The Voiceless Minority

Happy Taco Tuesday everyone! Thank you for the continued support you have shown over the past few weeks. Today will be the third in a series about parenting with a disability. I did not intend for this topic to be a series of blogs but the topic keeps finding relevance in my life and I hope to continue to impact others as well.  I began writing about parenting with a disability a decade ago. The first blog was entitled "Who Says We Can't Have A Family".  Who Says We Can't Have A Family   Two years later I wrote a second blog entitled “Parenthood & Me”.  Parenthood & Me   If you read both blogs, you may be a little confused. I sound like a rolling contradiction (: Both of these blogs were written while I was single as a pringle. In the first blog, I had a positive outlook on having a biological child. In the second blog, I said something to the effect of after thinking about it I would be doing a disservice to a young child, and I stated that I thought it...

They say things happen for a reason. They also say for those of us who are religious that God has a way of providing exactly what you need when you need it, even if you don’t know you need it. I am living proof that this statement is true. In the following piece, you will learn that one event, no matter how small or big, has the power to change you if you allow God to implement his plan in your life. For those of my readers who don't know, I am beginning the second year of my fellowship with an organization known as Florida Self-Advocates Network’D (FLORIDA SAND). They are a nonprofit, organization made up of 15 self-advocacy groups throughout the state. The organization aims to amplify the voices of individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) on a local, state, and federal level.  According to their website, their mission is… FL SAND is an independent 501(c)(3) organization formed to expand the self-advocacy movement in Florida. It works through the support ...

Your friendly neighborhood super advocate is back! Since I last posted a lot of things have happened in terms of disability related issues and content. This post is the first of several posts to come. They will discuss a wide variety of topics including dating and relationships as well as finances and the low expectations society still has for people with disabilities.  Today’s post will highlight a recent encounter that I had at Wal-Mart. The encounter reinforces the idea that there is still a narrow view of disability in society. Let me set the scene.   As I often do, I was shopping at my local Wal-Mart a couple weeks ago. Most of the time I go in to the store with my caregiver or I pick up the groceries I have preordered. On this day, I did not go in, instead I decided since I only had a few things to pick up I would have my caregiver run in for me. As most of you know, I currently live in Florida. The weather in Florida often fluctuates between warm and extremely hot ...