempleRecordNJ
I wish Anna the best of luck with her challenges.
Jon Singer
www.Drive4Rebecca.org
http://bit.ly/Drive4RebeccaOnFacebook
My love for my daughter Rebecca, who has a rare autism based genetic disorder (Phelan McDermid Syndrome with around 700 known cases in the world), and especially my passion for helping parents advocate for their children, lead to so many misunderstandings and horrible false accusations about me but, thankfully in my case, everything is slowly getting cleared up as the truth comes out:
http://bit.ly/JonSingerNotGuiltyClosterTempleRecordNJ
I wish Anna the best of luck with her challenges.
Jon Singer
www.Drive4Rebecca.org
http://bit.ly/Drive4RebeccaOnFacebook
6
would you "wish the best of luck" to all other convicted rapists and child molesters? Thought not.
3
I'm not convinced Lou, and don't think the punishment fit the alleged crime assuming she is guilty of something..
Did you know there are lots of convicted people who are actually innocent?
And that's why I wrote best of luck.
Did you know there are lots of convicted people who are actually innocent?
And that's why I wrote best of luck.
she is guilty of more than "something" or didn't you read the article- GUILTY of rape... She admitted to the sex and it was proven that he could not have consented, a person with a mind of a 5 year old CAN NOT consent. Do you want to remove statutory rape laws? Child pornography laws? Let the Catholic priests that raped young children go free? sounds like you and others here do, and that is what is shocking and disgusting.
2
What is "strange" about it?
I knew a young Hispanic man who was admitted to Harvard Medical School at a time when there were few minority admitted.
While at Harvard Medical School he started therapy.
While at Harvard Medical School he started a sexual relationship with his therapy.
While at Harvard Medical School the relationship ended and he committed suicide.
If she had a sexual relationship with a client that is unethical and she should lose her license.
If she had a sexual relationship with a person (man or woman) who is legally defined as "dependent", she committed a crime.
The law doesn't allow us to make their decisions, even if our intentions are "good", or the outcome of the relationship "beneficial" to the client.
If she did not have actual intercourse sex with her client, I would probably find her guilty of a lesser charge and perhaps suspend her license.
I knew a young Hispanic man who was admitted to Harvard Medical School at a time when there were few minority admitted.
While at Harvard Medical School he started therapy.
While at Harvard Medical School he started a sexual relationship with his therapy.
While at Harvard Medical School the relationship ended and he committed suicide.
If she had a sexual relationship with a client that is unethical and she should lose her license.
If she had a sexual relationship with a person (man or woman) who is legally defined as "dependent", she committed a crime.
The law doesn't allow us to make their decisions, even if our intentions are "good", or the outcome of the relationship "beneficial" to the client.
If she did not have actual intercourse sex with her client, I would probably find her guilty of a lesser charge and perhaps suspend her license.
22
Fascinating mystery. I actually feel sorry for everyone involved in this entire affair.
45
Having seen FC up close in my professional setting, I am convinced it is fraudulent. Desperate people in desperate situations do desperate things, and they sometimes cling to beliefs that are not consistent with reality. Our culture has great difficulty with mental retardation (we even avoid the words nowadays), and we have no good way to address the needs of people with limited abilities.
This case is sad on all fronts. Most obvious is DJ's disability (another word we rarely use). But Anna should not be prosecuted, she should simply be shielded from DJ so as not to intrude in his life, and be helped to rebuild her own life in a meaningful way. Finally, it is profoundly sad that individuals and families continue to be subjected to treatments that do not work and provide false hope.
This case is sad on all fronts. Most obvious is DJ's disability (another word we rarely use). But Anna should not be prosecuted, she should simply be shielded from DJ so as not to intrude in his life, and be helped to rebuild her own life in a meaningful way. Finally, it is profoundly sad that individuals and families continue to be subjected to treatments that do not work and provide false hope.
417
Why don't you think she should be prosecuted?
7
Is this your professional recommendation of consequences for delusional rapists in general, or only in this case? Among the large set of people who have sex with vulnerable, non-consenting others, under the delusion that they have in fact been given consent, where would you draw the legal or moral boundary between those who should and should not be prosecuted?
9
I completely disagree that Anna should not have been charged in this case. If anyone should have known that having sex with a profoundly disabled man who was also her client represented the worst kind of ethical lapse, it was her. For god's sake, Anna was an ethicist!
DJ is and was an incredibly vulnerable person, unable to verbalize discomfort, report an attack or physically resist an assault. People with disabilities are sexually abused at much higher rates than the able bodied population: over 80% of women and over 30% of men with disabilities have been sexually abused. A majority of abusers are known to the victims as caregivers and service providers, as well as family members, friends and acquaintances.
Imagine that someone you trusted implicitly assaulted your body in the most intimate way possible and all you could do was lay there while it happened. Depending on his cognitive ability, DJ may have felt confused, horrified, upset, anxious or unable to completely process the assault. What Anna did to him is reprehensible. I believe that if the tables were turned and Anna was a man and DJ a woman, people would see this much more clearly for what it is: rape. I hope the judge throws the book at her.
DJ is and was an incredibly vulnerable person, unable to verbalize discomfort, report an attack or physically resist an assault. People with disabilities are sexually abused at much higher rates than the able bodied population: over 80% of women and over 30% of men with disabilities have been sexually abused. A majority of abusers are known to the victims as caregivers and service providers, as well as family members, friends and acquaintances.
Imagine that someone you trusted implicitly assaulted your body in the most intimate way possible and all you could do was lay there while it happened. Depending on his cognitive ability, DJ may have felt confused, horrified, upset, anxious or unable to completely process the assault. What Anna did to him is reprehensible. I believe that if the tables were turned and Anna was a man and DJ a woman, people would see this much more clearly for what it is: rape. I hope the judge throws the book at her.
5
Anna's mantra to "repair the world" turned into obsession as she tried to give D.J. a "normal" life. She was her own worst enemy and crossed ethical lines that she would have railed against in others. Sad.
53
I am gobsmacked. This Professor of Ethics (of all things) became a delusional protagonist of her own soaring egalitarian beliefs, sacrificing her own children, her future, DJ and her cause in the process. Her lack of boundaries and professionalism is truly stunning, and her grip on reality seems questionable.
444
Amen! couldn't have said it better myself.
2
And for that delusion (assuming it was delusion), 40 years in jail is appropriate? No - it is grotesque.
Even worse when one considers the fraudulent bankers and war-criminal politicians who walk free.
Even worse when one considers the fraudulent bankers and war-criminal politicians who walk free.
7
To your point, she will serve way more time than a bankster or an NFL domestic abuser. But frankly, I have as much concern for her future as she did. Sexual contact in this case, requires consent, and he cannot legally provide it. The article did not delve into the legal sentencing guidelines or thresholds for sexual assault. But, legally, she raped him and the sexual assault of an incapacitated person is not a minor offense. Also I would be curious if DJ's family thought her sentence was just.
6
Anna Stubblefield is clearly delusional! I was on the fence until Wesley got her with the question whose answer preceded her relationship with the family.
24
Anna was the professional in this relationship, and given her status, she is guilty of having violated boundaries. It is not uncommon for professions to fall in love with their clients, and there are guidelines for proper behavior that can eventually lead to positive outcomes, at least for some. Both Anna and D.J. are losers in this legal "remedy", and very unhappy people as a result. Her husband and children are traumatized and so are D.J.'s family. But D.J. lost the most here because he is no longer connected and has to mend a broken heart. Very sad.
17
How do you know he has a broken heart other than Anna telling you so? Had he been female would you not say that he had been raped? Where is the evidence that any element of this relationship existed anywhere but in her own mind? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. There are many child molesters who are convinced that the kid they are molesting actually has a beautiful relationship with them and is benefiting from it.
17
and yet a man was acquitted of having sex on (cannot say with) his demented wife.
11
The Alzheimer's situation was not equivalent -- the partner was the woman's husband of many years attempting to continue a life relationship, not a professional caregiver or therapist trying to create one. It is never acceptable for therapists to have sexual relations with patients, whereas sex is usually an integral part of a marriage.
37
Eloise, the man and his wife had a long standing sexual and affectionate relationship. No one really knows how much of a person's mind is left in various stages of dementia.
In contrast, in this article's sad situation, a mature, capable of reasoning professional inflicted herself sexually on someone who did not have the mental ability ever to consent.
How anyone reading about the tests of FC could have concluded it was anything but a farce speaks to the ability of people to delude themselves.
In contrast, in this article's sad situation, a mature, capable of reasoning professional inflicted herself sexually on someone who did not have the mental ability ever to consent.
How anyone reading about the tests of FC could have concluded it was anything but a farce speaks to the ability of people to delude themselves.
17
Well when she was sane, she married him and accepted at the time that they'd be having sex. And he probably wishfully believed she wasn't that demented. And if she's really demented, she won't remember, so it seems less of a crime than this.
5
‘‘Anna, go home to your children’’. The best life and legal advice came from the vulnerable (and initially forgiving). Unbelievable.
240
I feel sorry for her son and daughter, what she did to them. When she said, Please, she begged, what about my daughter? She is now thinking about her daughter, she should have thought about her and son long ago and not go into this relationship. A sad story.
13
Anna breached her duty of care, plain and simple.
I've noted that most of the comments are sympathetic to Anna's deplorable behavior. The manor in which she conducted herself, professionally, is completely and wholly inappropriate. She was dealing with a man who "has been declared by the State to have the mental capacity of a toddler." She knew full-well her responsibility and duty of care as a mental health professional, especially when dealing with a PATIENT with established, diminished capacity.
I feel sorry for D.J. because he was taken advantage of by someone who should have known better. I feel worse for her family. Did she ever consider her husband and children's feelings in the midst of this ridiculousness? She is incredibly SELFISH and inconsiderate.
Perhaps, D.J. isn't the only involved party operating with the mental capacity of a toddler.
I've noted that most of the comments are sympathetic to Anna's deplorable behavior. The manor in which she conducted herself, professionally, is completely and wholly inappropriate. She was dealing with a man who "has been declared by the State to have the mental capacity of a toddler." She knew full-well her responsibility and duty of care as a mental health professional, especially when dealing with a PATIENT with established, diminished capacity.
I feel sorry for D.J. because he was taken advantage of by someone who should have known better. I feel worse for her family. Did she ever consider her husband and children's feelings in the midst of this ridiculousness? She is incredibly SELFISH and inconsiderate.
Perhaps, D.J. isn't the only involved party operating with the mental capacity of a toddler.
110
Note that she was not actually a mental health professional -- as far as I can tell, she was just a well-meaning academic who went terribly wrong. But this does speak to the importance of protecting the public from those who are not skilled and vetted. Not that licensure is a guarantee against abuse, but it certainly does provide more eyes-on before someone goes out offering services to the public, as well as something the professional doesn't want to lose.
24
Agree wholeheartedly @Shanonda Nelson, but please remember Stubblefield is not a "mental health professional." Her PhD is in philosophy and, oddly enough, she teaches Ethics. As such she was, de minimis, behaving unethically from the outset and certainly should have been aware of that.
23
Note that she didn't even *have* a duty of care. She's a professor of ethics (yes, ethics), not a clinician.
7
The narcissist in her was living the dream. A back and forth romance with oneself.
200
You hit the nail on the head. She wrote the words to her own love story and attributed them to a vulnerable, disabled man.
14
This story disgusts me. Taking advantage of this very vulnerable person to fulfil her own idea of herself as some kind of hero. Ouija-board nonsense. Sadly, there are people who live tragic lives because of birth injuries, illnesses, etc., and you can't blame their loved ones for wishing that this weren't the case, for hoping for some other reality. But to take that "harmless" wishful thinking this far? I feel sorry for her, but she deserves to go to jail the same as a child rapist would.
66
Just as no one can truly know what DJ's thoughts were, we certainly can't speak for him either. To compare this to child rape is absolutely ludicrous and completely disregards how horrifying child rape actually is.
Granted that what she did was out of line, but must we solve every problem with prison? How many people are aware that America imprisons people more frequently than even Iran and Russia? Our rate is about seven times the rate of France and Germany.
Do we have NO idea that there are peaceful methods for solving problems?
Do we have NO idea that there are peaceful methods for solving problems?
417
I wouldn't use Iran or even Russia as an example as those dictatorships would sooner kill you than even give you a trial for sexual crimes against mentally incompetents.
3
100% Agree with this. She should be barred by court order from working with the disabled or children, a restraining order issued to prevent her from interacting with DJ and his family, and then released with probation at the worst. I don't understand who could possibly be served by her serving a lengthy prison term.
8
A peaceful method for dealing with sexual assault, instead of prison? I think not.
13
I have shown the PBS Frontline special, "Prisoners of Silence" to my Philosophy classes for over 14 years - having been struck by its profound implications when I first saw it air in 1993 as a grad student in Philosophy.
I am careful to point out that it would be unwise to apply the label "bogus" to all instances of FC, since human abilities are diverse, however the documentary does present a method to test any specific instance of purported communication via FC. The "excuse" for not using this method seems to beg the question in a dangerous way - in particular while proponents may feel it is degrading to ask others to "prove themselves" by such testing, is it not more degrading to be subconsciously using those individuals as one's own toy, placing words in their mind that are really one's own? For the chair of a Philosophy department to beg the question to that extent, I find unacceptable. Period.
As the Frontline video shows - the double blind tests can not only reveal that the person's communication is not their own, but it can also reveal, in some cases, that it is wholly authored (unconsciously) by the facilitator.
As a teaching moment for students, I have always stated that the entire FC phenomena is some of the best evidence we have for a robust subconscious, which sometimes reveals repressed sexual desires when a method of transference presents itself. Freud would have loved the FC phenomena! Thanks for this fascinating story!
I am careful to point out that it would be unwise to apply the label "bogus" to all instances of FC, since human abilities are diverse, however the documentary does present a method to test any specific instance of purported communication via FC. The "excuse" for not using this method seems to beg the question in a dangerous way - in particular while proponents may feel it is degrading to ask others to "prove themselves" by such testing, is it not more degrading to be subconsciously using those individuals as one's own toy, placing words in their mind that are really one's own? For the chair of a Philosophy department to beg the question to that extent, I find unacceptable. Period.
As the Frontline video shows - the double blind tests can not only reveal that the person's communication is not their own, but it can also reveal, in some cases, that it is wholly authored (unconsciously) by the facilitator.
As a teaching moment for students, I have always stated that the entire FC phenomena is some of the best evidence we have for a robust subconscious, which sometimes reveals repressed sexual desires when a method of transference presents itself. Freud would have loved the FC phenomena! Thanks for this fascinating story!
145
A detailed description of drowning in the depths of self-delusion.
80
Show me a ouija board that works with no one touching it, and I might become interested.
15
If the roles were reversed, if DJ was a woman and Anna - a man, I can see how this verdict would perhaps make sense. But its hard to believe that in this particular case justice has been served. It reminds me of the case when a man in Iowa was charged with having sex with his wife who had Alzheimer’s, although he was acquitted. In any case, its a travesty that she has such a long sentence when there is no evidence that DJ was harmed in any way. Unfortunately, the motivation of prosecutors is often quite misguided in this country.
19
"If the roles were reversed, if DJ was a woman and Anna - a man, I can see how this verdict would perhaps make sense."
So you believe that jail time is only acceptable for male criminals? Sexual assault is sexual assault regardless of gender.
So you believe that jail time is only acceptable for male criminals? Sexual assault is sexual assault regardless of gender.
21
Are you saying that non consensual sex doesn't harm males?
12
This is wrong. Rape is rape, regardless of the gender of the perpetrator or the gender of the victim.
And for anyone who wants to blame feminism for attitudes like that of Ph, the paragraph I wrote above is actually a feminist principle.
And for anyone who wants to blame feminism for attitudes like that of Ph, the paragraph I wrote above is actually a feminist principle.
3
Sick, twisted progressivism on display.
4
The defense of the disabled to communicate and be treated as full human beings is not limited to progressives.
14
What does it have to do with "progressivism"?
22
A very important cautionary tale. All of us who strive to be helping professionals need to realize that although our work is often personally very rewarding, we must remain self-aware and not be drawn into using our clients to take care of our own needs to feel important, special, skilled, and loved.
For Ms. Stubblefield to be doubling down on her insistence that "facilitated communication" is anything other than her own fantasies being recorded (like on a Ouija board) and that her sexual relationship with an extremely vulnerable client is anything other than abusive and massively unethical is pathetic. If she had been a licensed clinician, she would have almost undoubtedly lost that license even if the relationship *had* been quasi-consensual. As a fellow Jew, I am ashamed to hear that she wrapped this abuse in the notion of tikkun olam. Nothing is healed by abusing a vulnerable client and his family.
Ironically, her attempts to give a voice to the client resulted in her substituting her own voice for his and for the voices of his family.
For Ms. Stubblefield to be doubling down on her insistence that "facilitated communication" is anything other than her own fantasies being recorded (like on a Ouija board) and that her sexual relationship with an extremely vulnerable client is anything other than abusive and massively unethical is pathetic. If she had been a licensed clinician, she would have almost undoubtedly lost that license even if the relationship *had* been quasi-consensual. As a fellow Jew, I am ashamed to hear that she wrapped this abuse in the notion of tikkun olam. Nothing is healed by abusing a vulnerable client and his family.
Ironically, her attempts to give a voice to the client resulted in her substituting her own voice for his and for the voices of his family.
692
In all candor, what are you even talking about with regard to insinuating a therapist-client relationship? "...helping professionals need to realize that although our work is often personally very rewarding, we must remain self-aware and not be drawn into our clients..." You further blur the distinctions via implication with a vague lexicon born of your, ironically, education. 'give a voice to the client", "sexual relationship with an extremely vulnerable client", etceteras. Stubblefield was not trained in the 'helping professions' except in the most generous of application of such - that of teacher and professor. She had no credentials as a social worker, Masters level therapist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist and on and on. You might consider your own unconscious motivations before embarking upon such projection of your field in a manner that does not comport with the facts. Doing so only weakens the honorable and noteworthy therapist-client relationships of which this was not no matter your efforts to suggest otherwise via imprecision.
4
Aimee Yermish, PsyD Stow, MA: the magnitude of her offense is balanced by the magnitude of the offense of her sentence.
There can be no tikkun olam (repair of the world) without tikkun biyat (repair of the home) and here we have the wrecking of a family and the ruination of at least one life.
There can be no tikkun olam (repair of the world) without tikkun biyat (repair of the home) and here we have the wrecking of a family and the ruination of at least one life.
6
Everyone in the situation, including the disabled person, his family, Anna Stubblefield, and all her acquaintances, treated this as a client-therapist relationship, regardless of her actual credentials. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...
3
As soon as I saw this, before I even began reading, I thought, 'uh-oh. Facilitated communication rears its ugly head'. And sure enough, there is this sorry fraud of disturbed 'therapists' using disabled human beings as Ouija boards.
29
It is distressing to me that the first batch of comments believe D.J. was actually communicating thru Stubblefield's "aiding" him to point at keys on a keyboard. Clearly some people see the world very differently than I do.
30
There's an old story about Dorothy Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series. Sayers was said to be in love with Wimsey, her creation.
So much so that the woman she had Wimsey meet and fall in love with was based on herself--a brainy mystery writer who'd gone to Oxford.
Many readers thought it was ridiculous that someone like Wimsey could possibly fall in love with someone like Harriet Vane--the character standing in for Sayers.
They complained to Sayers about the romance, and she was supposedly deeply hurt and offended.
It strikes me that there is something of that going on here. If people using a Ouija board can believe they are talking to their dead uncle, Ms Stubblefield can surely believe she is talking to the man of her dreams.
But like Ms Sayers, she's really just talking to herself.
So much so that the woman she had Wimsey meet and fall in love with was based on herself--a brainy mystery writer who'd gone to Oxford.
Many readers thought it was ridiculous that someone like Wimsey could possibly fall in love with someone like Harriet Vane--the character standing in for Sayers.
They complained to Sayers about the romance, and she was supposedly deeply hurt and offended.
It strikes me that there is something of that going on here. If people using a Ouija board can believe they are talking to their dead uncle, Ms Stubblefield can surely believe she is talking to the man of her dreams.
But like Ms Sayers, she's really just talking to herself.
253
Dorothy Sayers said in one of her books "What hangs people is the unfortunate circumstance of guilt”.
Even if Ms Stubblefield believed she was communicating with D.J. she betrayed the most basic ethical restraints put upon caregivers - not all that different than teachers who have sex with minor students. That fact that D.J. was legally declared incompetent and that there were sever penalties for having sex with an incompetent person shows the arrogance of Ms Stubblefield's actions.
Even if Ms Stubblefield believed she was communicating with D.J. she betrayed the most basic ethical restraints put upon caregivers - not all that different than teachers who have sex with minor students. That fact that D.J. was legally declared incompetent and that there were sever penalties for having sex with an incompetent person shows the arrogance of Ms Stubblefield's actions.
21
Perhaps readers in the 1930s and 1940s complained about Dorothy L. Sayers writing herself into her novels; but what writer doesn't do that, in some way? As a longtime fan of Sayers's work, I think Harriet Vane is one of her most appealing, complex, and believable characters - more believable, in some ways, than Wimsey himself. Modern readers have even come to see her as something of a feminist icon. In any case, both Vane and Wimsey are obviously and avowedly fictional, and Sayers knew quite well what she was doing when she drew on her own persona to create Vane's. A better comparison for Facilitated Communication is, as many have noted, the Ouija board, in which the projections are unconscious and self-deluding.
14
Except that Sayers, who hurt no one by her writing, ended up with several very good and enduring novels. (Personally, I find Harriet Vane a much better and more believable character than Lord Peter Wimsey ever was.)
Ms. Stubblefield, on the other hand, has hurt a lot of real people in real ways - DJ, DJ's family, her now ex-husband, her two children - and ended up accomplishing nothing but the destruction of her own career and reputation.
Ms. Stubblefield, on the other hand, has hurt a lot of real people in real ways - DJ, DJ's family, her now ex-husband, her two children - and ended up accomplishing nothing but the destruction of her own career and reputation.
10
A terrible tragedy of justice. Anna should be set free. D.J. was not assaulted or harmed in any way.
57
The injustice is this woman's complete lack of personal or professional ethics. When you try to coax the development of a person you are assuming a great responsibility and role in their lives. By crossing the personal boundary as flagrantly as she did, she did serious damage to her field of study and those she purports to help. Her behavior was totally unacceptable.
43
Having sex with someone incapable of consent is pretty much the working definition of assault. Would you think the same of Stubblefield was a man and DJ was a young woman with the IQ of a toddler?
154
Would you feel the same way had Anna been a man and DJ a woman?
24
It has been known for more than 20 years that facilitated communication did not pass even a single test of double blind studies. It has been shown repeatedly that "facilitators" did not communicate a single thing that they didn't already know. As an educational psychologist (and Ph.D.) I agree with the court. By the way, if you're interested in the subject, here's a Frontline from 1993 that debunks FC. In addition, this women is (ironically) an ethicist, not a psychologist. She has as much right treating clients as I do teaching nuclear physics. thttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzCGux7qD1c
226
FC is using a human being as an Ouija board.
30
Thanks for the link. I watched the Frontline episode from '93. FC is clearly bogus. Sadly, the FC program at Syracuse University remains committed to FC though they call it something else now. An interesting side story is the psychological condition of the facilitators, many of whom apparently fabricated stories of sexual abuse for their patients to type away at. A twisted tale of woe for all involved.
15
Excellent link. I have the most respect for the teacher who believed in FC but was willing to have her students tested and when the study showed she was unconsciously doing the communication, though very upsetting to her, she accepted it and didn't try to come up with ridiculous excuses.
11
Sad. We so often see what we want to see, that is human. Here do many lies have been damaged (Anna's family, for example.) I wonder what D.J. thinks and if he wonders where Anna has gone.
40
Fascinating story, indeed. Whether D.J.'s intellect and wisdom can be truly known will remain a mystery. However, more research into F.C. is needed. We have a tendency in this country to fully accept or fully reject all radical notions, often choosing to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Is it possible that Anna and D.J. actually love each other and that D.J. could thrive as a functioning adult? That appears to be a question that will never be answered. Sad.
32
"Whether D.J.'s intellect and wisdom can be truly known will remain a mystery."
The tests described in the article in which the facilitator is not present in the room when objects are shown to the disabled person make it 100% clear actually.
The tests described in the article in which the facilitator is not present in the room when objects are shown to the disabled person make it 100% clear actually.
40
My understanding (mainly from following this story in various press outlets) is that F.C. has not resulted in consistent results when facilitators are changed in studies, and that in a study environment, no patient has ever communicated a fact via a facilitator that was not already known by the facilitator.
While it is possible that "D.J." and former philosophy professor Stubblefield do love each other, it is more likely that Ms. Stubblefield is getting the responses that she, consciously or subconsciously is looking for.
While it is possible that "D.J." and former philosophy professor Stubblefield do love each other, it is more likely that Ms. Stubblefield is getting the responses that she, consciously or subconsciously is looking for.
7
Even if you are mentally dysfunctional, you still are likely to have sexual needs. Are we condemning such people to perpetual celibacy under the guise of protecting them?
Of course there is the issue of Anna's husband. As far as I know the NYT regards him as a non-entity. But she was his wife was she not?
Of course there is the issue of Anna's husband. As far as I know the NYT regards him as a non-entity. But she was his wife was she not?
9