Friendships and Disability

Have some (or most) of your friends disappeared since the birth of your special needs child or the onset of your chronic illness?

Don’t be discouraged..this has happened to many of us. At first it hurts but in time I’ve come to see it as a kind of sifting. I lost friends when I first got sober too. It was time for new people in my life. I’ve continued to change since I had my son and I need to have different people around me now. I don’t care so much for appearances and coolness like I did when I was younger.

What matters most to me now is being authentic. And about how you engage with my son with Down Syndrome. He’s taught me to appreciate the simple things in life. He kind of filters people out for me. If you’re down with him, you’re down with me. And if you act like he doesn’t matter, we’ll just pass each other by.

It’s important to keep reaching out and not let hurts from the past keep us from trying again. Find other moms of special needs children and connect however you can. If it’s hard for you to get out and the best you can manage to connect on some days is social media, that’s okay. It still matters. We’re all in this together and we need each other.

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

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