Category: Commentary

Are there any parents out there who are scrambling to figure out their kid's Halloween costume? 😬 Am I alone in this? Probably... It's okay. I'm pretty sure most of the time that I am the only parent messing it up on the daily. But if you are still figuring it out a day before Halloween then know that you are not alone. I'm with you. This year my son is dressing up as The Flash. [embed]https://media.giphy.com/media/4hRy0u1cgIYMg/giphy.mp4[/embed]   We are attaching cardboard lightning bolts to the wheels of his chair and we found a too small, off-the-rack costume for him. Like I said. Not our most prepared this year. While searching for cool costume ideas for kids that use wheelchairs we came across a bunch of really cool ideas. Like…

Most of the material I see on Facebook about disability rubs me the wrong way. Even the super positive stuff I often find still misses some subtle and important point or feeds into negative stereotypes or roles of charity/pity. But this "Anything but sorry" video by the Canadian Down Syndrome Society is pretty good. It isn't a complicated message. And it is self-evident once communicated. Yet, it doesn't seem to be wisdom commonly held in our society. [embed]https://youtu.be/AfLfqC2sXOE[/embed] When my son was born he was critically ill. We weren't sure he would live. We ended up in a Children's Hospital far from our home. I was worried and frightened. My family was worried and frightened. Our head space was all stress. On his third day of life we received a large…

I won't do it. I won't dedicate time to "spread the word to end the word". The "R" word. I will point out to people who use the words retard or retarded as an insult or derogatory term that this is hate speech and ask them not to do it again. Most people tell me that's not what they meant. But it is. It is no different that racial slurs or saying, "that's so gay." I agree with this critique of how the word retarded is used in common speech. It is awful and hateful and people should absolutely have the courage to call people on their hate speech. But I think that the broader effort of the campaign to end the use of the word retarded is, well...a bit…

Ah, those sleepy Saturdays when nobody has to be anywhere... I remember once, cradling a sick toddler in my arms, lamenting to my own mother that I wasn't sure how I would manage when he was too big to cuddle like this. (more…)

"On World Children's Day, let's stand together with the world's most vulnerable and hardest to reach children." "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul, than how it treats its children." ~Nelson Mandela. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/embed/eRqfDal53as[/embed] World Children's Day is a day for children's voices to be heard. A day for children to act. A day to stand together with the world's most vulnerable and hardest to reach children. I wonder, even in our societies with sufficient resources to easily provide for all our children, how well we have been respecting the rights of our children with disabilities. How often do we listen their voices? How often do we heed what they say about what is important in their lives? How many children with disabilities know that they have rights? Do…

It is every parent's biggest dream and worst nightmare. Will she get invited? Will he be left out? What if nobody like my child? What if my child feels rejected? Gut punch. The actual worst. It really is. Rejection is painful. It cuts deep wounds. That is why we fear it so much. The threat is real. But...the consequences of not getting out there? Well, nothing. A life of nothingness. So we gotta do it. We gotta get out there. Or find someone who can get out there for us. And its not about just randomly showing up. You know that person that inserts themselves in a social situation without any reason or context for being there? Ya, it is kind of awkward, right? We have to help our kids…