How to Explain Death to Kids with Intellectual Disabilities
When my mother-in-law died a few months ago at the age of 100, she left a huge gap in our lives. She had lived with us for 18 years and she was, to the very end, a vital part of our everyday …
Kids Get Farther When We Let Them Move on Their Own Two Feet
I’m used to amazing stories, near-miracles and unlikely transformations. When you work with children with special needs, they’re commonplace, the stuff of everyday. Take a child everybody else …
Unconditional Love for Children in Unexpected Moments
My daughter Moy Moy doesn’t speak at all. She is 27 years old, has quadriplegia and is completely non-verbal. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t communicate. This morning I woke at 5 am because …
Communicating Better with People with Disabilities
Whenever anything would go wrong in the early days of our foundation for children with special needs, Paula (our volunteer teacher-trainer, life-coach and best friend) would say, “Never mind! …
The Mountain of Early Intervention
I was one of those lucky teenagers who had no real problem with acne. I sailed through adolescence with only two or three pimples – so few I can’t even remember them. I do remember, however, …
The Art of Teaching Self-Control
A few months ago, I missed my train from Delhi to Dehradun. I had to get back home that afternoon and there was no way I was willing to pay for either a flight or a taxi. So I worked up my …
A Child’s Take On Gender Dysphoria
Rohit, 10 years old, writes about his best friend: Sunil is my best friend. We have known each other since we were small boys and we have done many things together – we learned to ride our …
Disability Doesn’t Excuse Behavioural Problems
Shilpi is an absolutely impossible child. If she doesn’t like the food she is served, she hurls it against the wall. Bath time is a daily screaming match, and no one is allowed to brush her …
The Myth of the Superwoman with a Special Needs Child
I am the director of an organisation for children with disabilities and their families in Dehradun. Recently, one of our major funders asked us to conduct what they call a “Family Burden Survey.” …
Sensitising A Doctor (And The World)
Recently, I took my daughter to an ENT specialist because she has developed periodic breathing, holding her breath for up to 40 seconds and then suddenly exhaling. She does it for most of the …
Social Media, A Lifeline for People Dealing With Disability
Every parent remembers (in a haze, maybe, but we do remember) the early days when the first baby had just arrived. The broken sleep. The chaos. The complete inability to plan anything further …
For Parents of Kids Who Fell Far From The Tree
I am reading Far From The Tree by Andrew Solomon, and it is a slow, painful process that leaves me alternately breathless and buoyant. I feel as if I have been put through a threshing machine at …
Thinking of Luck And Narrow Escapes
As advocates for children with special needs, one of the things we keep discovering is how insightful and observant children are about each other, how much they notice and how much they connect. …
Self-Advocacy
The latest buzzword in the world of special needs is Self-Advocacy, the idea that young adults with cognitive impairments (like Autism, Down Syndrome or other intellectual disabilities) can and …
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