Have you experienced problems with a business or company that discourages shoppers with disabilities? Have you felt unwelcome when walking through the door of a store where the associates look down on you or your child with a disability? Would you like to take a vacation but have found it tough to travel with your…
Category Archives: Dealing With Public Perceptions
How much should you encourage other kids to play with your child?
The scene: Saturday morning. It is 70 degrees and gorgeous outside. Max and I are roaming around, and see two little boys on our block with their Razor scooters. Max is so excited to see them, he loves other kids and anything with wheels. He runs over. “Hi!” he says, and smiles. The boys look…
Acceptance
That’s what’s been on my mind these past couple of days. This weekend, my husband and I went to a ceremony honoring teen volunteers for a Sunday morning program Max attends. It’s for kids with special needs, and it’s really amazing—Dave drops Max off at 9:30, and picks him up at 12. They sing, make…
The Problem Isn’t Really The Problem
Don’t get me wrong, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome presents itself in the form of many problems for my son and our family. But sometimes, well, sometimes the problem isn’t really the problem. We are a homeschool family and over the past year we have not seemed to accomplish much. It was decided that Lee was the…
Ashley and The Short Bus
A while back I was asked a question by a remarkable young man named Jonathan Mooney. The tag line on Jonathan’s website is “Author, Public Speaker, Different”. The publisher of his two books describes him on their web page: A young man, once called unteachable, journeys across America to investigate the lives of those, like…
The need to seem “normal”
Hi, everyone. So, the wonderful pediatric neurologist I mentioned in my post from last week on doctors who have given you hope did e-mail me back. He was very happy to hear that Max was doing so well. I was really glad I’d gotten in touch—he deserved to know. This picture is from Friday, a…
Grief: A Glimpse Into The Journey
Written by Chrissi Johnson I hope that with my words, my journey, my walk and my life, I will be able to share my heart and give a glimpse of a journey that is chartered by many and understood by few. Our son, Tyler lost his battle with leukemia nearly 8 years ago. At that…
A Regular Guy: Growing Up With Autism
Hello! I’m Laura Shumaker, a new member of the 5MFSN team. I’m the author of A REGULAR GUY: GROWING UP WITH AUTISM (www.laurashumaker.com) It tells the story of raising my autistic son, Matthew, from babyhood to young adulthood. The story that I’m sharing today will introduce you to Matthew, and the weeks to come, you’ll…
Why Doesn’t She Just…?
See her? That mom over there? Why doesn’t she just… …Leave her baby in the nursery at church? …Give it a rest with the hand sanitizer? …Breastfeed? Or that one — right over there — why doesn’t she just… …Make her child behave? …Stay home? …Get a sitter? What about that one — why doesn’t…
What Does Autism Look Like?
The other day I was talking with a classmate—someone with whom I’ve recently become acquainted—and we got on the subject of autism. The conversation turned to my daughter, and I showed my friend a YouTube video of my daughter singing. The response I got was, “Wow, I would never guess she had autism.” I get…