Center for Family Involvement Blog
The Center for Family Involvement works with families to increase their skills as advocates, mentors, and leaders so that people with disabilities and their families can lead the lives they want.
Our blog shares snippets of the unique journeys many of us are on – from the celebrations, struggles, joys, pains, and more.
JUST STOP: SIMPLE CAN BE SPECTACULAR
How are you feeling these days? Excited for the holidays or frantically preparing?Whatever you're doing, just stop it. It is enough. It is probably more than enough. I am not referring to the "true meaning of Christmas" here. We all celebrate differently, some of us...
STOP CALLING WHAT WE DO “NORMAL”
My mother almost died in October. The ordeal shook me to my core, in unexpected ways. I am one of those daughters that talks to their mom every single day, sometimes more. But I’ve also been mourning her for years. She has not been well for some time. The...
CFI Staff Bios 21
WHY ARE VACCINE ROLLOUTS CATERED TO THE PRIVILEGED?
My three beautiful babies are getting their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today. The range of emotions I am feeling is so complicated. Relief, gratitude, excitement, exhaustion, and pure joy are the obvious ones. There’s also a lot of anger. In...
N-O-R-M-A-L
By Jen Reese N-O-R-M-A-L I hate that term to its core but today I’m using it to describe our return to a more regular life post COVID. My 13-year-old daughter Cailyn has pretty much been homebound since the pandemic started. Her last day of school in person was March...
WHEN BEING OUT AND PROUD IS COMPLICATED
By Anonymous "I think about the intersection of disability and queerness a lot because I’m both queer and someone with a set of disabilities that is not immediately apparent. All my life, people have asked me things about my disabilities (or perceived disabilities)....
TAKING CARE OF OUR AMAZING DADS
We have all been through the ringer over the last 16 months. This Father’s Day is a good time to really check in on the dads in our lives. Society has conditioned us to see men as strong and stoic. No tears or fears allowed. They are the provider, the...
MOTHER’S DAY 2021: REIMAGINING WHO AND HOW WE HONOR
After everything we’ve been through in the last year and a half, let’s take it up a notch this Mother’s Day. Dig a little deeper not just in how we celebrate the day, but how we define it. Yes, technically by definition, mother is the “female parent.” But...
UPON THE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF AUTISM ACCEPTANCE MONTH
A series of poems by Lynne Fetter 1 Internalizing/Externalizing “Autism Awareness.” They don’t tell you this, but that’s their code for“statistics.”“1 in 54 people have autism.”“70-90% of people with autism are unemployed.”“80% of people with autism live...
I HOPE SOMEONE IS WATCHING
By Valerie James Abbott On my way into TJ Maxx yesterday, I noticed something that bothered me. A young woman had finished loading her car with her discounted treasures and afterwards she proceeded to push her empty shopping cart towards the store. But, instead of...