Disability

Stories, theology, and cultural commentary related to disability.

What Rachel Simon Told Me About Being a Sibling of Someone with a Disability

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Rachel Simon's new novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl. She and I then corresponded via Twitter, and on Wednesday night we had a lovely conversation in which I had the chance to ask her some of the questions that you all suggested. In particular, I asked her if she had any ...

What I'm Reading: Recent Articles about Disability

A moving story from the LA Times of a South Korean pastor who cares for dozens of abandoned babies with disabilities: "South Korean Pastor Tends Unwanted Flock."

"New Study Implicates Environmental Factors in Autism," from the New York Times. A new study of twins released online on Monday confirmed the ...

Publisher's Weekly Reviewed A Good and Perfect Gift and...

...they liked it!

I've been grateful already for the responses from various people who have endorsed my book, the first official review of A Good and Perfect Gift comes out next week in Publisher's Weekly. Among other things, they write:

Becker (Penelope Ayers: A Memoir), a Princeton University and Princeton ...
Talking with Rachel Simon

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Rachel Simon's new novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl. As I wrote earlier, the book is a lovely story that travels a road of despair and delight, weaving together themes related to disability and faith. I loved it.

But it gets better. Rachel Simon noticed my review, and she ...

College, Down Syndrome, and the Plans we Have...

It happens all the time. Friends talk about our children, their own children, their grandchildren with reference to where they'll go to college. College motivates some seven year olds we know (or, perhaps I should say, motivates the parents of some seven year olds) to play lacrosse, piano, violin. College ...

Perfectly Human: I Am Only Human by Mey Lau

When I was younger and I heard the word disabled, I never really felt that tug at my heart or that compassion I saw so many others portray. In fact, other than Paul, the guitar player at our church with Down Syndrome, I never really had the opportunity to interact with someone with a disability.

Growing ...

90% of Babies With Down Syndrome Aborted? Really?

Penny will "graduate" from pre-school today. She'll sing songs and receive a diploma and give hugs to her friends and her teachers. And we'll feel a little silly that we're sitting through a pre-school graduation and a little nervous that kindergarten comes next and very proud of our little girl.

And ...

What I'm Reading: Articles about Sarah Palin and Down syndrome, Disability Worldwide, and Prenatal Screening

As reporters and others cull through Sarah Palin's emails of the past few years, one has surfaced that demonstrates her thoughts and feelings before she gave birth to Trig, her youngest son, who was born with Down syndrome: "How Sarah Palin Imagined God Talking to Her..."

A recent report indicates that ...

The Story of Beautiful Girl: Humanity Laid Bare

I stayed up late every night this week reading The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. It's no great surprise that I loved it. The plot involves Lynnie, a young white woman with an intellectual disability, and Homan, an African-American deaf man. They fall in love and run away from "the ...

Perfectly Human: All for the Good... by Kelly Wendel

I was only five years old when my cousin Ben was born. I do not remember exactly how I was told that he has Down Syndrome or what that really meant. I think my mom explained that "things are just going to be harder for Ben," or something to that effect. All I knew was that he was that he was another ...

Interview About Disability, Faith, and the Gift of Every Life

Last week I was interviewed on the John and Kathy Show of Word FM, a Christian radio station in Pittsburgh. The interview came as a follow up to the award I received (along with my friend Ellen Painter Dollar) from the Evangelical Press Association in response to my article, "Consindering Curing Down ...

Perfectly Human: What Really Matters by Sarah Messner

When I was little, my big sister Katey carried, snuggled, cooed at, tickled, and pushed me on the swing. She bickered with me over food, toys, attention, and pets. As a toddler, I looked up to Katey, fifteen years my senior. I wanted to wear her retainer and her big purple dress and go to high school ...

What I'm Reading: Sex Trafficking in Connecticut, A Child with Down Syndrome, and Running

"Sex Trafficking of Americans: The Girls Next Door" is a disturbing article in Vanity Fair about the young (very young) girls who are bought and sold for sex. And this isn't just happening overseas. The article focuses on two girls in Connecticut who found themselves trapped in a system of abuse and ...

Perfectly Human: We Are All Glorious Ruins by Mary Frances Giles

"Mary Frances, what is wrong with your hair today? It looks so weird, you really need to do something about it."

Ah, nothing like going to work and getting beauty advice from a seven-year old. Is this why I suffered through graduate school?

In my work with countless children as a speech-language pathologist ...

Overcoming Disability or Can She Do It?

My husband Peter is a runner. Five miles is a short run. He runs half marathons. He's training for some ungodly number of miles on sand later in the summer. He does a grueling track workout once a week. He loves running. And he generally runs at a pace of 7 minutes per mile or so.

I am not a runner. ...

Ballet Recitals, Carelessness, and Grace Part One

Penny started taking ballet lessons in the fall. She learned the moves and the terms to go with them—plie, bouree, releve. Throughout the year, Penny performed in countless living rooms, singing every word and dancing every step of "Magic Tutu" in preparation for the big day, her recital.

Last Friday ...

Disability Roundup

A series of articles that might be of interest to readers who are interested in topics related to disability:

An article in Canadian Family, "The Downside of Special," written about the difficulties of parenting a child with special needs. The tone of this article is honest without dipping into self-pity. ...

Down Syndrome Decades Ago: Nothing But Absence

(An abridged version of this review appeared in the May/June issue of Books and Culture.)

Fifty years ago, when Anne Crosby's son Matthew was born with Down syndrome, the life expectancy of a "mongoloid" child was around twenty years. Doctors and teachers called children with Down syndrome "ineducable," ...

Perfectly Human: Trusting God in Times of Grief by Taylor Martin Wise

When the doctor delivered the news that my ten-month old daughter Bette was hearing impaired, I was stunned.

How could that be? She makes noises. She is playful. She laughs big belly laughs. How can she not hear? There must be some mistake.

But it was no mistake. The doctor did his best to explain the ...

Is There Such a Thing as Wrongful Birth?

A few years back, I read an article in the New York Times Magazine about a "wrongful birth" lawsuit. A woman sued her doctors after her child was born with severe disabilities because she would have aborted had her daughter's genetic abnormalities been detected in utero. The writer of the article sums ...

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