One of my favorite moments at Hope Heals Camp happens at the banquet Thursday evening. After days of being together, we all gather for a meal where we start with dessert. It’s a reversal of expectations. We’re not waiting until everything else is finished to celebrate the belonging and beauty we share. We’re not postponing delight in one another.
I thought about that tradition when Chris Cipriano told me about the role whipped cream plays in her family’s life. Chris’s oldest son, Miles, has a progressive condition that has caused him to lose many of his oral motor skills, and at this point in his life, whipped cream is one of the only things he is still able to enjoy by mouth. So when Chris’s youngest daughter asked why Miles got to have whipped cream for breakfast, Chris responded with another question: Why don’t we all have whipped cream for breakfast? What’s stopping us?
In our conversation, Chris invites us to stop accepting things simply because they have always been done that way. Sometimes that means advocating for the equipment or services our children need. Sometimes it means challenging systems that create unnecessary barriers. And sometimes it means recognizing that joy doesn’t need to wait for a special occasion.
Be Unapologetically Impatient: Disability + Parenting
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Amy Julia Becker desires to challenge assumptions about the good life, proclaim the inherent belovedness of every human being, and help us envision and build a world of belonging where everyone matters. Amy Julia invites people to reimagine the good life through her writing and speaking on disability, faith, and culture. She is the author of several books, including To Be Made Well, White Picket Fences, Small Talk, and A Good and Perfect Gift. She is a guest opinion writer for national publications and hosts two podcasts: Take the Next Step and Reimagining the Good Life. Becker is a graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is a member of the Disability Ministry Network and the Alliance for Disability Justice and Ethics in Reproductive Genetics. She lives with her husband and their three children in western Connecticut.
