I’m a mother!
That might not be a shocking statement to anyone who doesn’t know me, but it’s still a surprise to me. I’ve had lots of defining moments in my life—graduations, baptism, international travel, engagement, wedding. They have all been profound times, but all of them somewhat different from that morning I waited, with bated breath and shaking hands, for my husband to read the result shown on the tiny digital screen of the pregnancy test.
“Yep, we’re pregnant.” my husband had said from the bathroom.
Pregnant… I thought in utter joy and disbelief. A new person existed now that hadn’t before, and God had chosen to make their first home within me?!
How can anything be the same after such a realization? My mind raced with all the implications… job, diet, health, money, the skills we would have to learn, the things we would have to purchase, everything, it seemed, had to be reconsidered in light of this new, precious life that had been entrusted to us.
I think this must be true for any parent, but especially for parents who don’t fit into what you might call the “typical mold”. As a blind mom, the world won’t look at me as normal. Often,, as already happens in other situations, they will probably see me as less capable, but with the right tools and techniques, I can be a perfectly successful mama. This may not be obvious to the ignorant bystander, but it is to me, particularly when I observe my blind friends who are parents. They breastfeed, bottle-feed, and change diapers, they get their kids to and from practices and events, they help with homework or even homeschool, they play games, they administer medication, they keep their children safe when out on the road. So, not your normal parent? Only in the sense that they do all of it without looking.
Still, just like any other new mom, I do have a lot to learn. I hope that by sharing the information I gather here, it can be an opportunity for others to learn as well, both about the capabilities of blind people in general, and about specific techniques that might help you or someone you know in their parenting journey.
So, if you’d like to learn along with me, click here for any future articles in this series, or find the “Parenting” category in the navigation bar.
Opportunity Unleashed 