Inspiring Life Despite A Diagnosis

Even though the country has a record low employment rate of 2-3 percent, people with disabilities have an unemployment rate of 65 percent. Why is this?  In this Podcast episode Gerald talks about with proper training, coaching, and job matching, people with disabilities are able to become dedicated employees. Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities Unemployment rates There are 48.9 million people in the US with at least one form of a disability.  65 percent of those are unemployed.  With the national unemployment average at 2-3 percent, it’s shocking that people with disabilities have an unemployment rate so high.   There are several reasons someone with a disability could be unemployed.  Some perhaps don’t want to work, for some it’s an accessibility issue, and for others it could be an issue of training.  Why not hire someone with a disability? There are several jobs out there that someone with a disability could do if given the proper training.  For instance, sorting hangers

Jessica and Johnathan were shocked and relieved to receive a diagnosis for their son Trenton. Jessica struggled for years to find a doctor who would help her. Her journey in advocacy led her to start a nonprofit organization called Collaborative Corner for Exceptional Children. A company dedicated to helping parents find resources and become advocates for their children with disabilities.

All Maria wanted was to be able to get the chance to tell Serenity how much she was loved. She said, “I just prayed and I asked God if he could just give me fifteen minutes to love her. To tell her how much I loved her.

In this episode Dr. Gerald Nebeker talks about the NIPT- Noninvasive prenatal testing, and how the results are often misinterpreted.  What is NIPT? NIPT stands for noninvasive prenatal testing. Doctors often use NIPT to screen for genetic abnormalities.  It is considered non-invasive because the test requires blood from the mother.  They are then able to differentiate between the fetus’ DNA and the mother’s.  While this test is considered to be very accurate, Gerald points out some cautions. “It’s important to know that it's a screening test only. A positive result doesn’t necessarily mean the baby has a condition. The test results show that the baby has an increased risk but it cannot diagnose a disorder” Beware of how statistics are represented The NIPT test boasts a 99% accuracy or 99% sensitivity.  However, if you receive a positive result, this does not mean that your child has a 99% chance of having that condition. When quoting Bloom Life Gerald stated, “NIPT can detect over 99% of fe

Rocky admits that at first he had worries and concerns about raising a child with special needs, but these concerns quickly dissolved. He tells us "The joy that comes when you sacrifice for other people and other things...It helps you to focus on the things that really matter in this life and to take joy in the simple things that we often take for granted."

Stacy said that her daughters have been a blessing from the beginning but that she had to adjust her thinking to a different path than what she had expected. Now they are just "Sydney and Logan. Stacy tells us, "They are actually easier to raise than my other two daughters who are non-delayed." Despite the challenges they know it is worth it. "Everyone has problems, you just have to adjust...They are worth it. I wouldn't give up anything. I love coming home...," said Terry. He loves that his twin daughters still live at home and he gets about 20 hugs a day from them.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers and her husband Brian Rodgers found out their son Cole had Down syndrome at his birth. "It was tough. The doctors laid out a lot of things and it was very difficult. The fear of the unknown is what is overwhelming in that moment. Go talk to other people, don't make an isolated decision. Educate yourself, I remember when we go the news about Cole, that so much of it was focused on the negative. It was focused on what health issues he may have or other challenges. Rather than really being told what the potential was."

 Jessica is a single mom and the parent of two boys, Britton and Chewy. Britton was born at 28 weeks gestation weighing only two pounds and 14 ounces. He is 13 years old now and has had many health challenges, including a stroke and brain bleed which has resulted in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

For this Good In Our Community feature, we're featuring Betrayal Trauma Recovery. This is a great resource for anyone that is parenting a child with special needs, that has a parter who is abusive. Here is a blog written by their founder, Anne Blythe: We all know women raising children with special needs. But in some situations, these women are also dealing with abuse in their relationships privately. Anne, founder of Betrayal Trauma Recovery, states, “A lot of people see the disability from the outside, but they don’t see anything that is going on in the inside, like what types of things are going on with their spouse. Women may be free and open to talk about their children’s needs and the disabilities, but they are quiet about the private suffering due to abuse in their home.” Parenting Children With Special Needs Is Difficult In An Abusive Situation June, a single mom of four children, all of whom have special needs of varying degrees, was in this situation. She suffered private abuse by her husband, whi

They told us they thought he had a form of dwarfism based on his femur length. His femurs are shortened and curved, which is a marker for other conditions. At 32 weeks we got the results back that it was Osteogenesis Imperfecta- also known as brittle bones.

"I held her and I cried and the nurse held me and from that moment on I said “I don’t care about anything else other than protecting her and doing whatever it takes to keep her happy and safe and loved.”

Adrianne and Jason had two biological daughters when they adopted their son and then their third daughter Maria from the Philippines. Maria was born missing all 4 limbs, a condition known as Tetra Amelia syndrome.   Adrianne and Jason had no experience with someone with special needs, so they had to search and find resources, ask questions, and prepare to adopt Maria. Maria has now been home with her family for 3 1/2 years.   She has overcome many limitations and shown her family that, despite her disability, she can be happy and enjoy life like anyone else.

When Luxton was born, he wasn't breathing, and doctors immediately called a code blue.  An MRI showed brain bleeds, but doctors didn't know why. Jori and Dan were sent home to care for Luxton. At 3 weeks old, Luxton's oxygen and heart rate plummeted, so they rushed him to the hospital where he spent another 3 months while doctors treated  Luxton, and tried to find the cause of all his symptoms. Jori said,  "They told us whatever he has is terminal, so don’t expect him to look at you, don’t expect him to laugh. He’s never going to play with toys. He’s never going to walk, he’s never going to crawl. He’s never going to sit up, he’s going to be a vegetable. They didn’t give us very much hope. One doctor wanted us to put him in a long-term care facility and that was really hard for us because we had no answers brand new baby." Finally they ran a test called Microarray. It showed small deletion on chromosome two. At almost 16 months, they finally received an official diagnosis : Autosomal Recessive Centronuclear

Laurel and Jaron didn't receive a diagnosis for their son, Shane, until he was 4 years old. Shane is diagnosed with 18 P Deletion. He had Strabismus, which is a lazy eye, which was corrected when he was 2. He has developmental delays, so even though he’s a five-year-old, he has a cognitive abilities of a two-year-old. He has high blood pressure in his lungs, but nothing too concerning. Another thing that can be related to this disorder are heart problems. Symptoms of 18 P Deletion When he was an infant, he started missing some mile markers. Laurel and Jaron started seeking early intervention, and asked their pediatrician if they needed to run any tests. But they were told that he was still doing very well, he was just a little behind. It wasn’t until this past year that they pursued it a little bit further, and their pediatrician referred them to a genetic specialist. All it took was a simple blood test, a microarray, that took all of 30 seconds to draw his blood. A week later they knew the reason for some

Both of their daughters were diagnosed in utero with a fatal form of Dwarfism. They chose to continue with the pregnancy, and doctors couldn't give them statistics, because everyone else they knew that received the same diagnosis chose to abort.

While looking through adoption files from an orphanage in Yerevan Armenia,   Sarah saw a picture of Maria, who has Down syndrome. Sarah told us, " I saw Maria’s face, and I had seen many other faces over the years, and they are always just so cute and you want to adopt them all, but something was very different when I saw Maria’s face. It's like God told me, "that’s your daughter, go get her!" 

There's only a handful of kids who have been diagnosed with NONO gene deletion. Doctors can't tell you what your life will be like, Morgan and Rikki can.

There were suspicions in utero that their baby would have Down syndrome, but they didn’t know for sure until he was point. After a lot of study and then ultimately meeting their son with Down syndrome, they have decided Grayson is perfect the way he was born.  

Internationally Adopted Children with Special Needs “We didn’t ever anticipate that were going to have ten children. It’s just that they’re ours, “James said. Four of those children are adopted and have disabilities, also not in the plans. The adopted children came from Kazakhstan, China, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They have Reye’s Syndrome or Down Syndrome and have added so much joy to their family. “The blessing they’ve been in our lives has been enormous and we just needed them home.” James’ and Jennifer’s children with disabilities have their own difficulties, but in many ways they are less difficult than some of their children without disabilities. Dealing with Loss of Children with Special Needs One of their adoption journeys proved to be particularly painful, but profoundly fulfilling. Jennifer knew the moment she saw Jacob that he was theirs – after further research she was surprised to find out he had Down syndrome. When they were ready to bring him home from China, there were complicat

Rebekah and Chris have Achondroplasia, a form of Dwarfism. They have 2 children, one that has Dwarfism, and one that does not. Rebekah and Chris open up about what it's like living as a little person, and how they feel now that they have a daughter with the same condition. Rebekah is a great resource to parents who receive a Dwarfism diagnosis for their child.