What problem, indeed?
I've been asking myself this question lately a lot. And, specifically, I was mulling this very query the other night at the call center where I work as a Cash Acceleration Representative (a fancy way to say I call people who haven't paid on their medical bills to offer them payment plan or financial aid options.) As awful a job as it may sound, I really do love it. I don't like the evening hours work schedule, keeping me away from Hubby and Sweetie. But I do enjoy helping people and making them see there is another way to get past these particular financial issues - ways that will benefit both them and the hospital. That moment when an angry person actually stops to hear what I'm saying and is both surprised and pleased to learn about the payment plan or financial aid option, and they actually end up genuinely thanking me for giving them a call! Makes my day every time. There's no better feeling than knowing you've helped someone who feels like they are hopelessly drowning, realize that you have a life jacket just their size they can put on. Love it!
But anyway... yes... I was thinking about this video (above) Hubby and I recently saw, and this very question of "What problem do you want to solve?", and generally just feeling a bit fitful about life, when all of a sudden it hit me. Like a ton of bricks, as the saying goes.
I want to advocate for adults with Spina Bifida. More specifically, for adult women (and men) with Spina Bifida who want to have children.
Still to this day - what? nearly 12 years from when I started this blog - if you search for "parents with Spina Bifida" on the internet, you nearly only get resources about being a parent who is raising a child with Spina Bifida. Granted, if you search simply for "adults with Spina Bifida" you do, in fact, find a plethora of websites and articles to explore that at least, in part, discuss what it's like to be an adult with this birth defect. However, in taking a quick look at some of those resources, very few discuss pregnancy and/or parenthood as a viable option for such an adult to consider. In fact, the Spina Bifida Association website itself, on the page dedicated to Adults, has several sub pages to click on for the curious adult with SB and one of these categories is Family Planning. Now, you'd think that that page would be all about the steps an adult with SB needs to consider and play out if they and their partner are seriously considering starting a family. Hah! You would be entirely wrong, my friend! No, the Family Planning section on the website of this national organization dedicated to supporting and educating people and families of people with Spina Bifida is directed towards the healthy adult woman as she finds herself pregnant with a child with Spina Bifida, what she needs to know about the birth defect, and how to proceed with the pregnancy, as well as how to care for the child after birth.
I mean, I just can't even!
(Full disclosure: another sub page that you can choose to explore is titled Prenatal Care and Issues and that page is for the woman with Spina Bifida caring for both herself and her unborn child as she works her way through pregnancy, delivery and caring for the newborn at home. So, yay. They got some useful info out there. Good for them.)
So! I want to change this! This is the problem I want to work on and solve! There is entirely too little information out there for individuals with Spina Bifida who want to make a real life for themselves. Just sit down, do your exercises, go to the doctor, and get through your simple, inconvenient, different life the best you can. That's pretty much what I feel the message to adults with Spina Bifida (and other disabilities) currently is, and it's awful. Everyone is entitled to the best life they can lead! If someone with Spina Bifida wants to have a family - they should be able to do it! And, yes, for some it honestly may not be the wisest choice or even medically possible to endure a pregnancy. But there are other options! Other, "healthy" people who can't have children still can find a way to bring children into their lives, either through adoption, surrogacy, etc. So too should be the case for a disabled person if this is what they really want and they prove themselves able and qualified (just like a "healthy" person has to go through certain hoops when adopting, etc.)
So. I came home from work that night and told Hubby that I had pinned down the problem I want to solve. When I told him, he was curiously interested, reminding me, "That's what you've always said. That's the reason you started your blog." ~ "Well, it's still true!" Advocacy is still just as desperately needed as ever, and I want to find out - beyond "just" my blog - what concrete positions are out there, what career fields, what volunteer opportunities, what skills are needed and how do I acquire or improve them, to aid me on my solution to this problem. Where do I start?
As for my current skills and interests, I think they all work very nicely indeed with establishing a good start on this path towards patient advocacy. I write well and love to do it. For as quiet and introverted as I am, professionally speaking I am a great "people person." I love the whole world of education and have loved tutoring kids one-on-one over the years, as well as subbing at Sweetie's new school. I really love those particular kids, their drive and determination, their individuality, and their energy and creativity. I'm extremely interested in helping others discover their best selves. In short, I love helping people and I have at least the beginning skills to assist people with seeing their true potential and working with them on concrete goals to get where they want to be.
And as for my blog - this blog... I stated last night to both Hubby and Sweetie that I started this blog as a means for adults with Spina Bifida to know that it is possible to have children if they want, and to take a look at my particular struggles and triumphs with parenting as a disabled person. Yet in actuality, it's really turned into "just another mom blog." To which Hubby looked at me for a moment, until I followed up with, "...and that's the point, isn't it." I'm "just" a mom. I'm no special thing. I'm no amazing woman who heroically did something I wasn't supposed to do. I'm certainly no miracle worker. But Hubby and I did see through a goal for which we didn't have much information, nor with real life super knowledgable support systems in place. Sure, our doctors were excited and helpful and willing to learn along with us, and certainly knowledgable enough to make us feel secure. But they, by and large, honestly did not have the real world history of experience in dealing with "people like me" as we began our journey into and through pregnancy and childbirth. No information out there - we just knew we wanted a family and we went for it, with the support of awesome medical professionals who cared for us well and learned a thing or two along the way by working with and for us.
Adults with Spina Bifida can have children, if that's what they want. One way or another, they should see their dreams realized - whatever they may be! There are so many individuals with disabilities out there who want to be "just a mom" or "just a dad." If I have anything to say about it, I will help them know it's possible and guide them toward the necessary resources to make sure their experience is as healthy, responsible, and smooth as possible.
Problem, consider yourself challenged.
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