@disabilityinsight

Happy Friday ☀️ I’ve finally done it. I’ve finally made The Post. Glass Child syndrome is something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long, long time. But I haven’t. Because it’s a touchy thing. I can sense the messages now. They’ll go like this: “I care a lot about my non-disabled son, thank you.” “I liked your post but my daughter really is the perfect straight-A student… it has nothing to do with her disabled sibling.” “You have no idea how hard it is to balance it all as a special needs parent.” And so forth. I also can sense this being misconstrued as implying that disabled children are somehow problematic to family circles. That, by any stretch of the imagination, is not what I’m saying at all. I’m not going to spend time convincing anyone about the Glass Child phenomenon. You either are one and get it, or you aren’t and you don’t. Instead, I’m going to invite you to spend a little bit more time with your non-disabled child - as little time as you may have to spare - because they deserve it. Take them to counseling even if you think they don’t need it. Write a Facebook post about how proud you are of them because you probably haven’t in a while, or ever. Let them enjoy “normal” (you know what I mean) kid things with their friends. Ask them about their interests and how their day was. Give them a lot of room to break. And if they do, make sure they know that it’s not a big deal - because it really isn’t. Don’t make them grow up so fast. Everything you feel they feel too, remember that. To the Glass Children who follow me: I see you. Good job. (ID in comments) #DisabilityInsight #DisabilityJustice #DisabilityInclusion #DisabilityAdvocate #DisabilityAdvocacy #DisabilityAlly #DisabilityAllyship #DisabilityRights #DisabilityStudies #SpecialNeedsFamily #GlassChild #SpecialNeedsParenting #Accessibility #Ally #Advocate #Inclusion #InclusionMatters