This was an interview between John who is a student and Mercy a parent to a disabled child. The interview was all about child guidance through the eyes of the parents. Just like most parents, Mercy discovered that her daughter had a defect when she was expecting her daughter. This made them feel that their lives are shattered. This is nearly a universal reaction to all parents. What followed after every month of diagnosis were different emotions like sorrow, anger and disbelief.
The main obstacle the parent has is the school system that is special education, support service and hospitals. They are extremely inflexible in especially to accommodate a child with a disability. The Mercy explains. It is a basic need for all children meaning that as a parent, she has to use this system though so entrenched. It takes most of her time she says, that most of her time she takes to convince people that she had a disabled child, while she was normal.
Parents find it difficult to share with other people about their child; each parent has a different agreement on diagnosis of the child. Example what the father of the child will have to discuss or share when he is alone may be different from that they will share when his partner (child’s mother) is around, or even when the whole family is present.
To care for a child with special needs is so involving than for a normal child. Seeing other children developing in a normal way is a challenge to the parents, because that means they have to go see a doctor, which is a nightmare to them, because of time. Time meaning they have to go to work, attend to their other children. To ensure they have enough time for the child they choose to take leave of absence from their job, but with time, they had to hire a full nanny to take care of their daughter at all times. Attending to medical needs may be a round the clock job. Parents find it hectic, for parent Mercy the difficult aspect of her daughter was “immersion in the medical world.”
The parent says that she has learnt how to dream, not just for her child but herself. The world has opened up for her. She has discovered what is right for her, and had a new world by moving from seeing herself as not having a lot to offer to the world. Meaning she attained new skills, established a new network in the community. Though she had a disabled child, Mercy felt strong in reaching her own goals. She felt she had learnt a valuable thing in life.
The Mercy says that her daughter’s greatest strength is her knowledge of information in a vast range of topics, understanding power and observational skills. The greatest weakness the child has is her writing skills. The child has poor writing skills, poor organizational capacity, and difficulties in employing a proper, systematic problem solving strategies.
The community is offering so much towards the disabled. Example there exist twelve people who in turn go over to make sure that her daughter is under proper care, they include nurses, pediatricians and highly qualified grandmothers. They have established a system that support daily duty and provide an emotional support to parents of a child with needs.
The whole community is educated on how to handle and interact with parents having a special child in conferences. Mercy is one of the conference speakers. This helps avoid offending parents with a specific child by the community, meaning she will always have a clear mind without stress or depression. In conclusion, it is clear not to deny that parents of children with disabilities have negative experiences. The existence of a disability often places stress and unique demand upon the family.