The invisible mom

By Sue Robins In the foyer of every elementary school there's a gaggle of moms standing in a tight circle, waiting to pick up their kids. You'll find these same circles at mom and baby yoga, the new moms' group, the kids' hip hop class and community soccer. In the 10 years I've parented my son Aaron, I’ve never cracked that circle.I've walked past that circle hundreds of times and nobody has ever shifted—ever...

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'Carly's Café' wins international award

This video by Carly Fleischmann and her dad Arthur won the Silver Lion award in the cyber, public service category at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held in France. It gives people a sense of what it's like for a person with autism to go out for coffee. Arthur Fleischmann, who co-authored Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism with his daughter, speaks at a BLOOM speaker night here Tues. Sept 17 from 7-9 p.m. To register, e-mail ndyke@hollandbloorview.c...

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Stories are 'companions' to patients in care

Sociologist Arthur Frank gave a moving account of how stories allow people with illnesses and disabilities to imagine new positive identities. In his keynote at the International Narrative Medicine conference in London the University of Calgary professor said that following a heart attack and cancer diagnosis in the '80s: "I needed medical information and treatment but I also needed people's stories. The stories of other ill...

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A doctor struggles with her 'patient' shoes

A family physician from Israel spoke about being asked to counsel a couple considering terminating their fetus with Gaucher's disease Thursday at the international narrative medicine conference I'm attending in London. What made this encounter unique was that Dr. Ruth Kannai from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has Gaucher's disease herself. The condition causes an enlarged liver and spleen, skeletal disorders and bone pain. Dr....

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Stories convey emotions of care for patients, doctors

I'm in London, UK at a conference by the International Network of Narrative Medicine about the power of storytelling for patients and families and the doctors, nurses and therapists who work with them. This morning on the hotel elevator I bumped into two attendees from Brazil. One is a psychiatrist who coordinates a graduate medical school program in Brazil. The other is a theatre actress working with this medical school to develop simulations...

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A mom's passion for AAC eclipses her son's

  By Stacey Moffat My son Carter and I recently attended our first Breaking the Ice Conference for people who use augmentative and alternative communication (he's holding his voice device in the photo above). This year the conference offered a children's program I thought Carter would enjoy. We attended for the full day so Carter could participate in the children's program and then we'd have lunch together...

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When we can't take the pain away

A week ago I took part in a think tank to develop simulations that could be used to teach rehab professionals aspects of family-centred care. I sat at a table with another veteran parent and half-a-dozen professionals and we shared personal stories about health-care interactions where communication broke down. By looking at some of these challenges, we hoped to come up with ideas for how to share medical information in a timely, clear, non-judgmental...

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A circus performer adapts to life with paralysis

Carolyn Pioro talks candidly about the physical and social aspects of adapting to quadriplegia. Carolyn mesmerized everyone with her honesty and grace. Thank you Carolyn! Loui...

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When imagination fails

You have an eight-year-old daughter with severe disabilities. You and your partner have just brought her to the operating room for major surgery. But instead of setting up camp in the waiting room, the two of you leave the building: "Laura and I crossed half the street to the grass-fuzzy median in front of the hospital. We lay next to each other, the lanes on either side of us quiet, trickling riverbeds." This is a scene from a short story called...

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