inclusion

Freedom for Sarah Kate…and So Much More

May 21, 2013

Sarah Kate has done an admirable job over the years of integrating herself into Typical Kid Culture. She was the one who requested to join swim team and she was the one who asked to play softball. For all of our declarations that she needs to get used to being part of the typical world, Mr. [...]

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Left Behind

February 5, 2013

On Saturday morning, I took Sarah Kate to register for spring softball. It was a much different experience from a year ago when I signed her up for the first time. There was no anxiety about making the leap. There was no wondering if people would look at her funny. There wasn’t even my generalized [...]

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Why I’m Not a Fan of the Fed’s Ruling Regarding Equal Opportunity in Sports for Students With Disabilities

January 31, 2013

In last Friday’s Snippets, I invited you to suggest future topics for the blog. Reader Ali had a request: that I share how I feel about the new federal regulations mandating that schools allow kids with disabilities to participate in sports. I should have known better than to open that door on what was a spur of [...]

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A Tale of Two Viral Sports Videos

December 13, 2012

In this past Sunday’s Sun-Beams, I linked to a viral video of a middle school wrestling match and asked you to tell me what you thought about it. Several variations of the story of the match had popped up in my Google Reader last week, and it was also featured on Good Morning America. In [...]

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Fighter: Softball Season Two

September 25, 2012

Unfortunately, Sarah Kate’s first game of fall softball season was rained out, so the season opener turned out to be a tournament this past Saturday. After a rocky first practice, Sarah Kate’s batting improved rapidly (or should I say re-emerged?) so we were confident she was ready for the new season. As the oldest and [...]

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Field of Dreams: Softball, Sarah Kate, and a Whole Lot of Sunshine

May 15, 2012

On Friday afternoon, I was aggravated. Sarah Kate had Field Day all day and was exhausted, and I’d had enough of the news, despite the fact that I’m a news junkie. When Mr. Andi arrived home – just in time for Sarah Kate and I to leave for her softball doubleheader – I unloaded on [...]

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{VIDEO} What All the Fuss Is About: Sarah Kate at Bat

May 8, 2012

Softball season is almost over. Although my blog started out two years ago as an outlet for me that I shared with family and friends, it’s grown into something bigger than I ever anticipated, so most of the posts here are written with a larger audience than just my “in real life” circle. I’m deviating [...]

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Opening Day: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Softball

March 6, 2012

Much like the first swim meet, Sarah Kate’s first softball game wasn’t exactly something I looked forward to with gleeful anticipation. I had two goals for softball: for Sarah Kate to enjoy it, and for me to survive it. On Sunday afternoon, following three weeks of evening practices, I found myself sitting alone in the [...]

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A Beautiful Tapestry: Ash Wednesday Reflections

February 23, 2012

Wednesday afforded me a rare opportunity: to  go anywhere at all attend Mass without Nathan. Which is to say that I was able to attend Mass without a squirmy, noisy, frustratingly adorable attention hog who cheeses at all parishioners with whom he is able to gain eye contact. I’ve been hoping for awhile now that the [...]

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Facing My Fears…Because She Has None

February 9, 2012

The great irony of parenting a child with a disability is that one of the things you want most for them – full inclusion, with no strings attached – is often sabotaged not by the actions of others, but by your own fears. When Sarah Kate wanted to sign up for swim team, every ounce [...]

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