Upended

It's not what I thought. That’s the way I’ve described parenting a child with disabilities and especially intellectual disability, which I believe is the most stigmatized difference in our culture. The unexamined images lodged in my psyche – that disability wasn’t normal because it didn’t “exist” in my schools or that it was shameful because my friend’s brother jumped from the back of the station wagon,...

Read More

Mums sew together a new life for disabled kids

A sewing project is changing the lives of two dozen Kenyan mothers of children with disabilities. Malaika Mums, run by the humanitarian group Comfort The Children International (CTC), produces and sells reusable cotton tote bags and coffee sleeves. In addition to providing the mothers with a good wage, the income supports a school with rehab services for their children. The sewing project and school sit side by side in the town of...

Read More

How do culture and disability connect for you?

By Anchel Krishna Like many others in the Toronto area, my parents are immigrants. They came to Canada in the 70s from India, their first date was at the CN Tower and after a few years of being married they started their family. My husband, Dilip (above with daughter Syona and I), is in the same boat. Our marriage started with a pretty typical Indian wedding extravaganza (several days of celebrations filled with music, food, lots...

Read More

More than words, part 2

I said I would write more about our journey to give Ben a conventional voice. This is primarily a recounting of an enormous number of things that we "did" over many years, not really an examination of how it "felt" as a parent to be doing these things, which is probably more  enlightening. That will be for another day! Louise I was visiting my family doctor. Ben was in his stroller, babbling exuberantly...

Read More

Under the sea, on wheels

British artist Sue Austin shows off her self-propelled underwater wheelchair developed with the help of dive experts and researchers. It's powered by two dive propulsion vehicles and steered with a bespoke fin and foot-operated acrylic stri...

Read More

One cool life

...

Read More

Nike steps up to the plate with new shoe design

Here's an exciting update from Matthew Walzer, the Florida teen with cerebral palsy who asked Nike to make a shoe that doesn't have to be tied. Bravo Nike...

Read More

The upside of weakness

Elizabeth Aquino kindly passed me a link to this interview (click on the podcast at top left) with French geophysicist Xavier Pichon who believes that fragility and empathy make us human. "...I was very, very impressed by...the way earthquakes are fabricated, which is in the lower layer of the earth where the temperature is high, then the defaults that are within the rocks are activated and the rocks are...

Read More

Parenting, off the grid

I can't remember how our paths crossed, but I've followed Sara Pot's blog The Pot Family for a while and it was a treat when Sara and her husband Ralph attended our talk with Ian Brown. I asked Sara to tell us a bit about her family. The photo above was taken by Elma Regenerus. Check out this post of Sara's for more photos of this one-of-a-kind family. Louise I've been told that I am a reflective thinker – or maybe...

Read More

More than words, part 1

I love to talk. It began with my family and childhood friends and blossomed at school and in my initial work as a journalist. Talking was central to what I judged to be most meaningful in life. I had the gift of the gab and found silence awkward and uncomfortable – a void I needed to fill. If I was nervous, I could talk your ear off. As a child, I grilled my babysitters on endless subjects when they turned off the light and tried...

Read More

Buddies: A new Brazilian film

...

Read More

'Conformity doesn't beget greatness'

Ben, D'Arcy and I saw ParaNorman on Friday. It's about an 11-year-old boy who's branded a freak at school because of his ability to communicate with the dead. The movie is the result of 3D stop-motion animation. Handmade puppets are brought to life by animators who move them one frame at a time, 24 frames a second. I liked how lead animator Travis Knight described the value of Norman and the team who created him in the Globe...

Read More

Goodbye (unrealistic) dream

Today I'm getting rid of these how-to books and kits for kids with speech problems. They date back to when Ben was a preschooler and I was heavily invested in trying to get him to talk. I brought them in to work years ago to pass along to a speech therapist, but somehow they stuck with me, like the lists of words that Ben spoke as a toddler but hasn't uttered in 15 years. These books once had a place at home in a cupboard along...

Read More

Does pressure to walk prompt 'over-therapy?'

By Megan Jones Like many kids with cerebral palsy, Crystal Chin’s childhood revolved around a single goal: learning to walk. The 23-year-old can list off the interventions she’s received with dizzying speed: orthotics, bracing, physio, Botox therapy, heel-lengthening surgeries, occupational therapy. “Everything was about ‘If we can just get you to walk. If we can just get you to walk, people will think you’re normal,’” says Crystal, a member...

Read More

The monsters in us

Yesterday my blogging friend Meriah Nichols had a piece published in Mamalode called Be not afraid. It’s a candid piece about looking out the window while feeding her daughter Moxie, who has Down syndrome, to see a group of children with special needs walk by. In that moment Meriah is overcome with fear that Moxie will one day be part of that group. “I’m heart-stoppingly scared that Moxie will be like those kids,” she writes. And...

Read More

Tell your own story

A research project at Guelph University in Ontario helps women write their own storyline about what it means to have a disability. In a three-day workshop called Project Revision, female participants aged 20 to 70 collect footage, music and still photos. They write out the story of their own disability, then edit everything together into a three-minute video. Along the way, they receive constant instruction, guidance and technical...

Read More

Wanted: Shoes you don't have to tie

A Florida teen with cerebral palsy is asking Nike CEO Mark Parker to design a line of shoes you don't have to tie. Nice Kicks, a shoe blog by Matt Halfhill, has promised that for every retweet of this video marked with the hashtag #NIKELETTER, they'll send a postcard to Nike’s CEO in support of the idea: http://youtu.be/L5YG6a1-LNY Matthew Walzer, 16, who wears Nike basketball shoes for ankle support, writes: "If...

Read More

Girl with mental disability to receive transplant after all

A child who was disqualified from a kidney transplant because of her intellectual disability will receive the procedure, with her mother acting as donor, according to the blog Babble. Chrissy Rivera, mom to Amelia Rivera, 4 (left), writes that her daughter has been approved for the surgery. Earlier this year, over 50,000 people signed a petition at change.org asking the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to reconsider its decision to deny Amelia...

Read More

When ready, you reach out

Lies Ferriman was thrust into the world of rehabilitation six years ago when her son Sasha had a snowboarding accident and sustained a brain injury. In this BLOOM video clip, Lies shares her family’s story and her advice for other parents who are coping with a child’s disability following trauma. Lies is a family mentor in Holland Bloorview’s family resource cent...

Read More

Who decides what's beautiful?

This adorable little tot is the face of a new advertising campaign by Spanish swimwear designer Dolores Cortés according to Adweek. "People with Down syndrome are just as beautiful and deserve the same opportunities," Cortés is quoted as saying. Amen. This was a bold step in a business that typically renders children and adults with disabilities invisible. How often do you see children with disabilities featured in ads or mainstream...

Read More

L'Arche's lesson: Pay attention

Bénédicte Millet is a small, spritely, silver-haired dynamo. Though it was the end of a long, busy day at L'Arche in Trosly, France she sat with me, listened attentively to my questions, and gave careful thought to her responses. She looked me in the eye and made me feel that what I had to say mattered. Bénédicte works with a team of staff who support volunteers who come from across Europe to work at L'Arche...

Read More