Learning to run the relay that is special needs parenting
I think having a child with a disability is similar to learning how to run. We line up and listen to a whole lot of people tell us what we should do. Sometimes we hear them. Often we don’t. They are usually talking from their own experience anyway and only slivers of what they say will have real applicable value to ourselves. Then we run: we try and try and try and try.
I am Deaf, my partner is hearing, and we’re about to have a baby
I do know that I will love my child, and so will both sides of the family, Deaf and hearing, regardless of whether they are born deaf or hearing. I know that we will adapt and I will, along with the child, learn better communication with everyone. I know this child will be a joy and a terror. This child will experience love and loneliness no matter where they go in life, and I will try to teach them to embrace the good and bad, and to accept or fight against certain situations. I try to explain this to my partner, and I try not to worry.
I’m completely deaf in one ear: how do I teach my children to help me hear them?
I’m completely deaf in my right ear, and I’m a parent to a toddler and a preschooler. I need to be able to read lips to most effectively hear people when they speak, and preschoolers are notoriously unintelligible in the best of circumstances. I try to teach my kids to look at my face when they speak so I can hear them, but it doesn’t often work.
Let a robot vacuum help you out when you have a disability
Vacuuming isn’t hard. But when you have a chronic condition that causes fatigue issues like I do, sometimes it falls by the wayside. There are other more pressing cleaning concerns (dishes, kitty box, cleaning the bird cage) that seem to take priority, and once those are done, I’ve tapped all my reserves. We recently received a cast-off robot vacuum, and it’s changed my life.
ADD and housework: A few tips from a first-class space cadet
I am an un-medicated adult with ADD. I have spent most of my time un-medicated, and thus rely on coping mechanisms. (Note: I TOTALLY support chemical assistance, I just haven’t had any.) Even though I have an “ADD can be a bonus, not a minus!” philosophy… right now, I’m on the subject of dealing with it as a drawback. I have a super-short attention span and I suck at getting work done on anyone else’s timetable. Or any timetable. OR… at all. So me and housework, planning, organizing, and housework have this love/forget relationship… But stuff has to get done somehow. Here’s what I have figured out…
There is no right way to handle your child’s unexpected diagnosis
But in parenting a kid with a diagnosis you hadn’t exactly longed for, coming unraveled can be a bumpy part of the road you’re on. Sometimes, just like our kids, we go through a developmental phase of chaos and disintegration before we consolidate new skills. I didn’t enjoy it, but I don’t think I could have skipped that step. It was an important part of my developmental trajectory.
Bright light & right tools: 4 cooking tips for the visually impaired
I’m visually impaired, and teaching myself how to cook has been one of the things I have decided to do this year to make myself a better person. I’ve done a few things to make my kitchen more blind-friendly than it was to begin with, and as a result I’ve managed to do things like roast a chicken for the first time, have it turn out perfectly, and only have one minor panic attack about it. Here’s four tips for making cooking easier while blind.
Halloween costumes for kids who use wheelchairs
Carter has Spina bifida, so his dad built him this outfit so he could roll around on Halloween with the rest of the kids.