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The
Dominion
November 22, 1997
In denial over faux disclosures
by Frank Haden
A couple of words getting some air time, as they say, with the announcement
of an inquiry into the Peter Ellis case, are disclosure and denial.
As used by social workers investigating allegations of child sex abuse, these
loaded words have remarkable effect. When children say a person has abused
them, the documentation officially removes all doubt about the truth of the
claims by calling them disclosures, exploiting the fact that the verb to
disclose means to reveal or uncover facts.
The reverse applies when the children change their stories, and say they were
just making the claims up. This time the documentation officially shows that
the children are suffering a condition called denial, in a sort of limbo
which prevents them recognising the truth.
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