Book Review

Adults With Disabilities Share Wisdom With Parents

Reflections from a Different Journey: What Adults with Disabilities Wish All Parents Knew, edited by Stanley D. Klein, Ph.D., and John D. Kemp, 223 pages, 2004, $18.95, McGraw-Hill. Order from www.DisABILITIESBOOKS.com, (978) 282-4571.

At best, parenting is a vital and difficult job. To raise a child with a strong sense of identity, self-confidence and self-respect is no easy matter.

In this book, adults with a variety of disabilities and special needs have written essays on many parenting subjects —things the writers wished their own parents had read or been told when the authors were growing up.

These essays represent perspectives of people with a wide range of disabilities, including several neuromuscular diseases, from around the world, but with a common theme: the humanity of people with disabilities. The editors have successfully illustrated that people with disabilities are just like everyone else, each with his or her own strengths and limitations, simply looking for a decent quality of life.

Parents are reminded to accept their children as they are; and that as parents they’re the most important experts on the child’s life. From the wisdom of those who’ve been there come tips on topics such as setting expectations, educating the child and others about the disability, and dealing with sexuality.

No matter where you are in the parenting process, from struggling with a new diagnosis to raising an adolescent facing special issues or preparing for adulthood, this book has something to offer.

— Nancy Jones