Whether it be a small change in your own home or school to lobbying for Federal legislation, I’ll give you the information, support, stories, and inspiration you need to make the world a better place for our kids.
New for 2022: Lobbying and Systems Change will be a component of my online training to Become a Special Education Advocate.
Some examples:
Autism and Age-Appropriate Interests “Who gets to decide what is an age-appropriate interest for a disabled or autistic child?” This is an issue that has been on my mind a lot lately. My son will be 9 this summer, and as I’ve posted many times, he just loves all things Sesame Street. I’m starting to…
Live Nation Accessible Seats I am revisiting and updating older posts, to see if they are still relevant. When they are no longer relevant, I deleted them. Unfortunately, this post that I did about Live Nation and Ticketmaster about accessible seats is still relevant. The story I shared below took place several years ago. However,…
Sometimes our own internal biases show up and reveal themselves in unexpected places.
A video discussion of the long term effects of discrimination and racism in public education.
Parenting a Disabled Child This might be the biggest decision you’ll ever make as a parent. I’m talking about the decision to be happy. No, no, really, stick with me here. I know what you’re thinking. “All this deciding to be happy stuff is bullshit.” I used to think that too. But try it from…
Special Needs vs. Disability Several months ago, I did a blog post about People First Language, and why it shouldn’t be mandated. Certainly not by non-disabled people. At the end of that post, I said this: Up next: I’ll be tackling “special needs.” Because that vernacular is seeing a shift too. Stay tuned. Because many people…
Mental Health Advocate Mental health, depression and suicide are all the chatter following Kate Spade’s death. In honor of that, I am updating a post from 2012 that talks about advocating for friends and loved ones with a mental illness. It doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. Just a few minutes out of…
Dr. Seuss was Racist Dr. Seuss is a prolific children’s book author and global icon. And Dr. Seuss has a history of racial baggage that educators should understand when introducing his writing to their students. From Tolerance dot org This knocked the wind out of my sails yesterday. Not sure how it didn’t hit my…
Mental Age I guess it’s a coping mechanism. Or a way of trying to parent and better understand our kids. But it’s also an antiquated practice that needs to go. I’m talking about assigning a mental age to our kids. In particular, this happens with students who are intellectually disabled or autistic, or both. You…
One Mom’s Perspective of the IEP Process. I have always made clear that my interest is in my child, his well-being, and his functioning on grade-level – nothing more and nothing less. My goal has always been to advocate for my child so that he could have available to him a free appropriate public education…
I decided today, I am done living life with a disclaimer. Here’s the thing. I’m tired of society making me justify my son’s existence. And I’m tired of constantly adding disclaimers to my conversations. Always adding a disclaimer. Here are some real-life conversations I have encountered within the past few weeks: Conversation 1: Me, complaining about…
The Extraordinary Burden of IEPs on Moms “Is it getting worse?” I sighed. Then nodded. “It is.” I was at lunch with a local administrator. We were brainstorming some ideas to make the overall climate of special education must less tense. Improve relations. Try to work together. I wonder if we can. Here we are,…
Ableism and Ableist Autism Moms I am just steamed this morning. Nothing like waking up to see 250k special needs moms being ableist and wallowing in ableism. Have you seen it? First, it started with a viral post about “The Last Time.” About how when you have a kid, you’re just cruising through life, raising…
Talking about Race with Kids This past summer, I hosted a series of chats about Race. It’s an issue that is important to me and this post is long overdue. That chat series wasn’t without controversy, but I am committed to using my platform for positive change. With that, I had promised that we would…
On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed IDEA 1975 into law. Prior to IDEA 1975 taking effect, only 20% of children with disabilities were in the public school system. Most of the others were either institutionalized or being kept at home in a custodial care situation–parents taking care of them but they were not…
PA Lt. Governor John Fetterman for US Senate Today PA Lt. Governor began officially ‘exploring’ the idea of running for Senate in 2022. He ran in 2016, but lost in the primary to Katie McGinty. Much has changed since then–he’s now our Lt Governor. Back in 2015, when I interviewed him, he was Mayor of…
Citizen and Parent Advocacy I think we’re in this for the long haul. I wrote this right after the 2016 election, in hopes of inspiring parents to step it up and get more involved. And so many have! That’s fantastic. I am updating this post as we head into a new Congress at the beginning…
Special Needs Mom Burnout On Tuesday, when my son came home from school, his newly revised IEP was in his backpack. All 54 pages of it. And his FBA (12 pages) and PBSP (another 12 pages) and that doesn’t include the ER/RR, NOREP and other fun stuff. But basically I have 80 pages of documents…
Ableist Movie Tropes and Characters I think most of us would agree that if a movie calls for a Black character, then a Black actor/actress should fill that role. Right? It would be incredibly offensive to have a white person dress up as Black and play the role. However, this happens to disabled people all…
Microaggressions Against Black IEP Students Most of you know I’m all in, as far as working harder to educate others, and my own personal biases as far as racism. And, I have a platform. I have been using that platform and will continue to do so. From the series of Race Listening Sessions this summer,…
Ableist Microaggressions Microaggressions have been getting a lot more attention recently, and with good cause. It’s very easy to spot someone who is openly hateful, racist or ableist. I mean, I think we can all agree that if you call someone the R word, that’s ableist. But ableism takes many different forms and shapes. And,…
It’s who I am. When I was in high school in the 1980s, during the summers my friends and I would drive around the mid-Atlantic states to see the Grateful Dead. I’ve also seen Jefferson Airplane, CSN, Pink Floyd and other groups in that genre. Long hippie skirts, tie-dyed shirts, jingly bell bracelets on our…
8 Ways the Special Education System Really is Stacked Against Parents. The special education system is stacked against parents. It’s not your imagination. It is not an even playing field. Lately, I’ve been feeling very deflated. I have written to several people I know in this field to reach out for help, reach out for…
When “Awareness” is Ableist. Last week, I did a post about a video that was going viral. I said then, and still think, that it’s ableist. Not to pat myself on the back (ok, maybe a little), the well-known activist Alice Wong agreed with me and shared my post. Her group even included trigger warnings…
Perfect Attendance Awards Perfect attendance awards are a terrible idea. I get it–I get why they were developed. To encourage kids with chronic absenteeism to attend school, and it was assumed that increased attendance would lead to increase performance. In fact, today, only 2% of educators and parents surveyed believe that perfect attendance awards are…
OCR Complaint I know, we complain too much. What can I say, it’s a complaints-based system. One of the remedies that parents have in special education is to file a complaint with your Office of Civil Rights. It’s easy, and it’s not. But, don’t be intimidated. One of the ways you can create change is…
Special Education Funding I honestly cannot believe that this blog is almost 10 years old, and it just occurred to me this week to write about Special Education Funding. I was participating in a webinar and it just hit me. So often, parents ask me, “Why? Why does it have to be like this? Why…
I know they mean well. People. They ask. But the holiday season just ended and I.am.exhausted. Mentally, not physically. Emotionally. My son has significant health issues. He’s medically complex. I talk about his issues often on the blog and in life. I posted our GoFundMe that we needed help with prior to his brain surgery….
Why School Choice is a Bad Idea. My heart sank. I screamed at my computer. I texted other advocate friends. We just couldn’t believe what we were reading. Seriously, a billionaire campaign donor with zero public education experience. That’s who he nominated? A woman whose family has dumped millions of dollars into school choice. This…
Questions about Disability A few weeks ago, my younger son (non-disabled) had a friend over to play. We’ve known this family for about 6 months. Both older kids have been in my home and have been exposed to my older son numerous times. Anyway, the older sibling came down to walk his sister home. While…
Politicians with Disabled Family Members Politicians-disability-community-family. You’d think that those words would go together, right? Do you remember it? It seems like a lifetime ago. But how the gossip was spreading in the disability community. “She has a son with Down Syndrome.” Wow, it was someone like us! Believe it or not, I was a…
Person First Language People first vs. identity first language, PFL vs IFL. When I was first introduced to the concept of people first language, I was all “Yes! He’s a person first!” I reworked blog posts and titles to accommodate the language. I corrected friends and family when they misspoke and gave diatribes about how…
Steve Harvey’s “Moral Barometer” is broken. Everyone deserves a second chance. And I gave one to Steve Harvey. He mocked people with disabilities in 2015. I was angry and I posted about it (below). Brian loves Little Big Shots and I let him continue to watch it. Steve Harvey partners with Ellen on a lot…
Public Education Reform I call myself a Public Education supporter. I advocate, I lobby, I educate myself on the issues. Public education benefits our society, well beyond our own kids. I truly want it to succeed. (This post used to say 5, but thanks to readers contacting me, I’m adding two.) I hear these same…
Lobbying for Special and Public Education If you follow this blog, you know that my main passion is lobbying for changes to the very broken special education system. I learned early on that while it’s important work to be helping one child out of a situation, it’s necessary to be involved in systems change too….
Disability and Poverty This post is at the request of my readers, in particular those in my Facebook group. Many have repeatedly said that they want to do something and want to be involved and help. But, because of the dynamics in our Congress right now, there just are not a lot of actionable items…
Questions for School Board Candidates “I’d go, but what would I ask?” I always encourage IEP parents to attend candidate forums. But that is the response I get so often. You want to inquire about school board candidates and their opinions on special education, IEPs and inclusion. But it can be intimidating, because you can’t…
You should tell the media about this! It’s a really common piece of IEP advice. And, I get it. Our kids are treated horribly sometimes. They get bullied, sometimes even by school staff. Kids are denied much-needed academic interventions, often for reasons none other than a power trip. It’s natural to think, “If more people…
Become an IEP Educational Surrogate Have you heard of being an IEP educational surrogate parent? Many times parents ask me how they can give back to the special needs community. Particularly for those who have their own child’s situation settled and stable, and have the knowledge, but maybe not quite enough knowledge to be working…
Hey, Special Needs Moms-You complain too much! Really, you do. I mean, c’mon already. Aren’t you tired of all the complaining? I am. No, really, I am. Special needs moms, dads….anyone who is closely connected to the special needs community…we all complain too much. And it’s exhausting. Did you know that the laws that are…
The Special Education Battle. I woke up this morning and put my armor on. I am weary and broken, but there is still a war to fight. They have strength in numbers. I have strength in tactics. They have strength in resources. I have strength in strategy. They have strength in deception. I have strength…
How do you introduce your Disabled Child? Do you know what an elevator pitch is? I attend lots of workshops for bloggers and PR stuff, and it often comes up. It’s a succinct way of “selling yourself” in 2-3 sentences. It’s a term coined in the business world. Think of yourself in an elevator with…
Ted Kennedy: February 22, 1932- August 25, 2009 Here is the video tribute that was done for Ted Kennedy at the DNC convention. (this is an older post recently udpated) I’m a big fan of his and miss having him here to champion for our kids. Yes, he was a man who made some mistakes,…
Me too. You’ve seen this, right? The “me too” campaign going on right now in social media? If you’ve been sexually harassed, you’re to put “me too” as your status update or tweet to give people an idea of how widespread this problem is. I hate him, I really hate him. He’s gross and disgusting…
Ah, Sunday mornings. I love them. I often try to feed my dogs later and let them out later than usual on Saturday evenings, so that will buy me some extra time on Sunday mornings. If it’s rainy and cold, I love staying snuggled in bed. I still get a Sunday paper. On warmer days,…
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi. I’m taking a year long training program to become a Certified Special Education Advocate. I had class all day Saturday. I like my instructor. Like, really like her. If I’m being honest, the first class or two, I found her to be…
I have discovered that my real passion is systems advocacy. That is, trying to make the laws, programs, systems and funding better for our kids. I will say, that for right now, for me to be able to do this is a luxury. And what I mean by that is, my own personal situation is…
In a post I did yesterday, I highlighted a bit of history from the Disability Rights movement and how we got to where we are today. I didn’t go into much detail about Pennsylvania, Pennhurst and the role that Pennsylvania parents had on the movement. Families in Pennsylvania really played a strong and crucial role…
This is a day I have been dreading. I have been dreading it ever since he announced he was not going to run again in the November, 2014 elections. If you follow my blog, you know that I am a huge fan of Senator Harkin. He has long been a champion for people with disabilities…
Author’s note: I was feeling very sentimental about this experience so I wanted to republish it for Thoughtful Thursday. Never doubt what our kids can do! This event took place in April of 2012. As a blogger, I network with dozens and dozens of other bloggers in all blogging genres. Yesterday, a mom who is a…
Like many parents, while my kids are young I am trying to introduce them to a variety of extra-curricular activities. It can be tough when your child has additional physical and mental challenges. K’s motor planning is pretty poor and his processing is slow. That pretty much means any sport or activity that involves a…
Today I testified before our state’s Special Education Funding Commission. This group of individuals has been charged with the responsibility of evaluating the special ed process in Pennsylvania, how it works, how it’s funded, the funding itself and so on. They want to hear from parents and citizens about their experiences with Special Education in…
It’s hard to believe, but over two months have passed since I went with my boys and Kevin’s TSS over to Bucks County for the ceremonial signing of HB 2. I kept thinking “I have to blog about it, I have to blog about it….” and before you know it, the summer is gone! Wow,…
Yesterday was such an exciting day for me and Kevin. We were invited to join the Education Law Center and Arc of PA in Harrisburg for a day of special education lobbying. Specifically, we were there to help lobby for Senate Bill 1115. This will just be photos and a recap of our day’s activities….
Most of you have already seen this Letter to the Editor that I wrote to the Daily Local. I’m putting this on here more for me, so that I always have a copy and can reference it if I want to, especially if the link disappears (which it has). Basically, on Monday, there was an article…