I wish I could answer that question with an easy simple sentence, but I can\u2019t.\u00a0 Before my son was diagnosed with Tourette\u2019s and all it\u2019s friends, I can honestly say I didn\u2019t give too much thought to special needs children.\u00a0 It just wasn\u2019t in my limited radar.\u00a0 They were there, and I would see them sometimes, but it wasn\u2019t a major part of my world.\u00a0 And then a funny thing happened.\u00a0 It became my world.<\/p>\n
My family became very different then.\u00a0 Every moment, every action, I saw the label.\u00a0 I saw my son as different, as \u201cnot normal\u201d.\u00a0 I was in denial for a long time.\u00a0 Not because of him, but because my mind, my heart, it couldn\u2019t accept what was right before my eyes.<\/p>\n
Over time, this changed.\u00a0 My son\u2019s disabilities were with me every waking moment.\u00a0 I tried to hide from it, to run away from it, but they were there, saying \u201cHelp me Daddy\u201d.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve tried.\u00a0 For the longest time I thought if I just treated him like every other normal child, maybe things would change.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I had to take a strong look at myself before I could accept him for who he was.\u00a0 I had to, and still have to, realize that it doesn\u2019t matter what others think.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter, at all.\u00a0 Let them judge, let them stare.\u00a0 It\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, I am a husband and a father.\u00a0 My family isn\u2019t the perfect Norman Rockwell family that so many dream of.\u00a0 I know I did for a long time, but it\u2019s just not in the cards.\u00a0 But what I have is something better.\u00a0 I have something real.\u00a0 Something so crazy and imperfect that it makes the most sense in the world.\u00a0 I get to see something some can never see.\u00a0 I see human emotion in it\u2019s pure, truest form.<\/p>\n
Love, anger, sadness, happiness, jealousy, hope.\u00a0 It\u2019s all there.\u00a0\u00a0 My son has the ability to display all of these.\u00a0 But it\u2019s more than emotions.\u00a0 It\u2019s like they are colors.\u00a0 Beautiful, radiant colors, that shine the brightest in his soul.<\/p>\n
Conversations I had with people in the past used to consist of my latest TV show craze, whether it was X-Files, Lost, or Game of Thrones. I would talk about music, some politics, but for the most part I was a very self-centered person. My world was MY world and I felt people were crazy for not liking what I liked. Then a little thing became a big thing, and before I knew it, I was fully immersed in a cause. It didn\u2019t happen overnight. It built up for a long time, and I didn\u2019t even realize it.<\/p>\n
When my son started having numerous problems at his old school, I figured he was just a misfit of sorts and he liked causing trouble. But it continued, and\u00a0I knew something was off, but I didn\u2019t know what. Eventually, I found out. He had Tourette\u2019s Syndrome. And ADHD. And Sensory Processing Disorder. And OCD. And Anxiety. And Depression. He wasn\u2019t even in double digits yet, and he had all of this to look forward to. I didn\u2019t have the slightest clue how to help him, and I\u2019ll be honest, sometimes I still don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t expect perfection. Let\u2019s get that on the table right now. I accept mistakes, if they are made with the right intentions. But when the \u201cold school\u201d denied my son services that should have been his by federal law, I was pissed off. When I fully realized the scope of it all, I was well beyond pissed off. So I researched everything. Schools. The DOE. The Government. Common Core. Rodel. Smarter Balanced Assessments. The Charter School Network. What I found was a clear path, visible to those who follow the steps.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the oldest game in the world. Survival of the fittest. Cavemen did it, and those in power do it now. They don\u2019t want to relinquish their power and they will hold onto it as long as they can. Those who get in their way are pushed aside. But something new and bizarre is happening in the power landscape. The Power People are getting together and banding together. They are forcing their will on the people through coercion and specific techniques. And it all begins with education.<\/p>\n
We think we know what\u2019s going on, but there are depths and levels of which most people don\u2019t have a clue. It\u2019s a game of chess, and their pieces have been placed in a potential checkmate position for a long time.<\/p>\n