Accepting Our Children With Developmental Disabilites For Who They Are

I’ve learned over the course of these 14 years that Disability Is Natural. I learned this key phrase from Kathie Snow. She’s a parent and a speaker who is adamant and passionate about total inclusion. What resonated with me from listening to her speak on two separate occasions, was that people with developmental disabilities don’t know what it’s like to be any different from what they know about who they are.
Of course we all want a “normal” child, and a parent can become totally overwhelmed with all of the various therapies available, yet when we can truly be content with our child with a developmental disability and love them for being them—they certainly didn’t ask if they could please have a disability when they came into this world, then that’s when we can total love, accept and be nonjudgemental

Having A Child With A Developmental Disability Is A Continuous Journey

If anything, having my son with a disability has changed who I am and has taken me out of my comfort zone on many occasions. I have become assertive and have taken a stand in dealing with social workers, teachers and other educational staff and administrators, personal supplies personnel, bus driver supervisors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, music therapists, doctors, and family members. I’ve had to hire and fire personal care attendants, train the personal care attendants, and make sure they continue to work with my son and not just do things for him—foster independence. All of this is a part of my life, it’s not going away, and I’ve learned that frustration and aggravation in communicating with any of these people goes nowhere fas

Be Real With People Who Have Developmental Disabilities

Being Real With People Who Have Developmental Disabilities

I say this because of how I responded to my friend who is blind. Take notice that I said “my friend who is blind, not my blind friend.” This is called People First Language. We’ll save that for another time. Even though I didn’t want to tell my friend how “scary” he did look, I told him that yes, I can understand why the kids were scared. Your face is rather disfigured. Surprisingly, his response was, “I’ll have to do it again this year for Halloween.”