My Daughter: Beautiful, Complicated, and Imperfectly Perfect
Though she is present in every essay I write, I have yet to describe my youngest daughter in all of her beautiful, complicated glory. My...
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A BLOG FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENCES, DISABILITIES, AND DIAGNOSES
Guest Post: My Oldest Daughter Writes About Her Sister
Today's short post is brought to you by RoRo, JJ's nine-year-old sister. She is my very first guest blogger! Please welcome her and enjoy...
Sympathy, Empathy, Pity, and Compassion
When it comes to special needs families, the topic of sympathy can involve a surprisingly diverse range of emotions and elicit a wide...
The First Day of School: Not Your Typical Milestone
A few days before kindergarten was set to begin, I gathered up all the school supplies I needed to deliver during my daughter’s Back to...
Advocacy: How We Help Our Loved Ones Live Their Best Lives
It should come as no surprise that advocacy is a large part of special needs parenting. More times than I can count, I have had to fight...
Government Support: Families Receiving Help for Their Special Needs Children
I don’t believe in making my blog a political site. I want all people with all views to feel welcome here. However, government...
Family: When Everyone Comes Together to Help
One day, when I was feeling particularly sad and alone, I googled “special needs parents” and “mental health.” I wasn’t surprised to find...
Hope: Waiting for A Cure for Rett Syndrome
Before I had JJ, I never thought much about hope—at least not in any profound way. To me, it was just another verb to slip into...
What, What Will We Do?
This creative non-fiction essay won first prize in the Memoir/Inspirational category of the Kansas Authors Club state-wide writing...
Partners: Why Having The Right Person By Your Side Can Be So Powerful
Having a child with disabilities can introduce a host of issues into a marriage or romantic partnership. While researchers don’t agree on...
(In)Visibility: How My Daughter and I Can Be Both Highly Visible and Completely Overlooked
The world of special needs parenting is full of paradoxes. One of the most unexpected is how we and our children can both be highly...
Siblings: How My Oldest Daughter Is Thriving Because of Her Sister's Disabilities
The birthday party invitation was very much like the others we had received and rejected in the past year. There was only one small...
For Newly Diagnosed Families: My List of Hopeful Things
When we first learned that my youngest daughter, JJ, had Rett Syndrome, I felt like I had stepped into a nightmare world. I gathered...
Bodies: How My Views about Bodies and Abilities Have Changed Because of My Daughter
My gym has a bank of televisions placed right above the only line of available treadmills. I’m not a fan of daytime television or local...
People: The World of Kindness that Opens Up When You Become a Special Needs Parent
When we first learned our daughter had special needs, my husband mentioned it to his physician at his yearly physical. It turned out that...
Happy Ends: How we define a happy end for ourselves, our child, and our family
I am in a writing group with three other women. The genres we prefer are very different, but our stories have one thing in common: They...
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