Starting JK? It's a breeze, unless your kid has special needs

By Stephanie Ly Our daughter Pepper will turn four this year, and though she's not your average four-year-old, she'll start kindergarten in the fall.  When Pepper's older brother entered school two years ago I was nowhere near as nervous as I am now. But then Pepper is a special-needs child. And these last few months have been a traumatic roller-coaster for me. The Ontario Ministry of Education lays out specific guidelines for inclusion,...

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Team Bryson: Quiet but mighty in NYC parade

By Laura WilliamsLast weekend, my family decided to take the ultimate road trip to New York City. The idea started about five months ago when Louise at BLOOM wrote about the NYC Disability Pride Parade. This parade was conceptualized by a father and famous jazz musician Mike LeDonne. He wanted to raise awareness and create community pride about disability to honour the pride he feels for his daughter Mary, who has Prader Willi Syndrome. The disability...

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Why is Guy Mitchell's death receiving so little coverage?

By Louise Kinross It's shameful that the death of Guy Mitchell (left), an adult with disabilities who drowned after falling into a cistern at an Ontario-funded group home in 2012, is only being reported locally in Hamilton, and not across Ontario and Canada. Hamilton Spectator reporter Susan Clairmont is doing a top-notch job of recounting the horror story unraveling at a coroner's inquest in this series of articles. The Ancaster home was...

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Love speaks louder

By Emma Ockerman I've had this conversation 50 times already. I stand on my front porch as my hand just brushes the brass-plated door knob and I turn to speak to a new friend who waits to enter my abode.It could be called a warning, even."Listen," I say gingerly, as if I'm telling them their cat has passed. "Before you come in my house, you should probably know about my brother..."They nod. They have heard from others before, and their nonchalance...

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How I became a sister to my brother with autism

By Melissa NgoI was taught that I was the expert. The “go-to” person. As the sister of someone with autism, I was the translator, the teacher, the therapist, the person who explained, the mighty protector and defender. As a child, I assumed these roles without question. For my brother Scott, I wore all of these hats at once. I was a “good” sister for doing therapy exercises with him. When he couldn't find the words, I spoke for him. I was even...

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A creative gem in the heart of Toronto

By Louise Kinross This morning my son and I visited an arts program at L'Arche Toronto.  Sol Express runs two programs during the year: One is for actors with disabilities and the other is for creative artists with disabilities. They each run two days a week, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The L'Arche building in the Pape and Danforth area is a beautiful renovated church with studios upstairs. I wrote about visiting the original L'Arche community,...

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'I wish [disabled] dolls existed when I was a kid'

By Jessica GeboersWhen I was little I pushed my red and blue kitchen booster seat around the floor on my tall knees, pretending it was a wheelchair for my doll. Like many kids, I played house with dolls, often pretending I was the mom and they were my children. I can’t remember if using the booster as a wheelchair was my way of compensating for the lack of disability representation in my toys. But maybe it was. Kids act out what they know. It...

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School's out

By Louise Kinross Hello peeps! Quick update. My son had his surgery to remove two benign bone tumors two weeks ago. It went much better than planned and his incisions are healing nicely, though he still has some pain. We had very good care in the hospital. My son is now out of the school system. We have been unable to access person-centred planning or an increase in our Passport funding since he left school. I am advocating for...

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Courage Project: 'Accept things as they are'

A father, who we’ll call Bruce, contacted us about sharing his story in our Courage Project series. To protect his child, we have changed some identifying details. Bruce and his wife were shocked when their firstborn child, a son, was born blue, resuscitated and transferred to a different hospital. A breathing issue was later diagnosed as a heart problem, then other life-threatening conditions emerged. During the first few weeks a doctor from...

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