Kids are curious… They want to know everything about everything right?

They look, they touch, they point and they ask A LOT of questions! And it’s up to us as their parents to help educate them about the world around them.

How many of you reading this were brought up talking and learning about people with disabilities?

How many of you were told “don’t stare” when you pass someone in a wheelchair? Or when you asked your parents about someone who was different than you they’d answer back “oh, he’s special”

Any of these sound familiar???

So how do we stop that?

How do WE do better? What can we do as parents, caregivers, family members and neighbors to end the fear of talking about disabilities?

What if we started by educating ourselves?

AND educating our children?

What if we all talked openly about disabilities?

What if we talk about what makes each and every one of us different and unique?

Because truly …. we really are ALL different … with different strengths and abilities … different ways of talking… different ways of walking and getting from one place to another… different ways of seeing, communicating, eating, writing…

Every single one of us has things we are good at, things we struggle with, things that we need help with and things that we aren’t able to do at all!

And… We DO have some things in common… disability or not … we are ALL human beings.

We love, we laugh, we feel, we cry…

We want to have a happy life filled with family and friends!

We want to live life to the best of our abilities filled with joy and surrounded by people who love and support us right?

Take this picture for example… When I look at this picture I see me and my sweet Bubba!

I don’t see autism… I don’t see disability…

I see a sweet boy loving his time with his mommy in the hallway at the movie theatre. I see a boy who is happy and trying to make his mommy laugh!

And I hope that’s what you see too!

We live in a big world my friends… a world where we are constantly judged no matter what we do, how we act, or what we look like..

But I truly believe if we start educating ourselves and our children early on… one by one people will be more accepting of one another.

So the next time you see someone with a disability or someone who may seem “different” , use that as an opportunity to break the cycle.

Practice kindness.

Offer a helping hand.

Let’s help our children understand that we need to embrace our differences.

Answer their questions to the best of your ability. Don’t shrug them off. Don’t ignore them.

Educate them!

Show them how we treat everyone with respect.

And last but not least …..

Instead of saying “don’t stare” …

Teach them to SMILE and say “hello”