I will be writing about the joys and challenges of parenting a child with a chronic and progressive disability. If not for my son, I would have never known how often children and adults with disabilities are discriminated against and not truly valued in our society and world. I have never been good with injustice.
What is more critical to the quality of life than a healthy body? What if surgery is required to save a life? This story is about my experiences and the emotionally complex process of making informed medical decisions. Parenting a healthy, well-rounded child is tough… Read More »How To Make Informed Medical Decisions
My only child lived with an incurable disease. Life-threatening realities reveal the human spirit’s enduring strengths or the most destructive weaknesses. For every incurable disease, there is a respite, but you have to seek it and trust it. This story is about the lessons of… Read More »Lessons Of Incurable Diseases
America stands for the ideal that everyone deserves personal freedom, respect, and equal opportunities. As a parent and in my career as a human rights advocate, I discovered the best practices of Family-Centered Care. Knowing and advocating for these principles will create partnerships and positive… Read More »All Families Matter
Parenting a child with a disability and an incurable disease involves daily mountains to climb, fear of the unknown for the future of your child, sorrow, fatigue, and endless medical appointments. This survival story, however, is about how to use the healing power of fun… Read More »Healing Power Of Fun And Laughter
This is my letter to educators with a universal request to encourage all educators to work in partnership with parents and their children. If you read my Jailbait Advocate series, you will understand why I wrote this letter. Dear Educators, Please see Hayes as a… Read More »My Letter To Educators
In Jailbait Advocate Part 4, Principal Charles Kaplan threatened to have me arrested. In this final episode, find out if I end up in jail or if the truth about Charles Kaplan prevails. When I first thought of writing the Jailbait Advocate series, a software… Read More »Jailbait Advocate Part 5
As I wrote about in Jailbait Advocate Part 1, Jailbait Advocate Part 2, and Jailbait Advocate Part 3, trying to advocate for Hayes from first through fifth grade was scary, depressing, and unjust as soon as Charles Kaplan became the new principal. Jailbait Advocate Part… Read More »Jailbait Advocate Part 4
If you read this survival story, you will understand why I tagged myself as a Jailbait Advocate. Jailbait Advocate Part 3 shows how some bureaucrats discriminate against children and families and get away with it. I call this injustice THE BUREAUCRATIC NO ACCOUNTABILITY SOLUTION. The… Read More »Jailbait Advocate Part 3
This survival story escalates what I shared in Jailbait Advocate Part 1. Had I not been a Jailbait Advocate, my son might have died on the playground because the new principal was not implementing his IEP (Individual Education Plan). Dangers Of An Enlarged Spleen If… Read More »Jailbait Advocate Part 2
I am proud to be a jailbait advocate because I was willing to go to jail to protect my child in the Albuquerque Public School (APS) system. This is the first of a series of survival stories about my son’s experience in the public school… Read More »Jailbait Advocate Part 1