Re the issue of fostering independence in children with disabilities (CWD???   <smile>). With all due respect to the adults on the list, it was a different time and place in society as a whole for your parents . The education wasn't there nor were the supports necessarily. They probably did the best they could do with what they had but by today's standards the situations described sound awful. The difference, I think is the level of acceptance and knowledge that hopefully today's parents have or are getting.

At least, I hope things are better now. I am going on record now that I expect BOTH my boys to go to school until they graduate, go to college, get a job and their own places SO I CAN RETIRE AT SOME POINT, LOL. I hope Anthony will learn about public transportation when his brother does. And how to manage money. And how to assume responsibility for himself. And how to cook, clean and do his own laundry. My husband and I will teach both of them. It is our job as parents! (My husband is a stay-at-home Dad who does the majority of the household stuff now while I work full-time - no gender role issues here...). 

People spoke of feeling isolated from other PWDs. I don't think this is as much of a problem these days. As I have mentioned before we have more friends whose kids have disabilities than those without! Integrated education is readilt accessible. My guys go just about everywhere. If it's not accessible for Anthony, then most of the time we do something else. But there really isn't that much that you can't access these days in my experience so far here in Canada. 

Someone on this list pointed out  to me not too long ago that the images of the disabled are more evident in the media, in advertising, in entertainment. I think that's true. My children's toys/shows reflect this - the little tykes school bus with a wheelchair, the little girl dancing in her wheelchair on the Elmo's World video (in a segment on "How do you dance?"), or the child with Down's going to the library with his father to learn about dinosaurs from the same video. I noticed again last evening that a national department store chain here in Canada has a child with CP using a walker demonstrating a child's easel in there weekly flyer. These are not patronizing or gratuitous examples IMHO, but rather are indicative that society on the whole is changing. Maybe I am naive and reading too much into this kind of thing but it gives me hope as a parent that my son's future will be okay. 

Just my thoughts.

Yvonne
Mommy to Anthony (3.5 years with CP)