Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It's only a word ... Really?



Batten down the hatches! I'm about to drag out my dusty, old "soap box."  

This morning, I was brought to tears as I listened to a  DJ read from a blog written by a mother with a special needs child.  I am sharing this blog below because the subject matter touches me to the core of my being.
Lit Up Like a Parade

Thursday marked the end of a countdown my daughter started on January 6: Muses. 
Each night, after she listed her daily gratitudes and wrote in her diary, she would find the countdown calendar drawn on pink paper and dressed in white, silver, purple, and red glitter. With her very special pen, she would carefully cross off one more day, informing me of  the new countdown as she called out wishes of sweet dreams. As the countdown slimmed from a month, to a week, and then to days, her excitement grew.
“I don’t know if I should wear a costume this year or not, Mama,” she contemplated in the middle of a lesson on polygons for her sixth grade math class. “Mama. do you think I will get a shoe? What do you think the floats will look like? Which book should I bring with me to read while we wait? Should I take pictures with my cell phone? I am so excited for beads, Mama!
She was preoccupied with the parade, the Krewe of Muses, and our Mardi Gras holiday. Since our first parades as New Orleanians a few years ago, our Mardi Gras holiday has consisted of Muses on Thursday and d’Etat on Friday. Having a spouse working in the restaurant business, Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras were never spent together – he is busy insuring everyone else has their spirits high on these two special days. And because my daughter is a high-functioning autistic child, we stayed away from the crowds of the super krewes. Just in case.  
We have always watched the parades along the extended route, sometimes called the family zone, and it has been an enjoyable experience. We have reconnected with old friends, exchanging Mardi Gras wishes while catching up with the latest changes in our lives, and have met many new friends. My daughter has played along strangers, created art while patiently waiting for the show to start, and read her first Nancy Drew book along the parade route. Through the challenges that we sometimes face throughout the year, issues dealing with social and sensory issues, Mardi Gras and Muses was the moment of the year where it all faded away, where we were a normal family embracing the culture in our new city, creating memories of our new life. 
As we sat on the sidewalk along the parade route and patiently waited for start time, we talked about what we thought we would see, which bands we loved listening to best, and whether Elvis would make an appearance on his moped. We watched Pussyfooters pass by on foot, 610 Stompers in full uniform, and a few Bearded Oysters with high hair weaving through the crowd.  As parade time approached, as cliche as it sounds, there was a sparkle in my daughter’s eye and a smile so big, it made me wish that she could spend her life this happy – always. 
And then they came. Despite sitting on the ground, our feet on the street, they came in front of us, a gaggle of college kids holding to-go cups full of booze, cigarettes in hand, f-bombs flying out of their mouths with no care who was around them.  Once the parade started, we stood, them still in the street. Then the first marching band hit the road, forcing us all to back up, my daughter getting lost in a sea of twenty-somethings drinking a little too much. Some were local, others were not. She looked at me, her eyes tense.“Mama, I can’t see. And that guy keeps touching me with his beer.” 
Despite her 5 6 frame, she was surrounded by young adults too involved in gossiping about who was going to be screwing who, which picture they had on their phones that were “too epic’ to not post on Facebook, and preoccupied by the booze pouring out of their red SOLO cups. 
One boy, over 6 foot, came dangerously close to starting my daughter’s hair on fire. Only one float had passed by. 
“Excuse me, Sir,” I said, ” do you think you could move over a bit. My daughter cannot see, you’ve spilled some beer on her, and you almost got her with your cigarette.” 
He looked at me blankly, then looked at her. He looked at my daughter from head to toe, staring at the patch on her coat that would indicate she was autistic to medical personal should an emergency arise. He sneered at me before laughing in my face.  
I put my arms around my daughter, warming her up, protecting her, whispering in her ear. 
The tall man with the bear hat on his head paid no mind to us. He didn’t move, either.   
“Hey, man! I need to move. This woman is bitching at me because her retard daughter can’t see the parade!” he shouted to a kid a few feet away.  
He turned back to us, looked my daughter in the eye, and shouted to no one in particular. “This retard is making watching the parade a challenge.” 
My daughter looked at me, knowing he was talking about her, and tears formed in her eyes. I wrapped my arms around her a bit tighter and whispered in her ear that the man was drunk, didn’t know what he was saying, and sometimes the best thing to do is to know the truth about yourself and ignore what other people say.  
My words didn’t matter, though. By then, she had heard what he had said, knew what he was implying about her, and she wanted to go home. Had she not been with me, I may have had a few choice words of my own, but I knew it wasn’t the time and certainly not the place. 
A night she had been looking forward to, planning and anticipating for a few months, had just been marred by that bad behavior of a grown person. 
“Mama. please, can we go home? He told everyone I’m a retard. I’m not a retard, am I, Mama?” she asked. The grin was gone, replaced by a quivering lip. The sparkle in her eyes had dispersed, and they were now filled with a flow of tears falling down her full, pink cheeks.  
“Are you sure, honey? We could walk somewhere else and watch the parade. We could move.” 
“No, Mama. I don’t think that would be a good idea. People there will probably think I’m a retard, too. People don’t want people like me at parades. They won’t let us in to watch the parade. I just know it.” 
I tried to comfort her with my words, encourage her, but the more I pushed, the more this man’s words hurt.We packed up the bag holding the the goods that had entertained us for the  two hours  we sat on the sidewalk, waiting for our special night. The bag that held my daughter’s snacks, sketch pad, books, and blanket. I took her hand, and led her to the car to go home.  
She cried in the car on the way home, having seen exactly two floats from Muses and having exactly zero throws to show for the verbal attack that she endured just trying to watch her favorite parade. 
“Honey, I am really sorry about what happened. Maybe we can try tomorrow night. Maybe we can go to a different spot, ” I said, trying to encourage her and save the rest of our Mardi Gras. 
“No, Mama. I don’t think I want to do Mardi Gras anymore. Not ever again.” 
A year ago, I asked my daughter what she most loved about Mardi Gras, expecting her to say the throws, the beads, and the pretty costumes. Her answer surprised me: “I don’t feel like I am different than everyone else during Mardi Gras, Mama. During Mardi Gras, everyone is a little weird like me." 
That night, she didn’t want to share her daily gratitudes, shrugging her shoulders and telling me she didn’t really feel grateful for much. She didn’t write in her journal, only wanting to forget the night had even happened. Her countdown calendar peppered the floor in tear-soaked pieces. A night that he had probably already forgotten by the next morning; a night that her broken heart will never let her forget. 
Retard! Some people might say, "Oh, it's just a word. You're being too sensitive! What's the big deal?"


Well - let me tell you!  Originally the term "mental retardation" or "mentally retarded" were medical terms with a specific clinical connotation referring to a person with limitations in mental functioning and skills. However, today the "R-word" (retard, retarded) is tossed around by many people as a synonym for "dumb" or "stupid" or as a way to show that something is "uncool."  I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard a young girl say something like - "Oh my hair is so retarded today" or  "That movie was so retarded!"

Agghhhh!  Hearing the word used in this flippant manner is like the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard to me! It is downright hurtful!

Words have power!  What those people don't understand is that using "retarded" in this manner, only reinforces painful stereotypes that ultimately degrade people with intellectual disabilities.  I've heard it described this way - When used in the slang sense, "retard" means defective in quality.  It all traces back to the cold hard roots of the undesirability of disability!


In 2008, the Special Olympics launched a campaign to combat the inappropriate use of the R-word.  March 31, 2009 was the first annual day of awareness for "Spread the Word to End the Word."  One year later, the campaign reached 100,000 pledges, and today there are 239,390 pledges of support to eliminate the demeaning use of the R-word.

Parents - listen to the words your kids use.  If you hear them using the R-word in a demeaning way, explain to them how hurtful their words are to families with children that have special needs.  Please join me and others in carrying out the following pledge:
I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the R-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.  
A side-note  to the above blog:
One day after finding out about Emily being bullied on their parade route, the all female Krewe of Muses hosted a personal parade for her in their float den.  New Orleans locals called it Emily Gras.  They opened up their float den and let the little girl climb onto the shoe float and gave her a little of the Muses parade that she missed. 
  








Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Day In The Life ...


So this is our normal morning routine:

I get up and go about getting ready.

Pat gets up with Tyler, unlocks the pantry and refrigerator, lets Tyler get his cereal and banana. He sits with him while he eats - then locks up everything, and Tyler goes upstairs to get ready for school.

I finish getting ready, and go into the kitchen to get breakfast for the road. Tyler yells down the stairs, "Mom, you look pretty." (Which I always have to chuckle about because he can't even see me.)

I say "thank you. Have a good day today." (That is code for -- don't get into any trouble at school today.) He says, "I will. I love you."

About the same time that I leave to go to work, Tyler leaves to go to school on the bus - saying, "Goodbye, dad, goodbye, mom" as he goes out the door.


This is what happened today:

I got up and went about getting ready.

Pat got up with Tyler, unlocked the pantry and refrigerator and let Tyler get his cereal and banana. He sat with him while he ate. But today, while he was sitting with him, Pat checked his email on his phone.

Tyler went upstairs to get ready for school.

I finished getting ready and went into the kitchen to get breakfast for the road. -- Total silence from upstairs.

I looked through the pantry for a breakfast bar - asked Pat about it, and he came to the pantry to find it.

I heard the front door open, and Tyler was going out the door -- without saying goodbye!

I said, "Goodbye Tyler. Have a good day." He turns around - barely - and ducks out the door.

I told Pat, "Tyler is up to something. He has something with him that he shouldn't have. If it's his iTouch, I will take it away, and he knows that because I've told him so."

We continue to look for the breakfast bar. Then Pat says, "Where's the loaf of raisin bread that I bought last night - and put right there." (pointing to an empty spot in the pantry.)

We both searched the pantry - and searched Tyler's room. Nothing!

So, Pat got dressed and followed the bus to school. He went in the back door of the school by Tyler's classroom just in time to see Tyler leaving his classroom (which he shouldn't be doing) -- going toward the hallway -- with the loaf of bread in his hands. (Several slices already missing.)

Pat calls his name, and Tyler turns around and says, "Oh - you caught me!"

And so it goes -- another day in the life of a child with Prader-Willi Syndrome. It's almost impossible to be vigilant 24/7.

It makes me tired ...