Late last fall I went for a walk on a gloomy, misty, day in Oak Park, Illinois. I noticed the sign above on the side of an old church. The big white banner stood out against the faded limestone. I’ve written about INCLUSION before, but on that day, I saw it in a different light. Up to that point, I thought of INCLUSION as all things to do with access for people with physical […]
At first, it made me angry, then SAD to watch a group of approximately twenty five developmentally disabled people slowly make their way across the crosswalk and into the grocery store. Don’t get me wrong – – please. I wasn’t angry at the people. Some things in life are relative. What was considered progress forty years ago might be inappropriate today. When evaluating something we are compelled to ask, “compared to what?” Take group shopping […]
I saw her coming at me from the back of the room. Her red face, furrowed brow, and wrinkled eye brows told me she was angry. I was right. She wasted no time on pleasantries before she unloaded on me with a fury like I had never experienced. The way she saw things, I represented all that was wrong in the world of children with special needs. She made it very clear she hated me […]
On November 9, 2016, I woke up for my usual two am bathroom call and a snack. What was unusual that morning was my curiosity regarding the election results. I recall watching the TV the night before as talking heads and pundits grew pale and nearly speechless as the election results came in. I admit it was fun watching those who like to tell us what to think and believe being confronted with their limitations […]
Once in awhile, a quote stands out that expresses the belief of a whole generation. On page 14 of his book Humans of New York Stories, Brandan Stanton, author of the wonderful website Humans of New York captured the essence of INCLUSION. On that page you will find the picture of a pretty young lady in a wheelchair. After growing up in an ISOLATED world she explains what INCLUSION means to her. Here is what she said: “I want to make […]
After completing the first draft of the story of Anna Olson in December of 2012, I had a huge document, almost 200,000 words long! I’m not sure how many pages that translated to but those were a lot of words. It was cumbersome and wordy and need to be trimmed down. For one thing, I included un-needed material on Anna’s parents growing up in Norway, how they met, and why they came to the US. […]
It’s been a great adventure, the last three years of writing. Writing was and is sometimes smooth and easy, with the story just pouring out of my head for days and weeks at a time. Sometimes it was a struggle and a few pages a day seemed almost impossible. For example, the entire first chapter in Isolated in America has been very difficult and I am still not sure I have it right. I spent […]
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