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.
KNOWING THE SIGNS: WHEN SIBLINGS HAVE SIMILAR DIAGNOSES
By Anonymous Parents of children with disabilities and special health care needs are a different breed. We are parents PLUS researchers, advocates, case managers, tutors, nurses, and coaches. A surprising amount of parents have more than one child with who is not...
IT’S OK TO ADMIT YOU’RE NOT OK
Can you feel it? That pressure that is crushing your soul every single day? The constant, underlying tension that never goes away? The stress this pandemic is causing for individuals with disabilities and their families is relentless. Parents and caregivers are...
BACK TO SCHOOL: 2020 STYLE
Education is going to look very different this fall. For many of us, back to school means back to the chaos and frustration of distance learning. While spring was haphazard and thrown together, now know what to expect. Distance learning will look a bit different for...
HOW OUR CHILDREN TRANSFORM US
The 10th birthday is a milestone for any child. Double digits. Officially a tween. Not a little kid, but certainly not a teenager. It’s also a momentous occasion for their parents. A time to reflect and rejoice. For most parents 10 means that more time has...
LIFE BEHIND A MASK IS HARD FOR THE HARD-OF-HEARING
By Valerie James Abbott I was recently at an in-office medical appointment with my 15-year-old daughter, Bridget. She is hard-of-hearing and wears hearing aids – all day, every day. During COVID-19, at least here in Virginia, she is now also required to wear a face...
HOW TO BE A LEADER: Advocacy as the ADA Turns 30!
JOIN US FOR OUR LIVE EVENT ON FACEBOOK AT NOON ON JULY 24, 2020: This is an interactive chat talking about life as a person with a disability on the 30th anniversary of the ADA. Do you want to lead but find others are holding you back or trying to speak for you? Do...
30 YEARS OF THE ADA: REFLECTIONS ON ITS IMPORTANCE
by Norma Draper The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is having its 30th Anniversary on July 26. It was signed into law on July 26,1990 by President George H.W. Bush. The ADA is one of America's most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation. It prohibits...
ALL DOES NOT MEAN ALL: HOW TO ACCOMMODATE FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES THIS FALL
All does not mean all. Anyone with a disability knows that. This pandemic is magnifying the problem tenfold. The Centers for Disease Control hosted a live Question and Answer session this week about factors affecting reopening schools. One person...
WHAT IS “HARD” ABOUT COVID QUARANTINING?
"How is your family holding up?" Colleagues, acquaintances, family and friends ask me this regularly, often with a sympathetic tone they add, "It must be so hard." "Meh," I respond. In the grand scheme of things, being under quarantine is just an inconvenience...
STAYING SAFE DURING THE SUMMER OF 2020
It is hard to decipher the flood of information and recommendations coming our way as COVID-19 infections continue to rise across the country. One thing is clear: there is a substantial lack of data about how this virus impacts adults and children with disabilities....