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Pitiful?
I’ve heard and read a lot of accounts lately from parents and caregivers about other adults either giving unsolicited parenting advice or making crass comments about special needs kids when they are having a difficult time in public. I’ve got to be honest – this is one of the biggest reasons I built a ‘moat’…
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Moving In To The Village
In August 1996, then First Lady Hillary Clinton addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was the now famous, “It Takes a Village” speech. In it, she details how, while parents are a child’s first and primary teachers and role models, it takes everyone in the community to raise a healthy, happy child. I…
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The Best Laid Plans…
This blog post is late. Four weeks late, to be exact. I had such great intentions at the beginning of August to put all of my blog obligations on a calendar, complete with topics for each post, intending to work on them in advance so I could not only fulfill all my obligations, but get…
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Meds, Realizations, and Growing Up
You can also read this post on the CABF website. I spent part of last week at the NAMI Conference in Chicago. It was a phenomenal three days where I learned a great deal, met some amazing people, and enjoyed playing tourist in my hometown. On the opening day after the keynote speech, I was…
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Alone in a Crowd
Image by OpenEye It’s been a long time since I’ve taken the train downtown with any regularity, but my job responsibilities changed about two months ago and now I take the train to Chicago twice a week. Taking the train makes for a different sort of day than I have when I commute by car to…
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Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
Photo by Roman Skrada My son has been in residential treatment for two years this month. I can’t believe he’s been living away from home for that long. It seems like it was just a few months ago we were sitting at the kitchen table, making the decision on the residential programs we wanted to…
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Not Ready for Independence: the “Super Senior” Program
My son Tim turns 17 this summer, and I’m terrified. 17 means just one more year until the Government says he’s an adult. And I know, if “the Government” knew my kid, they’d know he’s not ready. I know what it’s supposed to look like. My oldest child turns 21 this year, and he’s settled…
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The Dance: How and Why I Spoke Out Against Stigma
I firmly believe that sunlight sanitizes, that being open and honest about something that is widely misunderstood can bring clarity and eliminate the overtones that make people afraid. Phew. What a March. I’m glad it’s over for a number of reasons. It’s historically Tim’s most unstable month. It still snows here in Chicago, no matter…
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Ten Minutes for Mom
I called my doctor last Monday morning and got his answering machine. Most people who don’t have urgent care near them and aren’t sick enough for the emergency room wait with scrapes and sniffles and coughs over the weekend to see their primary care doctor on Monday. So I wasn’t surprised I had to leave…
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Guest Blog for CABF: Letting Stuff Go
My parents were with us over the holidays. It was a nice time – they live in Arizona and us in Chicago, so we haven’t had the ability to spend the holidays together in five years. My parents understand Tim’s condition well and do a great job of understanding how to handle his moods and idiosyncracies,…