Mikelle and I feel compelled to write about life with a disability, not just the challenges but the opportunities, the friendships, the innovations, and the brilliance of our communities in action as we share our everyday life living with a disability. With a little more information, motivation, we hope to share how our life is shining beautiful and maybe help you to shine beautiful, too.

A Day With Ms Mikelle

A Day With  Ms Mikelle There are lots of things that Mikelle loves to do each day. She’s famous among her friends and family for insisting on getting her Starbucks frappe daily and for occasionally sneaking out of the apartment to hit the grocery store alone. She loves shopping for

The Frustration of an Unanswered Prayer

  I sent the Universe a request. I prayed for the perfect roommate to once again grace our home with the similar qualities Taylor, Kari, Lauren, Adriana and Susi shared with us during their time with Mikelle and me. Qualities like compassion, respect, fun, creative, laugh out loud zaniness.  Life

How Summer Camp Shapes Your Special Needs Child’s Future

It is that time of year, the school year is winding down and summer plans are shaping up. By now, the application process for most summer camps is completed and the steep application fees have been paid. Parents and students now anxiously await the arrival of the approval letter, which

Romancing the IEP

Romancing the IEP The Full Life Ahead Foundation recently ask me to write for their new blog on the topic, “The Individual Educational Plan” (otherwise known as the IEP).  Both Mikelle and I have a long history with the IEP. For me, first as a young special educator back in

Is Craigslist God’s Way of Saving the World?

Is Craigslist God’s Way of Saving the World? Tiredness sets in.  I hear my bed’s urgent call, “Get in here!” I fail to heed the call, and instead, grab my Smart Phone and check it one more time before I give up on another long day.  The switch from daylight

Perhaps She Does Love Cats

It was Mikelle’s brother, Kasey, who loved cats. His seven year old hands helped rescue “Vampire,” a gray hodgepodge of a kitten from beneath the pfitzer bushes standing sentry to the entrance of our home on Ponds View Place, back when we had grass, a sprawling ranch-style home with an

Life with Mikelle

Life with Mikelle:  Balancing our Special Needs   I thought living with my daughter would either be intense, even feverish. or cool and somewhat detached. After all, I am the “backup” her “just-in-case” person, the one she will use as needed, like a first aid kit. But, as any special

Life with Mikelle: Balancing our Special Needs

As I enter our home, it is warm and bathed in soft light.  I take off my coat and hang it on the hook near the door as I reflect on life in its present incarnation. I thought living with my daughter would either be intense, even feverish, in my

In Love With Love

In Love With Love By Taylor Mason “Learning how to love is the goal and the purpose of spiritual life — not learning how to develop psychic powers, not learning how to bow, chant, do yoga, or even meditate, but learning to love. Love is the truth. Love is the

Everyone Needs a Break–The Importance of Respite

Reluctant eagerness. Yes, those two words capture my dilemma each time I take a break from being a “special needs mom” and caregiver—if there is such a thing. Respite is good for both of us. On one hand, I am eager to leap out of my routine. Since, Mikelle graduated

A Fork in the Road

By Ashley Ryder,  Our new roommate. Some people say that ‘variety is the spice of life’…and I tend to agree. Like most people, I’ve got “chapters” in my life that define who I am and who I am trying to become. These segments are easy to identify because they’re punctuated