Some of us don't think spanking your child is usually abuse. I was spanked more than occasionally, including three times at school, and somehow survived.
I probably deserved a couple more times, but the last one at school was in a group, where all four of us got TEN. And that was unfair. I was a hs freshman. I'm a pretty strong believer in corporal punishment. I don't know if what AD did was abusive, but I doubt it was as bad as he got as a kid.