Last week, the Times had an article on the medical breakthroughs in saving feather weight, premature babies. Sam Crane writes that society must also do its part in helping support these individuals throughout their lives, because feather weight infants are highly likely to have disabilities.
But I also know that parents of disabled children need a lot of help. My wife and I are in a relatively fortunate situation - good jobs, flexible time, excellent insurance - and have, I think, been able to care for Aidan rather well. But we spend a lot of money on a wide variety of equipment and therapists and other things. We also have had to press back against school districts and insurance companies that try to cut corners and shirk their legal duties for serving the disabled. I could go on but, trust me, American society - even with the advances of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - is not well designed to allow for the full participation of the disabled in society.
Just minutes ago, I received an e-mail from another blogger who was despairing because his school district had again refused to help his autistic son.
Here's a proposal. A number of bloggers have kids with disabilities and write about the issues involved with educating their kids from time to time. Perhaps we should put aside one day when we just write about the difficulties in getting services for the kids and how great they kids are despite their handicaps. We could all link to each other and help raise awareness. Sound good? Any ideas?