Intellectual Disability, Parenting 
7 Comments My Family and I are Reminded Each Day of Our Difference
I’m starting to wonder if writing this blog is a good idea after all. My doubts are surfacing again. Am I committing myself to something that may prove to be too difficult or confronting to achieve? Will it prove to be a waste of time? Will you remain interested dear Reader, as my stories unfold? I wonder.
As I write about the challenges and joys of bringing up a child with an intellectual disability, I’m sure some of my character flaws will be highlighted. Each and every day, my family and I are reminded about how different we are to the average families around us. We encounter daily reminders of Poppet’s disability (about which I’ll write down the track), and how different we are to her. It would be impossible to edit these reactions or thoughts out.
I’m comfortable with this. I’ve had too much happen in my life to not be authentic. So, the stories I write will be accurate, although I’ll change names to protect the privacy of my friends and family. To this end too, I’ll not identify my daughter. I’ll refer to her by one of her nicknames: Poppet. Not only am I concerned about her safety, (there are some nasty pieces of work out there), but I also respect her right to privacy, especially as she gets older.
I may read some of my entries in months, even years to come and view the issues I write about today, through different eyes, with the helpful perspective that elapsed time creates. This is where your views will add interest to my stories as well.
I’m keen to ensure you have a positive experience as a reader of this blog, so you’ll see I’ve created a policy that outlines my thoughts about comments, and a privacy policy that describes how our private details are protected. I welcome your thoughts and questions; however, I will omit or edit any comments that I believe are offensive or irrelevant.
So it seems, I’ve managed to convince myself to continue with the idea of blogging and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Well done. You have certainly had HUGE ups and downs in your life. A great idea to share these with others who may be travelling the same road…or others who have no idea what it is like to be confronted with so much so often!!
Thank you. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve chosen a blog – I hope that my experiences can help others in similar circumstances.
Dontcha worry, us people with ‘average’ families are riddled with character flaws. The glory of being human.
Glad to see this up n’ running – ya did good 🙂 xx
Makes us all the more interesting doesn’t it?
You may feel a little raw in the beginning but keep going.
Our families are a little different but I was reminded on the week-end of how some people really don’t know. My son broke his leg, and I voiced my concern to the doctor about how his walking will be after the cast was off, she replied with, “Well I don’t think because he is down syndrome he will forget how to walk”. My concern was with his muscle tone, and she had no idea of our journey and how far he had come with his walking.
So keep educating people of the challenges our child faces and as a family.
Thank you for the support. I will keep going, even if it’s ‘raw’ as you say. You’re right about the need to help others understand, sadly this includes the medical profession. It sounds to me like you may need to find a different doctor, if that was your GP or pray that you don’t have to see her again, if she was at a hospital. I’m thrilled that you little boy is walking at the age of two. That’s a big effort. Good luck for the next few weeks as he mends. Hopefully he’ll be running around again soon.
Thank you!!!!