I’m Amy Julia Becker, a writer, speaker, podcaster, and mother to Penny, a 19-year old young woman with Down syndrome. When Penny was born and diagnosed with Down syndrome, we, like many parents facing unexpected news, experienced a complex web of grief, love, fear, joy, guilt, and hope. We faced an uncertain future. And we found that we couldn’t imagine a good life for our family.

But through the gift of friends, family, faith, supportive experts, and both mentors and peers in the disability community, we eventually learned how to reimagine disability and take steps towards a good future for Penny and for our family. We’ve come to understand disability as a natural aspect of the human condition that most of us will experience at some point in our lives. We’ve come to understand each human being as a vulnerable, limited, beautiful, significant member of our society.