Nobody wants their or their child's feature(s) or condition labelled negative or a thing of the past. They are current and very real for hundreds of families.
My mistake, my bad…
I had no idea… No idea it was possible to love someone so much, regardless… When I first started to advocate for people like my daughter, I made a very big mistake. By advocating mostly on how able they can be, I was amalgamating worthiness with ability and hence relegating all those in the Down … Continue reading My mistake, my bad…
DOWNism: When You’re not Even Good Enough for Your Own Community, or…The Dark Side of Positive Representation
We have all heard of #RACISM (prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior) and #COLOURISM (prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group). But have you ever … Continue reading DOWNism: When You’re not Even Good Enough for Your Own Community, or…The Dark Side of Positive Representation
In the end, aren’t we all drifting towards disability?
Too many people still feel uncomfortable around disability. But don't feel bad, sometimes even people with a disability feel that way amongst people with a disability different to theirs. We usually feel like we are walking on eggshells, worried about offending by what we might say or not say for that matter! The fear of … Continue reading In the end, aren’t we all drifting towards disability?
#Nobody Told Me
what if she couldn't do any of these things? Then what? Would I be nostalgic of those road blocks, warnings and dead ends? I mean, really, then what?
The epitome of hypocrisy: wake up and smell our coffee…
You tell us, because as my daughter is busy walking through the gates of adulthood and getting a bit more savvy, she is starting to feel like a survivor amongst a world who wish the segment of population she belongs to extinct and yet that same world seems to welcome her with open arms…
I didn’t manage to self-isolate from my daughter with DS…
By day 3, she grabbed me from behind as I was snail-walking back into my bed and burst into tears. I followed suit and there was no going back. I would go in and out of sleep and wake up with her next to me massaging my feet or caressing my head…
Down Syndrome & Mother’s Day
If you ever wonder whether we love our children with DS the same or whether our children with DS love us the same, this is for you...
#RipOnly
How about “ONLY Caucasians are more at risk” or "ONLY Red-haired are more at risk”, or “ ONLY Working-class are more at risk” or "ONLY overweight people are more at risk"?
International Women’s Day: The Plight of Women with a Learning Disability
#IWD has always been a great platform to expose some ginormous elephants in the room. This is one of them. So, let's talk about it.
Wouldn’t Change A Thing?
I was crushed both by the sheer love I felt for her and the life I pictured for her
Why am I still my adult daughter’s voice???
When your adult child has a learning disability, is running their social media controlling them?
Deaf Awareness Week 2019
@kathleenhumberstone Breaking News: May 9th, 2019 by Denise Humberstone “Sign language made compulsory in all UK educational establishments from nurseries to universities, all government bodies, all work places, all media and entertainment industries starting January 2020 in honour of Deaf Awareness Week!!! The deaf community can’t believe their ears and must have had them burning … Continue reading Deaf Awareness Week 2019
The bodies and faces we should launch 1,000 ships for and fall head over heels in love with!!
They’re done with clicking their heels in vain and shooting themselves in the foot by not standing tall with both feet on the ground!
Dear Gatekeepers of the Media/Fashion/Advertising Worlds…
From your side of the gate, we may appear as underdogs, even as dark horses at times, but what we are is your last epiphany. So please, unlock those gates and let us show you how wrong you’ve been until now and how FLAWSOME WE ARE!
I don’t want my life back!!
I can tell you with utter clarity that it's been a privilege to care for my daughter. She's been the life I never knew I needed.
Down Syndrome: What are we really afraid of?
(I gave this presentation when Kathleen and I were invited by the Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down to close their 17th International Conference on Down syndrome, in Barcelona, November 10th, 2017) How do you go about telling your adult child that the world doesn't want more people like him/her? That "It's OK to be different" … Continue reading Down Syndrome: What are we really afraid of?
The rainbows people fight over…
But one thing is for sure, I have to and will stand by you and with you if people don't like you just because of your race, creed, physical or cognitive differences, sexual orientation and gender, because that is not ok.
New Year Re-Solutions…
As soon as Christmas is over, my daughter gets all excited about the next celebration that is New Year’s Eve. She loves partying, socialising, drinking champagne and dancing all night and I was wondering why she was all chirpy since she knew there wasn’t gonna be much about any of that this year, well, apart … Continue reading New Year Re-Solutions…
Actually, thank you Emmerdale…
I believe in healthy debates. I believe we can use Emmerdale's platform, not by shaming them but by using it to highlight everything that needs changing and missing (like an official pathway for women who do decide to carry on with their pregnancy) and addressing one by one all the concerns of expectant parents, and reassure them that those concerns although valid with their current understanding and knowledge of the condition will prove completely futile and unfounded, that in the end, it’s all about love and only love.
To think if it hadn’t been for my arrogance, my ignorance would have nipped this in the bud…literally.
The day my arrogance saved my daughter when my ignorance might have obliterated her...
Bits and Bobs about Down Syndrome
Bits and Bobs about Down syndrome...
From couch potato to 28km in just 4 months. How???
I cried before, during and after. I am just so darn proud of this young woman. Hearts should be made of Spandex because, really, mine has run out of space to store all the love I fell for her and my other 2. All she could say on the way back home in the car, and until she fell asleep, was: Can you believe it? I got my own medal!!
Let’s have a little chat about “mongols” and R.E.T.A.R.D.S, shall we?
Let's have a little chat about mongols and the R-word, shall we?
