The article I read is called "What my disabled girl has taught me about life" by Ian Birrell. This is more of a personal piece written for the Sunday mail in October of 2011. Ian shares his story about raising a daughter with a disability. Birrell describes how "She suffers from a rare life-threatening condition that means she cannot walk or talk. She is blind, endures daily epileptic fits and needs round-the-clock care." Her name is Iona and she was born in the fall of 1993. Raising Iona has not been easy and they have struggled a tremendous amount with raising a child that will be forever dependent on them. However, Birrell says his and his wife's life would be so much poorer without her. The article discusses how Birrell and his wife found out Iona had brain damage, how they dealt with it while she grew up, and their thoughts now. The only thing that matters to Birrell is that he still has his daughter in his life and she brings so much joy to him that he never imagined.
This piece definitely hits a soft spot in my heart because I do a lot of work with the mentally disabled. So to me, this article educates, entertains, enlightens me, and evokes emotion. To hear their struggles on raising a mentally disabled child and still being positive shows how strong these parents are. They talk about her disabilities mostly, but also describe how shes just like everyone else which is very heartwarming. This article shows how much parents love and care for their child.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2049382/What-disabled-girl-taught-life.html
No comments:
Post a Comment