Having a child with special needs can be both an isolating and challenging experience, but it also offers endless opportunities for learning, acceptance, and education. There are many different kinds of special needs, but today we’re focusing on the “unseen” disabilities of neurodiverse children and the unique experiences of their parents.
Joining me today on Yoga | Birth | Babies is Susanna Peace Lovell. Susanna received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and is an author, speaker, disability rights advocate and certified professional life coach dedicated to the health and wellness of disability families everywhere. This is also her lived experience raising a teenage daughter with a myriad disabilities and diagnoses including ASD (autism spectrum disorder), ADHD, anxiety and severe food allergies.
If you’re a parent of a child with disabilities, I hope this conversation offers you support and validation. For those who are close to families with disabilities, this episode aims to show how you can be a supportive ally. Tune in as Susanna openly shares her journey with her daughter, offers advice on finding the right resources and care providers, and discusses how parents can advocate effectively for themselves, their families, and their children.
In this episode, you will learn:
- About Susanna and her own journey as a parent of a child with special needs
- Susanna’s journey with postpartum anxiety and depression
- How culture plays into the experience of families with disabled children
- Advice and other ways to support a family who just received a disability diagnosis for their child
- How Susanna got support and resources from care providers to help her with her own special needs child
- Advice Susanna would give to parents starting their journey of parenting a child with disabilities
- Ways that parents can be the best advocate for their child
- Mistakes Susanna has made on her parenting journey that others can learn from
- Susanna’s word to those who are afraid of pursuing a diagnosis for their child, or who are afraid of the possibility that their child might have a disability/disabilities
- Where and how, as a parent of a special needs child, Susanna finds support for herself and what self-care and *soul care* looks like for her
- One final tip or piece of advice Susanna would like to offer new and expectant parents
- Where you can find her work
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About Susanna:
Susanna Peace Lovell received her B.A. from UC Berkeley and is an author, speaker, disability rights advocate and a certified professional life coach dedicated to the health and wellness of disability families everywhere. This is also her lived experience raising a teenage daughter with myriad disabilities and diagnoses including ASD (autism spectrum disorder), ADHD, anxiety and severe food allergies.
Connect with Susanna:
Website: www.susannapeacelovell.com
IG: @mamapeace
Book: Your True Self Is Enough: Lessons Learned on My Journey Parenting a Child with Autism
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