Welcome To Holland

This was written by Emily Perl Kingsley in 1987. There is no better way to describe the experience of becoming the parent to a child with special needs:

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Dancing Dreams – Ballet For Girls With Disabilities

I was on the internet one day, just poking around, and I came across this wonderful dance program for children with disabilities. Dancing Dreams was started in 2002 by Joann Ferrara, a pediatric physical therapist with a background in ballet. It has grown from five dancers to over 50 girls, ages 3 to 17. Based in Queens, NY, dancers come from all over NY state and even New Jersey to participate. Each ballerina has a helper – a high school student who is trained to assist a student in class. Every year, the ballerinas put on a performance for their family & friends which is free and open for all to come enjoy!

This lovely program has been featured on the Today Show, CBS Early Show & other news channels. It’s also appeared in The New York Times and other national publications such as People Magazine. “Ballerina Dreams”, a book about the program published in 2007, won accolades in the publishing field.  Principal Dancer of the New York City Ballet, Jenifer Ringer, fell in love with Dancing Dreams & its mission and is now its Artistic Consultant.

Currently, there are three programs Dancing Dreams runs. There is the Adaptive Dance Class, of course. They also do community outreach where they speak at schools, teaching children about awareness. The Teen Leadership program helps volunteers learn valuable leadership skills while turning dreams into reality for the ballerinas.

Dancing Dreams is a nonprofit organization so it relies on charitable contributions for funding. There is also a voluntary contribution for classes to cover the cost but no ballerina has ever been turned away due to an inability to pay. Donators can choose to purchase items for ballerinas, such as ballet slippers ($35) or a leotard and tights ($75). See a full list ofdonation suggestions here.

Check out their website at DancingDreams.org