No One Is Excluded | Life to the Full
America is supposed to be a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl” in which lots of different types of people live together and intermingle. Still, many of us live within…
The Vulnerable Power of Ted Lasso
Last week’s episode of Ted Lasso was really good (spoiler alert). Yes, it was funny and clever and involved men running around and kicking a ball and crass remarks and…
The Power of Typical High School Kids
“Do you want to eat lunch with us?” Those might be the most powerful words in the vocabulary of high school. I had a chance to meet with a group…
The Significance of Our Social Worlds
I’m taking a class right now where I’m learning all sorts of things about transitioning from high school to college or the workforce and beyond. Recently, our instructor mentioned that…
3 Things I’m (Still) Learning About Down Syndrome
Penny was on spring break last week. Our original hopes for a quick trip to Jamaica never materialized, but we did get to spend two nights with Penny’s friend Rachel…
Make Time for Grown-Up Friendships
No one ever told me how important the friends I made in my twenties would be. There's something about grown-up friendships. Those were the years when I was enough of…
Interdependent Healing
My new year has started off with heavy news from multiple friends. One whose husband moved out. Another who lost her job. Another whose sister is heading to a treatment…
Image courtesy of Getty Images | Canva Pro
The Importance of Diverse Friendships
Friendships that cut across social dividing lines matter more than almost anything else in helping people move from one social class to another, according to a recent study. Diverse friendships…
S5 E22 | Disability and the Speed of Love with Dr. John Swinton
How do we create communities where friendship is a possibility among people of differing abilities? Dr. John Swinton, theologian and author, talks with Amy Julia Becker about mutual relationships of…
Down Syndrome Community…16 Years After Penny Was Born
When Penny was three weeks old, we got a call from a woman in town who had a teenager with Down syndrome. She was the head of the local Down…
