Diary of a Beautiful Special Needs Sibling

  It’s the season of love.  Everyone knows that I am a mushy person, and I love love! I love romantic things. Unfortunately, I’m single. But I’ll show love to myself.  Like Joan in girlfriends said,” I will embrace my singlehood.” It’s Valentine’s day! Of course, people treat the day as a day focused on romantic love alone, but generally, it’s a day to show love to everyone! Gone are the days when people with disabilities weren’t allowed to mingle with other members of society.  People with differences find love. They have children and live very fulfilled lives.  Love is not always easy- it comes with problems (I would know). If you’re friends with or dating a person with a disability or a disorder, there are things that you need to know.  Persons with disabilities will want you to know these three things; Have Patience with me Patience is needed daily, with yourself, with your parents, and most importantly, with partners. Caring for persons...

A happy new year to you all!   I wish you a year of abundance, blessings, and yes, inclusion! Inclusion and acceptance are what we talk about and constantly push for.    Today is the International Day of Acceptance. Just as the name suggests, it’s a day we celebrate persons with disabilities and also push for their acceptance in society.    Let's take you down memory lane, shall we? Annie Hopkins founded 3E Love to make the world a much better place. She also created the symbol of Acceptance- the famous image that shows the wheelchair in the shape of a heart.   Recognizing and respecting differences in others, and treating everyone like you want them to treat you, will help make our world a better place for everyone. Care… be your best. You don’t have to be handicapped to be different. Everyone is different!” – Kim Peek   First of all, why should we even care about people with disabilities? They are part of society and dese...

We’ve heard the word “inclusion” a thousand times this year.  What does it mean? Simply means to include someone in the activities of the society.  We know about gender-inclusive governance where people are pushing for women to be part of the decision-making in politics.  Speaking of politics, have you gotten your PVC? Next year, we have the power to elect Godly and serious-minded leaders, let’s not throw that power away and put the country in the hands of reckless and shameless people. Thanks.  Right now, I want to talk about special needs inclusion. Sometimes, people with special needs are excluded from a particular activity. It could start from your child not being invited to a classmate's birthday party because of his/her disability.  Thank God that this is now changing.  We have people with special needs in politics, sports, on our big screens, the art space, and so much more.  People are getting the message that EVERYONE matters.  But we sti...

  It is a hard pill to swallow but children with developmental disorders are often not recognized in society.  Yes, I said it! Special education is a unique educational program for students who have mental, physical, and emotional challenges.  These children require special and unique teaching approaches. Sometimes, these approaches take place outside a regular classroom setting. Special-needs children refer to children who have some  sensory challenges.  Some of these challenges are common to children with Autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, Cerebral palsy, hearing impairments, developmental delay, intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, visual impairment, and much more. It’s unfair that children are placed in regular classrooms and are forced to learn the way neurotypical children are.  My brother once attended a school for neurotypical children.  This was a time when we weren’t sure about his diagnosis. I could tell that it was hard fo...