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Amy Julia Becker (00:02)
A look of pity. The R word dropped into casual conversation. The other mom who says that your child’s isolation is just the same as everyone else’s. The doctor who tells you about the ways your child doesn’t measure up. The prevailing cultural message around disability tells us our families are problems. Parents of children with disabilities often feel overwhelmed, overlooked, and alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m Amy Julia Becker.
writer, speaker, podcaster, and mother to Penny, a 19 year old young woman with Down syndrome. I’ve partnered with our friends at Hope Heals to bring Families Experiencing Disability a new podcast, Take the Next Step. Here at Take the Next Step, we see your family as a gift to our society and to your local community. We want you to know that your family matters. Your child matters.
We need you among us.
When Penny was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, we, like many parents, experienced a complex web of grief, love, fear, joy, guilt, and hope. We also faced an uncertain future. In fact, we couldn’t imagine a good life for our family. Now, 20 years later, we have learned how to reimagine disability and take steps together toward a good future for Penny and for our family.
Here at Take the Next Step, we will be talking about three basic ways that we can reimagine disability and move towards a good future. For the next 10 weeks, I’ll interview people experiencing disability personally and in their families. I’ll also interview therapists and researchers.
And all of this so that you are equipped with ways to delight in your child and your family, connect to community, and take the next step towards a good future. We’ll start next week, September 17th, with an interview with Katherine Wolf, stroke survivor, disability advocate, and co-founder of Hope Heals.
This season we’ll also talk with therapist Sissy Goff about the importance of delight, Professor Erik Carter about creating communities of belonging, and author Jillian Benfield about taking the next step. These short interviews will offer you meaningful, manageable steps you can take in five minutes or less to walk towards a good future.
Please help us to spread the news about this resource for all the families you know who are experiencing disability. We are so glad you’re here and we hope you will join us next week.
