A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
~Yoko Ono

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Well Said

I've mentioned fellow blogger, Ashley's Mom at Pipecleaner Dreams on a few occasions before.

Today I popped over to catch up on a few older posts and thought this post about inclusion was simply beautiful.

But, no, she speaks not of our children or others with disabilities being included, she speaks of true inclusion - among parents.

Some snippets:
. . .  .

There grows in communities groups of parents who have children with disabilities. These groups may grow out of shared hospital experiences or shared school experiences or maybe just through word of mouth from one family to another. And the adults in the groups come together for support and to share their stories that usually only others in similar situations will understand. More often than not, the children represented by these groups have very similar disabilities – parents of children with deafblindness, parents of children with Down Syndrome, or parents of children with trachs, for example. But what if you are the parent of a child that just doesn’t quite fit the same description of other children in one of the groups? What do you do and where do you find your support?

. . .  .

I know it’s difficult for true inclusion to work, and I know that there are many, many facets to inclusion. I know I may never see it fully bloom in my lifetime, but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming about it. I suggest we try to envision the inclusive world we all desire while at the same time finding the support we need. I fully realize that it is much easier to bond with another parent whose child is on a trach if my child is on a trach. But let’s try setting aside the specifics of disability and concentrate on the specifics of humanity – regardless of ability.
Head on over and read the rest of it. Please.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So to make this type of inclusion a reality, how does one go about it. I immediately think of the IWK which does such a great job with all our kids. Having said this, before the kids even start school, they are divided into all the different groups as soon as they are deemed in need of support from hospital, early intervention, etc. Where in society are we brought together. How
about a petition to the IWK which supports Camp Brigadoon & to our government, to put aside one week at Camp Brigadoon for all our children with special needs and mix everyone up. It would be a challange, but not impossible. Is there a mover and doer out there to get something started???