Today is July 4th – Independence Day – the day when Americans celebrate liberties and sovereignty. If you are like me, you take freedom for granted…until something defines, confines or binds me, and then I realize freedom is not always automatic, even in America. Sometimes there are detours and struggles that we must first face.
Freedom is important in all aspects of our lives. From school to work, friendships to family, we have choices and opportunities open to us. As a parent with two school-aged children, freedom in education is a big part of my life. We have the option of private versus public school, as well as homeschooling. We have the flexibility to use tutors, speech and language pathologists, educational consultants and even nutritionists to guide our healthy living. We can choose to play sports or join clubs. What we can’t choose is how we learn and what difficulties may arise.
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As a mother of a child with learning differences, I have known first-hand feelings that counter freedom. I have seen my son face restrictions, limitations and difficulties. I have also seen him overcome each of these with the right tools and support. I don’t believe that facing trials that define, confine or bind us is necessarily a bad thing either. It makes us appreciate freedom – freedom in school and freedom in how we face these trials.
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Thanks to the hard work of many who have come before us, we do have the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which was enacted in 1975 by Congress (as Education for All Handicapped Children Act or Public Law 94-142) to protect children with disabilities. It gives the opportunity for all, regardless of conditions that may hinder learning, to receive a free appropriate public education.
We also have resources like Kids Enabled where information flows via the internet straight to your living room. Through www.kidsenabled.org articles can enlighten, organizations and other resources can support, workshops and events can be found, and scholarships can be applied for. Check out our little video about who Kids Enabled is and how we understand your struggles – I think you will be able to relate. Just click on the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvpI8Je8rAc and know you are not alone in this fight.
Happy 4th of July – God bless America.
