Some of the things we request from children make very little sense. Worksheets asking question after question about a book sucks the life out of it. As parents and teachers of disabled or neurodivergent children, we always feel we need to do more. Drive it home...
Home-educating parents, especially parents raising disabled children, are continually being watched, judged, and criticized. Everyone has an opinion. Hardly anyone keeps it to themselves. Nobody questions public school parents about their choices. When their kids...
The rehabilitation center we’re affiliated with is an old school adapted with an elevator and sliding doors at the entrance but does not have adequate change spaces. The only two change tables at this center are polar opposites in design and both entirely...
The pediatrician hinted about a disorder while I sat in a chair and he stood over my son's incubator. I left confused and in tears.⠀ The official diagnosis was handed to me without support in the NICU. I held my son, the doctor casually leaned on the empty...
My son and I have been on the receiving end of ableist remarks throughout his lifetime. Most of it is well-intentioned and meant to be encouraging. These seemingly-benign comments are a result of internalized ableism which is why it's hard to identify...
I am my son’s parent, but I am not a part of his culture and he is not part of mine. I have not experienced life as a disabled person and he’s never been non-disabled. I first became aware of this distinction when I heard Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree:...
I learned that there is only one way to be in the world as a child. It was reinforced in my schooling and solidified in my career in the education system. There are a set of rules for behaving that are socially accepted. Anything outside of that is judged,...
When my son was first diagnosed, I was handed a stack of white, legal-sized envelopes with the headings of clinics he would need to consult within the first weeks of life. Most of the departments I didn't even know existed, let alone know how to pronounce. In his...
My son and I have been on the receiving end of ableist remarks throughout his lifetime. Most of it is well-intentioned and meant to be encouraging. These seemingly-benign comments are a result of internalized ableism which is why it's hard to identify...
I am my son’s parent, but I am not a part of his culture and he is not part of mine. I have not experienced life as a disabled person and he’s never been non-disabled. I first became aware of this distinction when I heard Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree:...
I learned that there is only one way to be in the world as a child. It was reinforced in my schooling and solidified in my career in the education system. There are a set of rules for behaving that are socially accepted. Anything outside of that is judged,...
When my son was first diagnosed, I was handed a stack of white, legal-sized envelopes with the headings of clinics he would need to consult within the first weeks of life. Most of the departments I didn't even know existed, let alone know how to pronounce. In his...