parenting hub

good evening. wow! (applause) what a humbling experienceit is to be up here in front of so many amazing people! thank you so much to aapd for awarding me the paul g.hearne leadership award 㐠it is truly an honorto join the long list of impressive awardees.

congratulations to my fellow awardee, alice wong (how awesome is she?!)! (applause) i also want to thankthe many disability leaders who came before me. if it were not for them paving the way, i would not be here today. thank you to my family, friends, boyfriend josh(who is here),

and mentors, for their love and unwavering support, even when i take onway too many projects! last, but certainly not least, i owe tremendous gratitude to erin andrewsand kara ayers, the other co-foundersof the disabled parenting project as well as awesome disabled mothers! for as long as i can remember,i have wanted to be a mother.

in fact,at one point, when i was much younger, i said i wanted to have 12 children (which is admittedly a bit outrageous)! (laughs) however, until nearly five years ago, i did not realizethe significant discrimination i would likely face. i did not realizethat others would believe

i shouldn't be a motherbecause i have a disability. while working at national councilon disability and authoring rocking the cradle: ensuring the rightsof parents with disabilities and their children, my eyes were openedto the many injustices parents with disabilities experience when exercising their fundamental right to raise families and ignited my commitmentto fighting these inequities

and ensuring that familiesled by parents with disabilitiesare properly supported. one exampleof the injustices that parents with disabilities often faceis sara gordonã•s devastating story. sara is a mother with an intellectual disability who had a baby,dana, in 2012. shortly after giving birth, while still in the hospital,

the massachusetts departmentof children and family services placed danain foster care because they feltsara could not care for her baby because of her disability. specifically, the statefelt that because she had difficulty feedingand diapering the newborn 㐠somethingall new parents struggle with 㐠she was unfit to raise her daughter. sara faced a heartbreaking fight

to regain custody of her daughter. her perseverance even led to involvement by doj and hhs. on march 9, 2015, two years, three months, and 12 days after giving birth, sara and dana were finally reunited. (applause) while this storyhas a happy ending, it does not erase the significant time

a mother and daughterwere unjustly separated. this is somethingthey can never get back. tragically, saraã•s storyis not unique or uncommon. in addition to hearingthe heartbreaking stories of discrimination,many parents i interviewed for rockingthe cradle expressed frustration with the lack of availabilityof information and peer supports. for nondisabled parents,information abounds. there are countless blogs

and magazines dedicated to parenting. also, for nondisabled parents, its not hard to find someoneto talk with and answer questions. yet, parents with disabilities often are not connectedwith other disabled parents. there is also very limited informationavailable on disabled parenting, such as adaptive parenting techniquesand services. while the use of social mediahas certainly improved this,

it only works if you are connectedto the national disability community, which, unfortunately, many are not. i knew we neededsome type of program to support parents with disabilities and provide an avenuefor information sharing, but did not know exactly whatthe project should entail. so, in true 21st century fashion,i turned to facebook! (laughs) within 24 hours, i heard from nearly 60 members

of our community 㐠some parents and others prospective parents. the overwhelming consensus was the need for a parenting hub, where we could goto get information from one another. it was during this dialogue that the disabledparenting project was borne. therefore, the dpp is not my project but rather our ãthe disability communityã•s 㐠project!

the dpp is still in its infancy and thanks to the paul g. hearne leadership award we will be able to grow and be an important resourcefor our community. in fact, because of this awardand the support from the community, i am proud to announce that earlier today we launchedwww.disabledparenting.com (applause) the newest editionto our powerful online community.

the dpp is an online communityby and for parents and prospective parentswith disabilities. while there are other websites out there that address certain aspectsof parenting with a disability, the dpp is the first and only onlinecommunity to be developed by and for the entirecross-disability community, embracing the disabilitycommunityã•s important mantra: ã’nothing about us,without us!ã“ the dpp provides an online spacefor sharing experiences, advice,

and conversationsamong disabled parents as well as those considering parenthood. we also serve asan information clearinghouse. again, i encourage everyone to check usout at www.disabledparenting.com. a little more than 25 years ago, the ada was passed with the goal of ensuring ã’equality of opportunity, full participation,independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.ã“

while we are not quite there,we have had many successes. today, we enjoy increased opportunitiesto further our education, live in our community,and secure employment. nonetheless, we still are seenas unfit to parent. if something as fundamentalas the right to raise children is not guaranteed for peoplewith disabilities,

significant cross-disability advocacy is certainly needed. i urge all of us to joinefforts to remedy this!

thank you.(applause)