I don’t know about you, but I’m about sick of the emails, phone calls, and television ads telling me who to vote for. “Vote for Al—he’s better than Sandy!” “Don’t vote for Sandy, she has a history of not paying her taxes, and she eats small children for lunch!” However, as much as I want…
Category Archives: Raising Awareness
The Birds and The Bees
My two children who have the most significant disabilities are both 15 years old. They are teenagers, and hormones are coursing through their bodies. I have tried diligently to provide the education they need to understand their bodies, understand their urges, understand their options, and most importantly, keep themselves safe. But I don’t think I…
TEFRA, Medicaid Waivers, and The Man
Dear Government of the State of _________, I recently had a visit at the Social Security office. See, I was there to get my son denied SSI, so we could apply for the Medicaid waiver. We waited in line for 2 and a half hours. With a feeding pump. When our name was called, the…
Next Time, Ask
Last Saturday I attended something billed as a ‘Autumn Institute’ for families of children who are deaf or hearing impaired. This ‘institute’ was held from 9am to 4pm at one of our local parks and was touted to have consultants from our state Department of Education, our state’s deafblind project, the Department of Rehabilitative Services,…
Ignorance At Its Best
I’m having a particularly difficult week, and decided to share a blog post from my archive. I promise I will get my act together in time for next week’s post! ******************************* My buddy, Esbee, over at the Life in Forsyth blog, emailed me to let me know about one of her blog posts that she…
Advocacy for Special Needs
Sometimes, I have completely random thoughts that I just have to get out of my brain before it explodes. Lucky you–heh. We (as in special needs parents) advocate. Hard. Passionately. We push administrator’s buttons in the schools. We give the stink eye to people who stare at our kids. We complain (sometimes incessantly) about doctors,…
A Very Special T-Shirt
Have I mentioned before that T-shirts talk to me? Well, one T-shirt does. It’s a shame really because other than this little quirk, I’m a mostly normal person. So the talking T-shirt? It belongs to Charlie (of course)My brother gave it to him years ago and it’s fro a company called Threadless. The T-shirt features…
Help Wanted
Complex –adjective 1. composed of many interconnected parts; compound; composite: a complex highway system. 2. characterized by a very complicated or involved arrangement of parts, units, etc.: complex machinery. 3. so complicated or intricate as to be hard to understand or deal with: a complex problem. A friend of mine mentioned to me the other…
Definitely NOT a Poor Thing
Why do most people say “awww, poor thing” when I tell them of Ashley’s significant disabilities? I admit that when I list all her issues, it might seem like she has a daunting job just existing each day. But I honestly don’t believe, and I think Ashley would agree with this assessment, that her life…
Words to describe Special Needs parents
I’m not a limelight sort of gal. I usually shy away from building myself up unnecessarily, that’s just me. The other day someone asked me for 5 words to describe my job as Austin’s mom. Before I knew it a list was developing, a list that could be used to describe many parents, but especially…