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Special needs

Why I blog about my child with special needs

In her 100th blog post for Today’s Parent, Anchel Krishna reflects on the importance of sharing her family’s story.

1photo Syona. Photo: Anchel Krishna

Follow along as Anchel Krishna shares her experiences as mother to Syona, an extraordinary toddler with cerebral palsy.

It's been two years since I first decided to share our story. It was a few months after Syona was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and we were right in the midst of defining our new life. This new life consisted of a few different things: being first-time parents, managing our careers, parenting a child with special needs and all the extra things that come along with that part of our life.

From the moment Syona was diagnosed, Dilip and I were certain about one thing: we wanted to be completely transparent about her special needs—we didn’t want to hide it from people and we wanted everyone in our lives to feel comfortable asking questions and travelling the road with us as we tried to figure out this new part of our life together.

Deciding to share our story on a bigger scale via this blog on Today's Parent was a decision we deliberated together. I went back and forth, weighed the pros and cons. In the end there was one factor that made me decide to put our story and Syona’s story out there: I wanted a record that demonstrated just how proud I am of her.

What I couldn’t anticipate is the impact of sharing our story. On a personal note, it has changed the trajectory of my career. I’m working in communications for a children’s treatment centre that supports kids like Syona and families like ours. I have the opportunity to share our experience with others via a variety of speaking opportunities that have taken me as close as Oshawa and as far as Bermuda. Also, almost every time I share a post on social media people take the time to read, comment and connect. We all know that becoming parents often leads to less time to connect with the people we care about. Writing this blog has become a way to keep the people we don’t see as often as we’d like up to updated on what’s happening in our life. And it’s become a vehicle to connect with people I wouldn’t have otherwise met.

Knowing there are so many people in our corner also helps make the tough days pass by a little easier.

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The thing is, I’m not the lead character in this story—Syona is. Sometimes the blog focuses on us as parents, other times on Syona and often it is about all of us.

Sharing our story isn’t always easy. There are times when I struggle with posts, where I'm not sure what to share or—like every parent out there—need more time to get things done.

But is it worth it? Absolutely. Every single word. Thanks for reading.

Do you share your experience as a parent publicly? What difference do you think it makes?

This article was originally published on Apr 22, 2014

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