She’s With Me

[Washoe]

A woman I know whose quadriplegic daughter passed away last December just posted this to her Facebook page. It’s a bit glurgey (alright, it’s über-glurge and it plays the Christian card to boot), but it’s a pleasant enough tune and it illustrates a mindset that almost nobody outside the world of people with disabilities really comprehends—namely that parents of disabled (or insert your own PC euphemism) children often grow to realize that their lives have been enriched, not damaged, by raising them. Maybe it’s a form of rationalization on their part, but I prefer to think that it isn’t. I’ve met so many of these parents now that I realize that the world really is somehow a better place because of their children’s brief existences, and that these children invariably have a positive and lasting impact on the majority of people with whom they come in contact. Submitted for your perusal: She’s With Me.