Sibling of Children with Special Needs Has a Dream

Posted in ChicagoNow, December 23, 2013

I used to worry about my 7-year-old granddaughter who has older twin sisters with special needs. How could I help her explain one of her sister’s behaviors to a friend who was coming to her house for a first play date? I fumbled for an answer when the friend asked about her sister, “Why is she saying that?”

I need not have worried. My granddaughter knows what to say already. On a calendar she created at school for a holiday gift, she taught me. I am so proud of her entry for January 2014, “My Dream for the Future of the World,” based on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech:

In case you can’t read it, here is Maya’s guest blog:

“I wish people with disabilitys could do things we can do. I wish it in my heart because my sisters have disabiltys and I love them with my heart. Having that would be a lot to me I wish I wish. People with disabilitys can’t make friends easily. I want to fix that and talking easily. I wish I hope I have a place in my heart for it.”

I wish, I hope in my heart that as children like my granddaughter become our leaders, they will teach us how to value, appreciate, and accept all people, including those with special needs. This is her dream and her battle for civil rights.