Plus: Tim Walz and Collin Ferrell both opened up this week about their sons' disabilities; meanwhile, Kentucky's Medicaid waiver waitlists continue to grow, despite billions in rainy day fund
One of my daughter's former nurses and I had a conversation wondering are there any celebrities with children who had moderate to severe physical, medical, behavioral, mental, or intellectual disabilities? Only recently did I see a feature news story on one of the major channel outlets involving the the morning anchor, his wife, and their medically fragile child. Usually, I only see celebrities who have children with autism or Down syndrome. No rare Trisomy, Pfeiffer syndrome, Dandy-Walker syndrome, Osteogenisis Imeperfecta, or Phelan-McDermid, just to name a few. Does anyone know of a celebrity with a child who uses a wheelchair, a vent, and is non-verbal? I wonder why? I am thankful for the celebrities who DO SHARE THEIR STORIES. It normalizes the playing field because having money can't fix the nursing shortage, the special education teacher shortage, the PT, OT, SLP, TVI, DHH teacher shortage. Thank you Will Farrell and thanks again Shasta for bringing the news to us through our lens.
I've learned of several celebrities since starting this journey. Neil Young and his wife started a school when their nonverbal child was unable to get appropriate supports. Ashton Kutcher's twin, Micheal, has cerebral palsy. FDR was quite significantly disabled even though technology and the media environment didn't expose that back then. And on and on. Disability crosses all other identities! And you're right: we should talk about it more!
I love it when our added skills and abilities as medical and/or special needs parents are acknowledged. We do so much for our kids, we often forget how nuanced and abundant the info can be.
One of my daughter's former nurses and I had a conversation wondering are there any celebrities with children who had moderate to severe physical, medical, behavioral, mental, or intellectual disabilities? Only recently did I see a feature news story on one of the major channel outlets involving the the morning anchor, his wife, and their medically fragile child. Usually, I only see celebrities who have children with autism or Down syndrome. No rare Trisomy, Pfeiffer syndrome, Dandy-Walker syndrome, Osteogenisis Imeperfecta, or Phelan-McDermid, just to name a few. Does anyone know of a celebrity with a child who uses a wheelchair, a vent, and is non-verbal? I wonder why? I am thankful for the celebrities who DO SHARE THEIR STORIES. It normalizes the playing field because having money can't fix the nursing shortage, the special education teacher shortage, the PT, OT, SLP, TVI, DHH teacher shortage. Thank you Will Farrell and thanks again Shasta for bringing the news to us through our lens.
I've learned of several celebrities since starting this journey. Neil Young and his wife started a school when their nonverbal child was unable to get appropriate supports. Ashton Kutcher's twin, Micheal, has cerebral palsy. FDR was quite significantly disabled even though technology and the media environment didn't expose that back then. And on and on. Disability crosses all other identities! And you're right: we should talk about it more!
I love it when our added skills and abilities as medical and/or special needs parents are acknowledged. We do so much for our kids, we often forget how nuanced and abundant the info can be.