In Your Face
Posted: March 6, 2013 Filed under: Down syndrome, marriage, the husband | Tags: disability, Down syndrome, fatherhood, religion 5 CommentsCall me Latke. As my name suggests, I was raised Jewish. Actually, my family called itself “culturally” Jewish, which meant we celebrated major Jewish holidays, ate Jewish food, and peppered our speech with Yiddish (oy!), but we prayed to no God. To be honest, this approach to religion never really appealed to me…sorry Mom and Dad. Read the rest of this entry »
Something to think about.
Posted: March 6, 2013 Filed under: Down syndrome, people first language | Tags: advocacy, Down syndrome, hate speech, language Leave a commentEven though I just posted this about needing a personal growth vacation, it didn’t seem right to let this go…
“The hardest thing about having an intellectual disability is the loneliness […] We are aware when all the rest of you stop and just look at us. We are aware when you look at us and just say, ‘unh huh,’ and then move on, talking to each other. You mean no harm, but you have no idea how alone we feel even when we are with you.” “So, what’s wrong with ‘retard’?,” he asked. “I can only tell you what it means to me and people like me when we hear it. It means that the rest of you are excluding us from your group. We are something that is not like you and something that none of you would ever want to be. We are something outside the ‘in’ group. We are someone that is not your kind.”
This is a part of an opinion piece in the NYTimes about the word “retard”. The quote is from a man named John Franklin Stephens. He has Down Syndrome. Maybe LP will grow up one day and speak out as eloquently as this man did.
He shouldn’t have to though.
I need a personal growth vacation.
Posted: March 5, 2013 Filed under: medical stuff, personal growth 4 CommentsIt’s true. I’m tired. Physically tired from running around a little too much, but emotionally tired. I’d like to take a break from pondering the meaning of life, disability, the universe, God, motherhood, any of that. Saw the preliminary results of LP’s sleep study. Not that great. Read the rest of this entry »
Kimchi Latkes 