Inclusionforderrick

Weather have change again....is looking rainy...thank God Dee was able to play outside for a few minutes 😆 🤣 😂

He is so happy to enjoy the dryness of the sun again 😆

Steps 😆

This particular experience leave a mark in my heart ❤️. I saw Dee had fun

In church

It's well...I have been there uncountable times..... I will cry and still shout with my loud voice....God didn't make a mistake when he gave me this loud voice, he knew it will be useful at a point in my life.... what we special parent see our mouth no fit talk am all... this days to go hospital dey fear me....I don't even know what to expect....

This was one of those hospital appointments I'll never forget.

It was one of the few times I completely broke down in public. I cried. I screamed.
I couldn't hold it together anymore. After waiting three long months just to see the specialist, we were told to go back home because they couldn't attend to us that day. Just like that.

Sometimes it feels like parents of children with special needs have to cry, beg, explain, and fight for every single thing our children need. Nothing seems to come easily. Not even healthcare.
What broke me the most was seeing other patients still being attended to while we were told to leave.

My son was struggling to breathe.
Going home was never an option. So I stood there, with tears running down my face, and I refused to move. I told them I wasn't going anywhere until my son received the medical attention he desperately needed. I wasn't trying to be difficult. I was simply being his mother. Eventually, after everything, Derrick was finally attended to.

As everything settled, something happened that I'll never forget.
Several mothers who had witnessed everything walked over to me. One after another, they encouraged me. They told me I did the right thing. One beautiful woman wearing an ijib came up to me, hugged me tightly, and said words that still echo in my heart: "You are a good mother. God will bless you." I didn't feel like a hero that day. I felt exhausted.
I felt frustrated. I felt like a mother who had reached her limit. But hearing those words reminded me that sometimes people are quietly watching.

They see the sacrifices. They see the tears. They see the battles we fight behind hospital doors. To every parent raising a child with special needs, never forget this: People are watching. Your child is watching. Your courage teaches them that they matter. Your voice tells them they are worth fighting for. I could have quietly gone home. I could have accepted the disappointment and waited for another long appointment. But not when my child was struggling to breathe.
Not when his health was on the line.

I am not, and I will never be, a calm parent when someone tries to deprive my child of his basic rights, especially his right to healthcare, a healthcare service that we are paying for and not receiving for free, healthcare that is not subsidies in any way. If standing up for my son makes me "that difficult parent," then so be it. I will choose being difficult over being silent.
Every. Single. Time.

Because before the world sees a child with Down syndrome, I see my son. And he deserves to be heard. He deserves to be treated. He deserves dignity. He deserves attention And as long as I have breath in me, I will never stop fighting for him.