My Supports

My daily supports are varied and vast, a fact that I am thankful for everyday.

My phone wakes me up each day, provides me with the most updated news and weather and gets me my latest text messages and emails while bringing me my calendar of appointments for the day. My phone also connects me to my mom who is my greatest support. She and I talk everyday as I drive to work, she is my best friend and therapist.

Another support is my six-year-old son, he is my reason for being and he makes me laugh every day, he is a joy to be around. My friends and colleagues are a daily support to me as we share war stories, shoulders to cry on and stories to laugh. My life partner, Michael, lives in California and we share a past, a present and a future that motivates me daily.

I choose a visual disability for my challenge. I am planning to go back to school to get my license to work with visually impaired/blind individuals as I have been working with infants and toddlers that are considered medically fragile, several of them have shunts resulting in cortical visual impairments and some of my older students, including my own child, have visual impairments which affect perceptual and fine motor skills. I try to imagine life without my site or with limited site and I shudder; I am a visual learner, preferring to see things versus hearing them. I can't imagine losing my independence, being able to drive, take care of myself, run errands, see my son's beautiful face and smile. I can't even fathom what life without site would be like, maybe if I was born with this disability and didn't know the difference then I would be alright with this challenge but having lived with my site this long I don't believe that even having support in the form of technology to read for me, a guide dog for independence and in home support for other tasks I would be happy.

My Connections to Play

One of the greatest joys of growing up in a small town, finding adventure outside everyday. 

I grew up in the 1970's without computers, smart phones, etc. much less cable television. Spending time inside was really only allowed when the weather wasn't nice (think thunderstorms, blizzards, etc.) and even then we were encouraged to try and be outside. 

This was my grandfather for me when I was a child and hopefully it is me for my child today

I'm bored is a phrase we never used in my house growing up because if my mom heard it she would hand you a dust rag or vacuum. We spent hours wandering around our backyard, resting under the lilac trees, riding bikes to the swimming pool, home to throw the towels over the clothes line, bedrooms to change and then back outside to dig in the dirt. I never had "nothing" to do in my home. 

Art supplies were a staple in our home and we were never told no when we asked for new supplies

I loved to explore in my mom's jewelry box, she had a mixture of things from my great-grandma and grandma. Every time I went through it she would share stories with me about the pieces and the people they came from and the meaning they held for her. 

A sheet, spread out over the living room floor, the dining room table, the couch, hung with clothespins from the trees and bushes in the backyard, made the playhouses of my youth. The smell of a crisp sheet fresh from the laundry reminds me of summer days drowsy under the sun. 

In my youth and in my small town it was no big deal for younger kids to be outside all day without an adult right there, to be able to have the "run" of your block, visiting neighbors, playing with friends, exploring the block as long as you checked in with your mom or caretaker. Now I am uncomfortable leaving my child outside to play without checking on him every two minutes. I don't know the neighbors the way my parents did, there is more traffic on the roads in my neighborhood now and the guidelines of my town home complex states that children can't be "unattended" at any time. I am sad that as carefree as my childhood and young adulthood was that I can be this "hovering" parent when I know that my child needs some freedom to thrive. I do take him for walks on the nearby nature paths and allow him to lead as we wander through the river reeds and "fish" in the river. I think that he needs these adventures to balance out the amount of time he has to sit still in school activities or in front of electronic devices. So, is play important? Absolutely!! He can't learn without it.