A changing view of special needs

For many years, Jordan has expressed little interest when I’ve introduced her to other kids with limb differences or any other type of physical challenge. Most of the time she would react with little to no emotion and focus on just about anything other than the cool difference I was point out to her.

Lately, I’ve seen a shift. During the Olympics and Paralympics, she would stop everything to watch a person in a wheelchair, prosthetics or any type of assistive device. She’s taken the time to stop what she’s doing to walk up to adults and children with limb differences she notices from afar. And lately, she’s wanted to talk about any kid or adult who is different at all. She wants to celebrate it all. I feel like her attention to detail to what makes people different helps her feel more the same. For someone who turns seven years old in December, I’m proud. I realize she didn’t choose to be intuitively in touch with physical differences… But to be honest, I’m glad she’s moved past her passive awareness and moved into a celebratory view.

I have to share a tiny story about her celebration of differences. She and her brother were flipping through the channels of cartoons when they stopped on Caillou. He’s the little boy on PBS with a very round, bald head. Cameron threw out a question of why the heck does he have a bald head? Jordan’s matter of fact response: “That’s what makes him different.”

That’s so cute.
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