Advocacy
October 22, 2016
Yesterday I achieved a goal I have had for quite some time. I presented at the Ontario Association of Infant & Child Development Conference at Caesar’s Windsor. It was my first time presenting at a conference and surprisingly I wasn’t all that nervous. The topic was Our Journey: Finding Hope and Courage Through Family Centered Care. It was a small audience but that’s okay since it was my first time. It went over very well and several people told me it was their favourite of the whole conference. That was very pleasing and humbling. Oh and I should say that Corbin gave me permission to share some of his story. In his words, “people need to know”. I hugged him […]
December 14, 2016
There are times where, as the parent of a child with a disability, you will be told to fight for what your child needs. Us “special needs moms” – we tell each other “fight for him, you know him best” and “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. People get worked up hearing other parent’s stories. At times I too have believed this way of thinking and engaged in my fair share of fights. Last week I read a piece that spoke of being a Mama Warrior for your child with special needs and it just seared my heart. I genuinely felt very saddened by the notion that as a whole, it is thought that parents of kids with a disability […]
January 21, 2017
A few months ago I mentioned that I gave a 1.5 hour talk at a conference. It was at the Ontario Association for Infant and Child Development (OAICD) and the topic was Our Journey: Finding Hope and Courage within Family-Centred Care. The audience was small but perfect for my first solo presentation at a conference. I received the feedback from the conference in late November but was swamped with work and home stuff and didn’t get a chance to post. Here is what people had to say: Fantastic! Definitely valuable insight that is needed to hear Best presentation in the whole conference! I’ll definitely be checking out her blog. Moving! Absolutely fantastic that Tina would or could share her family’s […]
April 9, 2017
I was just doing some cleaning and realized I have 2 copies (one dog eared, one in pristine condition) of What Matters by Janice Fialka. It is an amazing book about raising her family and her son making his way in the world, fully included at every step of the way. Janice has been an inspiration to me since before we even adopted Corbin, and became even more important to me after. To win a copy of this book do one or all of the following (each one will get you a ballot in the draw): Leave a comment here share my facebook post Like my FB post Make sure you leave a message in the comments if you share […]
April 14, 2017
I stood there and watched him run into the woods. I didn’t follow as I knew I would never be able to catch him. I was beyond exhausted. Behind me I heard walkie talkies going off as three staff bolted out of two buildings and ran into the woods after him. I found myself fighting back tears. The staff beside me put her hand on my shoulder and gently said “Don’t worry, we’ll get him” and I began to sob. “It’s not that” I said “it’s that I don’t have backup staff at home. I don’t even have one staff. How are we going to manage when he comes home?” I was standing outside one of the units for inpatient […]
April 21, 2017
The back of one of my Corbin’s graduation announcements. Jeremy is disappointed as I always said I would write a “Suck It” announcement. He thought I meant that I would literally write those words. He makes me laugh.