# Anna Stubblefield: Sexual abuse case involving facilitated communication **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296 "2015-10-20T23:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/81 "2015-10-30T21:19:35Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > What point are you trying to make? FC is a flagrantly fraudulent con game. It has been disproven repeatedly. You say check out the message, but what difference does it make? The child isn’t the one typing it. > > (Lord knows, if I was an FC scammer, I would type the most syrupy thing I could come up with to bilk the parents for more money) No shit. That is the point. What, did you not read the first page? Or did you think I changed my mind between then and now? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/82 "2015-10-30T21:48:42Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > There’s a very disquieting passage from the article that may be relevant to this point. It’s the description of the lead-up to the first sexual encounter:If you ignore the dialogue, it looks as if he tried to resist and escape at first, before eventually giving up. I don’t understand. I thought this guy was unable to communicate. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/83 "2015-10-31T12:17:14Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I don’t understand. I thought this guy was unable to communicate. 😕 Verbally, but they’re talking about physically moving when he finds something uncomfortable or wants food or something. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/84 "2015-10-31T12:27:52Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I don’t understand. I thought this guy was unable to communicate. 😕 **WF Tomba** was saying that if you read the perpetrator’s own account, the victim’s behavior suggests resistance to her assault. She uses FC to give her behavior a different spin through their “dialog.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/85 "2015-11-01T04:05:42Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > **WF Tomba** was saying that if you read the perpetrator’s own account, the victim’s behavior suggests resistance to her assault. She uses FC to give her behavior a different spin through their “dialog.” I stil don’t understand. I was refering to the part where he types on a keyboard. If he can type, what’s the problem with communicating with him? Also, all the people I met with cerebral palsy were only slightly handicaped (blurred speeh and difficulty controling their limbs) and perfectly sound mentally as far as I could tell. How bad can cerebral palsy be? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/86 "2015-11-01T07:17:46Z")
Some of this reminds me of Helen Keller. When Helen was in college their was alot of discussion about just how much of the work was being done by Helen and how much was being done by her teacher Anne Sullivan because only a few people could communicate with Helen besides Anne and throughout Helen’s life she was used as a paycheck by people like Anne who made money off of Anne. In a way this woman was doing the same with DJ. Using him as an example of “look at the work I’ve done” to further her own career. Its interesting both Anne and this Anna (hmmm… similar names) worked to make sure few other people learned how to communicate with them (Helen and DJ). I would think that with Anna she would have encouraged DJ to work with other facilitators. Now the sex thing, well first of all yes, they are capable of sexual relations. But it should be with someone of their own level. Stubblefield should have not allowed it. DJ should have been encouraged to find a woman of similar levels so they can have a near equal relationship. Other option, I’ve heard of other cases of persons with disabilities that the family has hired a sex worker who sort of specializes in this sort of thing. I’ve talked to people who work with disabled couples, who do fall in love, who do want to have sex, and yes, they have had to have sex therapists literally be in the bedroom with the couple to teach them how to pleasure each other. But the most important thing would be for DJ to have relationships with others like himself. To push him into a emotional, intimate, and sexual relationship with a person clearly outside of his is to me abuse and she should be punished for it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/87 "2015-11-01T14:22:04Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I stil don’t understand. I was refering to the part where he types on a keyboard. If he can type, what’s the problem with communicating with him? Did you not read the article? DJ can only type in the sense that a Ouija board can spell out messages. It only “worked” when Stubblefield, Stubblefield’s mother, or an undergraduate student assistant recruited by Stubblefield guided his hand. He couldn’t do it on his own, and he couldn’t do it when his mother or brother tried to assist him even after they had been trained in facilitated communication. It seems obvious from the article that Stubblefield was “helping” DJ to type what she wanted him to type, but even if she were really assisting him with expressing his own thoughts then we’d still have only her word for it that he voluntarily typed that he wanted to have sex with her. No one else was there, and DJ cannot independently give an account of what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/88 "2015-11-01T14:46:27Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Did you not read the article? I was wondering the same thing. That and all the discussion in the thread about how FC is total bullshit. It was kind of hard to miss. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/89 "2015-11-01T14:59:22Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Some of this reminds me of Helen Keller. > > When Helen was in college their was alot of discussion about just how much of the work was being done by Helen and how much was being done by her teacher Anne Sullivan because only a few people could communicate with Helen besides Anne and throughout Helen’s life she was used as a paycheck by people like Anne who made money off of Anne. > > In a way this woman was doing the same with DJ. Using him as an example of “look at the work I’ve done” to further her own career. Its interesting both Anne and this Anna (hmmm… similar names) worked to make sure few other people learned how to communicate with them (Helen and DJ). Do you have a cite regarding Anne Sullivan preventing other people from communicating with Helen Keller? What you say here sounds very different from what I learned about Keller in school (although what I learned in school may very well have been candy-coated), and from what I found in the [Wikipedia article on Keller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller#Formal_education) just now: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Determined to communicate with others as conventionally as possible, Keller learned to speak, and spent much of her life giving speeches and lectures. She learned to “hear” people’s speech by reading their lips with her hands—her sense of touch had become extremely subtle. She became proficient at using braille and reading sign language with her hands as well. I also turned up an old SDMB thread titled [Was the Authenticity of Helen Keller’s Story Ever Challenged?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601987) and the consensus among Dopers seemed to be that Keller really was communicating her own thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/90 "2015-11-01T15:34:02Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I also turned up an old SDMB thread titled [Was the Authenticity of Helen Keller’s Story Ever Challenged?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601987) and the consensus among Dopers seemed to be that Keller really was communicating her own thoughts. Helen Keller was certainly communicating her own thoughts, but after Sullivan’s death Keller was no longer as prolific. She admitted that she depended greatly on Sullivan. This is not the same situation, Sullivan may have been an editor and inspiration for her, but it was nothing like FC. Considering how limited Helen Keller’s senses were this shouldn’t be surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/91 "2015-11-01T16:41:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > These are very good points. Once she is in “the system”, how do you think it will handle her? Most sex offenders are generally given very stringent restrictions and subject to frequent, mandatory therapy. How much of that is really necessary for Ms. Stubblefield? Given the grooming pattern that we saw, I would think that simply revoking her license to practice clinical psychology might be enough to prevent her from committing similar crimes in the future (which is the goal of sex offender management anyway). Where does it say she was a psychologist? She was a philosophy professor from everything I have read. Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/92 "2015-11-01T21:50:11Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > Where does it say she was a psychologist? She was a philosophy professor from everything I have read. Just curious. It was mysterious but it made the most sense. I saw mention that she had a PhD, so I figured that she probably wasn’t an MD, and most PhD’s who treat patients are clinical psychologists, at least around here. How would a philosophy professor even get into that kind of situation? It seems that it would be hard for a non-clinician to have enough cred to _get_ patients, especially ones that are hard to work with. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/93 "2015-11-01T21:59:40Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > How would a philosophy professor even get into that kind of situation? It seems that it would be hard for a non-clinician to have enough cred to _get_ patients, especially ones that are hard to work with. Her mother did similar work working with handicapped people. It’s not so much having cred as parents of such children seeking any remedy. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/94 "2015-11-01T22:00:54Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > It was mysterious but it made the most sense. I saw mention that she had a PhD, so I figured that she probably wasn’t an MD, and most PhD’s who treat patients are clinical psychologists, at least around here. > > How would a philosophy professor even get into that kind of situation? It seems that it would be hard for a non-clinician to have enough cred to _get_ patients, especially ones that are hard to work with. There’s nothing to remotely suggest the guy was a patient or that this was any kind of treatment. You don’t earn “cred” to get patients, you get licensed by the state. You cannot get licensed as a philosopher. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/95 "2015-11-01T23:32:37Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > How would a philosophy professor even get into that kind of situation? It seems that it would be hard for a non-clinician to have enough cred to _get_ patients, especially ones that are hard to work with. This is explained in the article. > [@New York Times](#): > > By the time Wesley [D.J.'s brother] was named one of D.J.’s legal guardians, he had earned a master’s degree in history; in 2009, he was on track to get his Ph.D. and in one of Anna’s courses. During class, Anna showed part of a 2004 Oscar-nominated documentary called ‘‘Autism Is a World,’’ narrated by Julianna Margulies and co-produced by CNN. The film described a nonverbal girl with disabilities and an I.Q. of just 29 who went to college after learning to type using facilitated communication, or F.C. The girl reminded Wesley of D.J., and after class he went to Anna for advice: Could his brother also learn to use a keyboard? Anna said she had attended a three-day workshop on the technique the year before and maybe she could help. One Saturday not long after, Wesley and P. [D.J.'s mother] took D.J. up to Anna’s office in Conklin Hall. […] P. took D.J. to Rutgers every other Saturday and then asked Anna over to her house for more facilitation. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/96 "2015-11-02T05:51:34Z")
So what was this woman expecting out of the relationship long term? Lets say they do move in together and get married. What kind of equal partnership or relationship would they have? Your talking about a man who would need to be fed, bathed, and have his diaper changed. When she is at work he would still need a full time caregiver. Oh and I dont know about New York but here in Kansas persons on state medicaid cannot be married. So her income would have to pay for all his needs. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/97 "2015-11-02T05:52:28Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Stubblefield should have not allowed it. DJ should have been encouraged to find a woman of similar levels so they can have a near equal relationship. Other option, I’ve heard of other cases of persons with disabilities that the family has hired a sex worker who sort of specializes in this sort of thing. I’ve talked to people who work with disabled couples, who do fall in love, who do want to have sex, and yes, they have had to have sex therapists literally be in the bedroom with the couple to teach them how to pleasure each other. > > But the most important thing would be for DJ to have relationships with others like himself. To push him into a emotional, intimate, and sexual relationship with a person clearly outside of his is to me abuse and she should be punished for it. Others have addressed the mistaken reference to Helen Keller, so I’ll discuss this part. Did you read the article? There is zero, zero evidence that DJ was actually communicating with anyone, hence he could not been “encouraged to find a woman of similar levels”. This is the entire point of the article and this thread. Likewise, all indicators point that he does not have the mental capacity to form the relationship which you are claiming he was forced into. After you provide the cite for your BS claim about Anne Sullivan, can you show where the hell you get this view of DJ, when the article clearly states he has been diagnosed with the mental capacity of a toddler? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/98 "2015-11-02T17:43:04Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I don’t really follow. It is invalid. Given that, it is not valid for obtaining consent at any level. My issue is that she has no mens rea–no intent to commit a crime. I don’t do consequentialism, and am a big proponent of intent. So I need some reason besides the fact that it she was mistaken to be able to say what she did was morally wrong. And my reasoning in other statutory rape cases is that you have to be negligent to not know that a child or drunk person can’t consent. That’s why I can agree that those things should be illegal. So I need for her to be negligent for thinking that facilitated communication is valid. People cause harm all the time because of mistaken beliefs. I need that mistaken belief to be so bad that it’s considered negligent to act upon it. Chiropractic is bullshit. But I will not support trying a chiropractor for murder because he manipulated a spine incorrectly. Because we as a society still accept chiropractic as being valid medicine. Therefore, only what applies to other medical professional can apply here. The fact that New Jersey has already declared consent from FC to be invalid is actually pretty useful to me, and has, in the time since I posted that, been enough to convince me that what this woman did was rape–even though I was not so sure initially. Without that, I would say that FC was considered valid enough by the public that she could only be convicted of lesser crimes that a doctor could be with a consenting patient. Does that make sense? I’m not arguing that my thinking is correct, just explaining how it works for me. Consequentialism makes it where you can’t do anything, since anything you can do can cause harm and thus be immoral. So I have to reject it, even in cases like this where it is quite appealing. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/99 "2015-11-02T17:50:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Chiropractic is bullshit. But I will not support trying a chiropractor for murder because he manipulated a spine incorrectly. Because we as a society still accept chiropractic as being valid medicine. Therefore, only what applies to other medical professional can apply here. What if it were not a licensed chiropractor but just some guy who sincerely believed he could help a person by manipulating the spine in a fatal manner? You’re basically arguing an insanity defense and I don’t see Stubblefield as incapable of appreciating the difference between right and wrong. To the contrary I see someone who knew what she was doing would be considered wrong and she chose to ignore that. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296/100 "2015-11-02T18:20:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What if it were not a licensed chiropractor but just some guy who sincerely believed he could help a person by manipulating the spine in a fatal manner? You’re basically arguing an insanity defense and I don’t see Stubblefield as incapable of appreciating the difference between right and wrong. To the contrary I see someone who knew what she was doing would be considered wrong and she chose to ignore that. No, I’m not arguing an insanity defense. I think she knows the difference between right and wrong. She just thinks she had valid consent, and thus did not knowingly commit the crime of rape. In general, I think you should have to know you are committing a crime to be convicted. The exception is when not knowing you were committing a crime counts as being negligent. So, in your scenario, you’ve added some negligence. You have to be negligent to not know that you can’t just practice medicine without a license. You have to be negligent to think you can manipulating spines without proper training. My issue is just that I don’t think consequentialism is valid, so the mere fact that someone died due to spinal manipulations is not enough to call the person responsible for the death. The fact that the nurse had sex with this person without him giving valid consent is not in and of itself enough to establish rape. You need the fact that she SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that the consent was invalid. Just like it’s not rape if you thought someone was of age to consent to sex. The consent is invalid, but you didn’t know that. It’s only if you SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that the person was underage (and thus the consent invalid) so that it can still be rape. And, note, I did say that\*\* I concluded that what is described in the OP is in fact rape\*\*. I now completely support the verdict. I was just hesitant initially. So I am no longer defending this woman at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anna-stubblefield-sexual-abuse-case-involving-facilitated-communication/735296.md?page=6)