Sometimes it’s not so special to be special

Just like many others, as a mother of a son with complex disabilities, I had to learn a whole new language in order to navigate through the maze of special schools, special circumstances, and special services. Like many others, I found that being special is not so special. However, being a mother to Christopher, born with Down syndrome, was to also learn about the strengths I didn’t know I had, and to deal with fears I didn’t know existed. I had to become a disability disrupter and currency finder, an event creator and producer, a fundraiser who could ask for hundreds of millions without apology.

Being mother to a son with special needs is to drive down the fast lane with no brakes and yet be equipped to tell the story so many families ache to tell…about the joy and the heartache that goes along with having a child many think is a mistake.

I have recently received several awards for my community crusade to make the movers and shakers in our town sit up and pay attention to an entire population who had heretofore been considered unworthy of life. It’s like the word went out in 2024 that Linda’s old and we had better give her an award while she’s still kickin’. But hey…I don’t plan on going anywhere for a while and there is so very much still to be done.

It is a privilege to be recognized for a lifetime of work, but it is these kind and loving souls who should instead be recognized for their unique gifts and loving hearts. Their exceptional gifts and place in the community have inspired me to approach ordinary things with extraordinary love. it is my hope that each one of my readers may experience the incredible gift of the friendship of people who are often shunned and ridiculed, so that you too, may receive love from them. Those we most often exclude from society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us all.

I miss my son, particularly in this season of giving. As I navigate the holiday season without him once more, it’s important to remember the many wonderful ways in which he enhanced our lives while with us. His laughter, kindness, resilience, and ability to find joy in the simplest of things are all gifts that continue to live on in the hearts of all of us who loved him. I am also heartened that his legacy lives on through the Christopher Smith Foundation, a caregiving organization in his name that bestows gifts of love and humanity to precious community caregivers. Christophers is the best of me and it’s in those moments of remembrance and gratitude that I can find a sense of peace in the ache of his absence.