Diversity + Advocacy

Laying out the card on the kitchen table and preparing to make our March for Our Lives banners, I paused. For weeks I had been planning for our family to be part of the movement, and to make a stand...

I am a special needs parent. Those six words are hard to type. Because I don't think of my children as having special needs; they are just my kids. Not all special needs can be "seen". You probably wouldn't be...

I didn’t see homeless people growing up in my rural Oregon hometown. I’m sure they were there, but it looked different than in the city. Living in Montana, there weren’t many homeless on the streets there either; the living conditions...

Looking to start talking to your little ones about important — albeit tough — topics about their bodies (and bodies in general)? Many of us, myself included, feel a sense of stress and pressure when it comes to talking to...

One in every 691 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome. It’s easy to gloss over that number or not think about what that means for a child or family until you actually know and love...

I'm in the Costco line getting groceries…. Random lady in line: "Where are you from?" Me: "Me? I’m from Beaverton." Random lady: "No, like where are you from from?" Me: "Um, I’m originally from Connecticut." Random lady: "I mean like where are you from?" {I...

A handful of years ago, I looked through stacks of our old family photos. I came across one picture that left a pit in my stomach. How much celebration of white supremacy can fit in a 4 x 6 photo? The...

Ah, Oktoberfest. Just the sound of it causes this German girl's little heart to beat in time with the chicken dance! I often tell people that Oktoberfest is like a religion in my family. I grew up attending the annual...

It happened. My son got in the car and said it, "the kids are mean to me." I could feel my insides burn with anger and sadness thinking of his feelings and the impact they will have on his...

Within the autism community, there are SO many people and also SO many different viewpoints on the issues. Things you might think the community as a whole should agree upon, right? Yeah, not so much. For instance, try asking about...