Reader

There is a pretty good chance you are directly or indirectly connected to the power of disability.

The majority of people are. For starters, one-seventh of the people on the planet have a disability, which makes people with disabilities the largest minority group in the world. When you factor in their family, friends, and allies, which I conservatively estimate as another three in seven, the disability community comprises four-sevenths of the world’s population.

Of all the conditions that bind us together, the experience of disability is the most universal and therefore the most unifying. It’s not just the fact that it touches the majority of people on the planet. It’s that it offers us an alternative to the lone-actor, epic-hero story that abounds. It gives us a story that celebrates our deep connections to each other and to the earth—a story that reminds us that none of us get where we are going on our own and that success doesn’t come from rising above but by rising with.

Join Al Etmanski, Peter Block, John McKnight April 27 for an online Conversation

There is no such thing as the disability world and the “rest of us” world. And we can’t afford for there to be one. There is only one world. If we are going to preserve it, we have to make it a place where people are enlarged, not threatened, by difference. Whereas many people as possible are moving in the same direction. Where we transcend our partisan and ideological beliefs and recognize, indeed rely on, what we have in common: our dependence on each other. Read more

Image by Cristin Lind

Coronavirus (understandably) broke the internet. Scroll through your social media feeds and you’ll find stories-on-stories, from personal anecdotes to front-page features, describing how the virus has drastically disrupted daily life. Schools have closed. Restaurants have closed their dining halls. And entire counties have quarantined their residents.

These shifts will stymie the spread of the virus—the ultimate goal, undoubtedly. Fast-forward however many months as people resume their usual routines and we’ll have the once self-isolated and socially distanced to thank. No question. But amid the pictures of empty store aisles and vacant public squares, you’ll find a different story less prominent, though, I’d argue, equally important: people from all walks of life—from citizens to leaders, professionals to neighbors, and everyone in between—responsibly taking action to serve their fellow humans in need. Read more

Photo by Eye for Ebony

Kids don’t say, “Beloved parent, I’m having difficulty in my daily life. I don’t fully understand what’s happening, I miss my friends, I’m afraid someone I know is going to die and it feels like life will never be normal again.” Instead, they throw tantrums, become clingy, sulk, backtalk, refuse to do anything you ask, wet the bed, pick fights with siblings and suddenly forget how to do basic tasks they mastered years ago.

Whew! Let’s step back, take a few deep breaths and learn a little about your child’s brain: Safety is the brain’s most basic need, followed closely by connection. When we feel unsafe or disconnected, our brains downshift from the higher centers responsible for learning and problem solving, to the lower reactionary centers. That’s why all those challenging behaviors are popping up, and why a minor frustration is now Titanic in size.

We can help children (and ourselves) by creating a sense of safety, connecting, and cultivating a new sense of normal with these five tips: Read more