Parenting and Disability is a training initiative that brings together parents of people with disabilities and the various professionals they must work with—teachers, doctors, social workers, administrators, and others. Its aim is to highlight something crucial: the expertise of parents themselves. As one contributor puts it: "Our words tell a story that, alongside our emotions, offers a picture of our children unlike anything medicine provides—utterly original. Our lived experience becomes knowledge we can share, knowledge that allows specialists to deepen their understanding of disability and to imagine new therapeutic and support pathways, new forms of care different from what currently exists."
The book faithfully documents six thematic gatherings held in 2002. Topics included early communication, school integration, social integration and leisure time, employment, and the pride and joy of being a parent, along with a synthesis and continuation of the project. Parents tell their stories, but so do professionals, specialists, family members, and friends. Their collective voice drives home a single truth: families are not simply vessels to be filled with information. They are carriers of knowledge—knowledge capable of transforming how professionals themselves think and work.
Cristina Tersigni, 2005
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