Gail Connors -

[Null]

The Barb of Massachusetts. Discuss how much she sucks.

My mother was always into like, all natural worldly healing. It doesn't work. Neither does faith healing. She's basically torturing Jace. From the sound of it, she's also got him to take different medication.

 

[DeagleDad420]

Also she forced him to have his 24th birthday alone because he was mean to Jesus.

Mental illness runs in the family.

 

[KingofManga420]

The thing that got me most in that stream was that he was clearly able to understand that he needed help and how he was upset at her because she won't let him see a professional. That's beyond fucked up when Jace recognizes he needs help and has no means to get it.

 

[waffle]

After today's stream I pretty much think Gail's lower than whale shit on the bottom of the sea. To keep Jace from real help and to take all his welfare money just to keep him captive in the house is beyond fucked up.

 

[drtoboggan]

Bitch is straight trippin'.

 

[KatsuKitty]

Jace is getting SSI. Doesn't that automatically qualify him for Medicare? He should go to the therapist or doctor himself. Assuming he can sneak out.

 

[Durable Mike Malloy]

Jace is getting SSI. Doesn't that automatically qualify him for Medicare? He should go to the therapist or doctor himself. Assuming he can sneak out.

I believe you automatically qualify for medicare after receiving SSI disability benefits for two years continuously. Trying to access medicare benefits otherwise can be a crapshoot verging on a shitshow. There are like one billion byzantine and poorly documented rules intended to close loopholes and prevent fraud, but this system often makes it very difficult for a normal person to obtain coverage and access care in a timely fashion.

I imagine the barrier would be even higher for a delusional person acting without an effective advocate.

Gail is clearly not a competent caregiver or good advocate for Jace. I suspect it might be very hard for him to access care on his own.

 

[Germanicus]

She's just a crazy and deluded as Jace. Jace believes in his military fantasies and Gail has her religious fanatasies. Her religious delusions are more dangerous than Jace's delusions though. I can now understand how Jace turned out the way he did.

 

[Andrew Noel Schaefer]

Jace could almost become the person he envisions himself to be.

But Gail will stop him every step of the way.

 

[Cute Anime Girl]

Gail is the only one that almost gets me legit mad.

I honestly feel bad for Jace's house situation, but at the same time he isn't a little boy anymore. If he seriously wants help he needs to get it himself at this point since his mom obviously thinks trapping him in a room with a Bible will fix anything wrong with him.

 

[Shadow Fox]

Obviously we should call Mass. adult protective services and report her mistreatment of her vulnerable adult schizophrenic child

It seriously is pretty sad, though. There are times I feel bad for people like Jace and Chris who can't really take care of themselves and are at the mercy of people who refuse to learn how to meet their needs.

 

[KingofManga420]

Obviously we should call Mass. adult protective services and report her mistreatment of her vulnerable adult schizophrenic child

It seriously is pretty sad, though. There are times I feel bad for people like Jace and Chris who can't really take care of themselves and are at the mercy of people who refuse to learn how to meet their needs.

Chris likely still couldn't have had a functional adult life either way. Jace could've...

 

[Shadow Fox]

Chris likely still couldn't have had a functional adult life either way. Jace could've...

I think they both probably could have become functional members of society if their parents had chosen better strategies in raising them. Chris' potential for self-sufficiency has been discussed to death, and this subforum is for Jace, not Chris, so I won't belabor that particular point, but I don't think either of them are/were so inherently damaged that they couldn't have learned decent coping strategies and picked up the life skills they would have needed in adulthood. That would have required their parents to explore practical options for helping them overcome their respective difficulties, though, instead of just plugging their ears and screaming "MAINSTREAMING!"/"JESUS CAMP!" in the face of all other suggestions.

 

[OV 370]

Mental illness runs in the family.

Schizophrenia appears to have a strong genetic component, and hyper-religiosity and eccentric beliefs are a significant part of the broader "schizophrenia spectrum", i.e. schizotypal personality disorder. Maybe she should pop a few Abilify herself.

I have a grand number of extreme right wing Christian fundamentalists in my extended family; they send their kids to Bob Jones University and everything. Gail fits the mold in a lot of ways, including being laughably out of touch, and her overall insufferable "young man" demeanor. But the shit about crystals, jorts being a gay influence, etc. is just off the deep end.

The fact that she herself is often grossly irresponsible is totally appalling. Jace occasionally binge drinking until he blacks out doesn't mean that he needs to go to AA meetings; it means that she shouldn't keep booze in the house where he can get to it. She accuses him of being gay when it obviously sets him off. If he's repeatedly stealing her car, why doesn't she keep the keys on her person at all times?

Mental illness isn't just the sufferer's problem. It's something that everyone involved experiences and participates in. Gail contributes by enabling Jace's meltdowns, then responds in ways that only alienate him further. She seems to blame everything on gaming and dubstep, refusing to acknowledge her own role. She turns to grounding, Jesus camp, bible study, etc. as the solution, rather than something helpful. Jace is making a decent effort, but it's not his battle alone.

 

[Henry Bemis]

At least with Barb, there's a sense that something was lost in her formative instruction on account of growing up in a broken, roughly hewn home.

Gail, meanwhile, doesn't seem like she's led anything less than a charmed (dare I say, privileged) life, so her parenting comes off as even more ignorant.

 

[Picklechu]

At least with Barb, there's a sense that something was lost in her formative instruction on account of growing up in a broken, roughly hewn home.

Gail, meanwhile, doesn't seem like she's led anything less than a charmed (dare I say, privileged) life, so her parenting comes off as even more ignorant.

I'd agree in general, but it's important to keep in mind that we know way more about Barb than we know about Gail.

 

[The Dude]

There is a lot we don't know about Mama Gail. What we do know comes from what Jace has said and the few brief appearances she has made in videos and streams. Jace is hardly a reliable source as he is prone to exaggeration and outright lying for attention. It is obvious she has some pretty out there ideas for a fundie Christian, especially one living in far-left Massachusetts, but a lot of what we think/know is speculation or comes from unreliable sources. Jace, like Chris, is basically a child who happens to be legally an adult and a lot of parents with special needs children still treat their children like little kids well into adulthood. Hell, a lot of parents with normal children will still continue to "parent" their adult kids, especially ones still living at home with them.

 

[RP 520]

We still don't know what Gail's religion is so far other than that it's some form of fundamentalist Christianity. It's particularly hard since she's about as all over the place as Jace is on social issues.

 

[BriarHeart]

It is obvious she has some pretty out there ideas for a fundie Christian, especially one living in far-left Massachusetts, but a lot of what we think/know is speculation or comes from unreliable sources.

Quick tangent: Massachusetts is indeed a blue state on average, but that's only because the densely-populated coastal areas tend towards liberal policies and kum-by-a religious attitudes. The farther west from Boston you go, the redder and more rural the population gets. And once you get "west 'a Woostah," there's not much more than cow fields, meth labs, and Jesus-lovin', queer-bashin' goodolboys for miles at a stretch. It's like Texas, but with a lot more trees and historic sites. Considering that Jace & Friends live in or near North Brookfield, Gail's out-there beliefs being respected (or at least tolerated) in her community doesn't surprise me in the slightest. She's probably got a lot of company in her neighborhood.

Source: I live in Rhode Island, which is basically a suburb of Boston, and visit friends all over Mass.

 

[Protoman]

There is a lot we don't know about Mama Gail. What we do know comes from what Jace has said and the few brief appearances she has made in videos and streams. Jace is hardly a reliable source as he is prone to exaggeration and outright lying for attention. It is obvious she has some pretty out there ideas for a fundie Christian, especially one living in far-left Massachusetts, but a lot of what we think/know is speculation or comes from unreliable sources. Jace, like Chris, is basically a child who happens to be legally an adult and a lot of parents with special needs children still treat their children like little kids well into adulthood. Hell, a lot of parents with normal children will still continue to "parent" their adult kids, especially ones still living at home with them.

The problem with that line of thinking is that she also refuses to let Jace get the help he needs. She's frequently refused to take him to therapy, opting instead for a faith-based approach to his mental health. While she might have good intentions, she's going about things in a manner that severely cripples his ability to grow past the man-child he currently is. He's shown a strong desire to grow up and "learn civvie skills" in the last few streams, but living under gail's roof, that's frankly never going to happen.