My Baby Rides The Short Bus: Authors' Voices

This was the call for submissions:

We are seeking submissions from a diverse group of parents raising special needs kids who feel marginalized by their subculture status (economics, lifestyle, orientation, religion/atheism) and underrepresented in print.

Got tips on how to stay sane during the IEP process when you don’t believe in the system to begin with? Felt you had to hide you radical political books while the Early Intervention Folks come over? Found yourself stuck a mainstream world of special needs parenting that you don’t fit into?

Submit your stories to a upcoming anthology that features writing from parents in the know about what it's like to raise "special needs" kids -- with no sugar coating or the 'you will dream new dreams' kind of crap we're subjected to by mainstream media. Unfortunately we can’t pay, but all contributors will receive two copies of the book.

My Baby Rides the Short Bus has the subtitle: The unabashedly human experience of raising kids with disabilities, and  it has stories from women I know in real life, and from those I've come to know by reading their blogs.

Friday, I listened to JennyAlice, Squid, and Sarah Talbot on KQED's Forum with Dave Ivorsen.  This is a conversation you should listen to.

The mother who keeps the blog My Journey as a Parent describes herself as quite conformist, and not so sure that she'd find anything of value in a book of essays by self-described "non-conformist" parents. But at a book-reading, she finds herself moved:

The honesty in which she writes and tells her story is breathtakingly beautiful. All of the stories were like this. Parents making tough choices to do the best for their kids. Anticipating what their families' needs are and sacrificing their own. Uneasy of a world that judges our ‘not normal’ children and fearful of where they will find their place.

So, if being a ‘non-conformist’ parent means that I am a mom that is willing to stand up for her child and guide them despite the prejudices and judgements, then, ‘yes, please, sign me, up, too!’

I’ve read about half of the essays in the book and I’ve learned alot about what it takes to be an advocate for your child, how to navigate the IEP process, and how to bring laughter to the surface in difficult times. I’m grateful to this group of parents for sharing their stories.

Other reviews and coverage

• Contributor to the book Shannon des Roches Rosa interviews Jennifer Silverman at BlogHer.
• Feminist Review
• Daddy Dialectic
• We LOVE Kids' Books
• Dallas Moms' Blog ("Quite honestly, a few of these mothers have handled certain situations a lot better than I did.")

Comments

[babyhawk]

Uneasy of a world that judges our ‘not normal’ children and fearful of where they will find their place.