Acceptance
for every
family
Almost an ordinary morning with coffee
At breakfast in the hotel, I watch a mother with a little girl. The girl is about five. The mother drinks coffee contentedly and looks at the little girl with only one eye. So normal. Like all mothers to their young children. The little girl stands about a meter from the table, one leg in front, as if she were going to step forward. But it's not going anywhere. He sways back and forth, rhythmically maneuvers his hands a few centimeters in front of his eyes and mumbles something to himself. Nothing seems to bother her. I look at them and I don't want it to look like I'm staring, but I can't take my eyes off them. They are so relaxed... as if everything is absolutely fine.
In my thoughts, I return to the words I heard from the doctor during the prenatal diagnosis during both of my pregnancies: "you have an increased risk that your child will be affected. It will be a lifelong burden. I recommend further examinations of the fetus…”
I understand what the doctor meant by that. Raising a child with a disability in our society is incredibly difficult. Nevertheless, at breakfast in front of me, I see a calm, beautiful woman who is the mother of a severely disabled child, drinking her coffee contentedly. And I watch the hotel guests - no one stares, no one pauses, no one pays more attention to them except me. They are not disturbing anyone, they are just there. Two - mother and child.
My 5-year-old daughter, who can't get away with anything, runs up to me and asks: "who are you looking at?" "That little girl", I answer. "And why?" "Because I like it". "Oh, I like it too". And he happily runs away. She doesn't see what I see. The little girl is just a child for her.
And this is how I want it. I hope and believe that. I believe that my children will live in a society where anyone else will be just another piece in the colorful puzzle of the people of this planet. Where more and more of us lucky ones with healthy children will not just dryly state "God, what a burden..." but will look for ways to make it easier for the parents of such children. How to set up a company for all families. How to enable families of children with severe disabilities to live a good life. Allowing women to work so they can also afford hotel and wellness...or whatever makes them feel good.
So that every mother of every child can drink her morning coffee with satisfaction.
If not, I'm afraid that our children will blame us one day.
Simona Šimková
