A parenting book by author Kelley Coleman focuses on the care of disabled children

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Parents of disabled children are responsible for navigating a number of complex systems, from educational services and accommodation to medical care. Author Kelley Coleman, whose son has an undiagnosed genetic syndrome, says that parenting a disabled child can be hard–but hard is not bad. That's the central framework of her book, Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child, which came out earlier this year. In today's episode, Coleman speaks with Here & Now's Deepa Fernandes about their joyful and difficult parenting moments, how to access the support needed for kids to thrive, and teaching self-advocacy.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. There's some really solid life advice
0:06.6	in today's interview. It's between here and now's Deepa Fernandez and Kelly Coleman, who wrote
0:11.1	everything no one tells you about parenting a disabled child. You can probably guess what it's
0:16.3	about from that title. But even if you aren't the parent of a disabled child, I think it's interesting
0:21.4	to hear Coleman's take on doing hard things and what she learned from a disability activist
0:27.1	about making mistakes, which we all do. That's coming up after the break.
0:33.2	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:38.0	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:42.6	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:44.6	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
0:48.3	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
0:51.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:58.0	Parenthood brings challenges that are almost impossible to be prepared for, and there's
1:03.5	no instruction manual.
1:05.8	Parenting a disabled child brings even more complexities to navigate.
1:10.3	If ever a manual could help, I know I
1:13.2	oftentimes wished for one when I hit road bumps in raising my child with a rare genetic condition.
1:20.0	Well, now there's a book called Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child.
1:26.3	In it, author Kelly Coleman guides parents through
1:29.2	getting a diagnosis, dealing with schools and doctors and all the services and supports
1:34.4	available to help kids and families. Kelly Coleman joins me now. Kelly, welcome. Thank you so
1:40.4	much for having me. Kelly, I'd love to start with the framing your book makes front and center and that I really
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.