As I sit here looking back on all of the great articles in this issue, I can’t help but think of what it took to get here. I find myself asking the $64,000 question: “if I knew how much work it would take, would I still have done it?”. The answer is, without question, YES! I have met so many wonderful, talented, energized, focused, and determined, in touch, SMART, helpful, and involved people along the way. Just meeting them alone was worth all of the long, long hours. I have spent a great deal of my “corporate” life working for one of the largest publishers in the world. They were a great learning curve and launching pad for what I do today. But, they were all business and a bit “cold”. This “new launch” is certainly much more personal for me. It is more personal for you as well. You see, we all have a common thread…we have, we care for, or we know someone with special needs.
In this issue, as with all other issues, you will come to find that we call them “different abilities”, not “disabilities”. I happen to love a saying: Maya Angelou: “you did then, what you knew how to do… When you knew better…you did better”.
This ties into the central theme of our Premier Issue. This magazine is founded on two core beliefs. First, we want all of you to “know better”. As you take the time to look through our magazine, you will find topics for help, assistance, information, and a lot of varied things. But, you will also find the information simplified to fit our busy schedules.
Secondly, this magazine will have a central theme. In this issue, the theme is ACCEPTANCE. You will find personal testimonies that will make you reach for the “tissues” (The Many Gifts). You will find frustrations for families (A Mother’s Cry For Help) and it, hopefully, will encourage you to act, cry, yell, or write to your Congressperson. Either way, you will react. We will ask questions (Do You Know OR Did You Know?). We will get a sibling’s point of view (S.O.S. Siblings Offering Support). You will find that you are not alone on this, often times, confusing journey. We all, each and every one of us, can become more involved. Can become more informed. Can become more unified by our commonalities…not isolated by our differences. The best way is to begin…begin by reading all throughout our issue. Tell friends. Email friends. Ask them to subscribe…. remember, IT’S FREE.
So, here we go…and we’re off!!!!! Thanks for taking the first step. We’re glad you did and we hope you will be as well.
Chantai Snellgrove