In the Austrian CG Journal there was an article by a young woman living with CG. The article was about a vacation she took with her family and the dietary issue associated with eating out. A really wonderful, inspiring article...really wonderful. The last sentence however stated something to the effect that "it is wonderful how others deal with people with disabilities...". OK so this is my pet peeve. I do not think of my girls as kids with living with a disability, handicapped children, sick children, children with a disease...I do not want them to think of themselves like that. I want my children to be confident, and feel empowered. Labelling them as "sick" just achieves the opposite. They are perfectly healthy kids. Yes, they lack an enzyme and yes, there can be bad side effects associated with CG, but they are certainly not sick...
Maybe it is a European thing. I noticed it also in Germany. We met with a couple of different parents who have kids with CG. I was shocked to hear that they have "disability passes" for the kids and themselves. The reason for it is that there are tax advantages, and entrance fees to zoos, etc. get waived. But is that a valid reason to label your child as disabled??? - I could rant on about that for a long time, but will get off my soap box now. Please let me know what you think...
Oh, and sorry if I am ranting. I feel that my writing "mojo"still is not completely back ;)))
