Parker’s been fighting one hell of a virus. Enough snot to sink a ship. Enough grouchy to sink a Mommy.
One bright spot though was a Facebook message from my niece. She asked:
I am doing a presentation in my anthropology class on kids with special needs and was wondering if I could get any advice/help from you. I have had many wonderful opportunities in school, sports, and church to work with special needs kids and adults and absolutely love it! They are amazing and nothing less.
Our report is to educate our class and others on a culture/lifestyle that is not fully understood. It’s to help break down bias, fear, and hatred and to bring understanding, love, and education.
Is there anything you think as a special needs mom that I should talk about and share?
I shared my thoughts with my niece. But then I got to thinking. (Yes, that was the smoke you’ve been smelling.) My thoughts are exactly that. Just mine. Based on my experiences with Parker.
Obviously, we don’t experience everything in the realm of special needs.
So I decided to come to the experts……those that read Parker’s blog.
What would YOU share with my niece that would help break down bias, fear, and hatred and bring understanding, love and education.
Share your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll pass them on to my niece. Remember, she will be presenting in front of a class of college students. What an opportunity to advocate!
My thoughts are that we’re all more alike than different. People with special needs want mostly the same things as everyone. But, because everyone is different, special needs or otherwise, we reach our goals in different amounts of time and by different paths. By paying attention to the goals of the person with special needs and how they go about achieving them, we can understand so much better what is truly important in life, because there just isn’t time or energy for what isn’t.
Good luck to your niece!
I also wanted to add that when the future is so very uncertain, you tend to enjoy now quite a bit more than you might if everything seemed typical.
A few thoughts from the mother of an 8-year-old w/ autism (non-verbal)
1. Boys just want to have fun
2. If you want to have a relationship with my son you will have to work at it. Communication is very hard for him, so it often is easier to just ignore the other person. The few who have worked at it know the great kid that he is.
3. Everything he does that isn’t good isn’t because of the autism. More often than not, he is just being a little boy. He will go through all the typical developmental stages — just at different times in his life. For example, many little boys discover the fun of “writing” w/ pee when a toddler, Luke figure it out at age 6
4. Our day-to-day life might not be considered “normal” by the majority, but what is normal anyway?!
5. I think people would be AMAZED at how far simple, accepting comments from others will make you day/week a whole lot brighter.