For the those reviewers and readers who were incredulous after reading LOTTERY that there were people in this world who would take advantage of anyone with a mental challenge I produce this EVIDENCE
from the Seattle Times.
The thing is. This is only an example of individuals who were caught.
Makes a person think doesn't it?
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13 comments:
There was no doubt in my mind that there are people every day who prey on the disabled, whether they're mentally ill or retarded or whatever. Lottery's premise is totally plausible.
A former employee had a nightmare of a time with home health aides hired to look after her ailing mother. Most worked well for 3 days, then started stealing, slacking (as in not working, not medicating, not feeding, etc but sitting and watching TV all day, on the clock), etc, such that she took an indefinite leave of absense to take care of her mother herself.
And I know people who have befriended the elderly, hoping to get put into their wills, or scamming them to be put into their wills.
No doubts, Pat! Lottery is a good tale!
Huling Brothers ~
What a group of absolute slimeballs!
I feel very bad for the new owners, too ~ to be duped like that as well.
What a sad, sick story.
I've also heard stories like the one Zany outlines, where people befriend the elderly, manipulating them to change their wills.
Stories like this are just mind-bogglingly sad. I think that's part of what makes your book so appealing--it offers hope in an area that can seem rather hopeless. We need more of that--are you at work on the next one yet???
:)
I wish I could disbelieve it.
While researching an article about service animals, I learned one benefit of seizure-response dogs is that they stay near their owner during a seizure ... in some cases, preventing the owner FROM BEING ROBBED!
Bad people. Good dog!
I find it very naive of people to think this doesn't happen. Don't they read the papers? Watch the news? It doesn't just happen to the mentally impaired, it happens to immigrants who do not know American culture, it happens to average normal unimpaired people who manage to get duped somehow. Think pyramid schemes! And I know for legal fact that will contestations between siblings can be some of the most dirty, scandalous and repulsive shenanigans you ever don't want to know about. I know of many instances of sons and daughters who took all their parents hard earned money for business schemes that failed and then left their parents broke and on welfare. It happens all the time.
By the way Pat, my husband, who is not much of a reader, wanted to read your book after reading my review of it. Well, he is like the slowest reader in the world but he finished your book in 2 days! That is a record for him! In fact he stayed up til 3AM last night to finish! He really enjoyed it. Thanks for writing such a great book.
It's a sad story but it's all too common. I had something like that happen to me once.
We had a customer who was very old, rich, and sort of senile. He brought his Jaguar in for work, and the bill was five-six hundred dollars.
So he writes a check for fifty thousand dollars (this was a guy with far more than that in the bank) and leaves it on the counter.
I did not see what he'd done till after he was gone. I called his daughter who gave us a credit card and picked up the check, and shortly after, he stopped driving.
Some people can't resist. They just see a chance and grab. It's a shame but you have to recognize people like that are out there.
And this is why I can never die. Or I have to get my kids out of their autism. Who will look out for them when I'm gone? It weighs heavily on a Mom's mind.
Oh and John? You just get better and better with every word you type.
WOOF! (WOOD! That can be yours, Pat.)
I currently work with the mentally retarded and I worked as a mental health counselor with schizophrenic, bi-polar, dually diagnosed, etc. adults for 2 years. They are completely different challenges. Mentally ill people are very intelligent folks, so they are usually very well guarded. I have seen people tak advantage of all these populations and, let's just say, that I contact social services often. I even contacted several news stations once...and the story was covered over and over...much to my delight.
My low-functioning Aspergian family member had a crate of frozen lobster tails stolen from the truck when he had a new job as a seafood delivery man. He was fired and had to pay the seafood company back for the lobster tails (approx $1000.) I think the crate was stolen by one of his fellow employees.
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