Then I said that was the purpose of doing all this work taping Annabelle was to inspire practitioners so that more have the confidence to work with special children and more children would be helped, and also if parents with special kids saw these, they might seek out a practitioner to help their child.
Then I said, and had an aaahhhhh moment - this is the reason why there are special needs children in this world because they inspire people not to be ordinary but extraordinary, to go beyond their capabilities. Learn new techniques, invent new techniques (feldenkrais, ABR, feeding therapies etc all are relatively new to this world ) to help that child develop. What kind of life this would be if everybody was the same, everybody was able bodied, intelligent, average!! Boring?
Elinor then said -well they won't know it!
Yes they won't know it for sure because until you are faced with the differences, faced with the challenges, faced with overcoming adversities, you just don't know it!
Like when before you had children you knew what it was like to stay up all night( par-tying or studying)it was all about you! But until you faced the challenge of of staying up all night looking after a sick child you just didn't know you could do that, that you had that capability in you.
I still remember when Annabelle was a small baby and she used to wake up frequently at night and not go back to sleep for sometimes 2 hours and I would nurse her and rock her until she eventually go back to sleep - and I would cry and cry and sob and think oh God why me? Why have you given me this child. Well I now know, to challenge me, to become a better person, and inspire, and challenge other people in this world too.
What challenges you? I would love to hear?
My son Matthew and Annabelle 8 months old - I always love rainbows because it always makes me think that no matter how bad the storm you can usually find a rainbow somewhere
