#SpecialSaturday What is it & Why I Started it

February 28, 2011 | Blog, Featured, Special Saturday

As some of you will know, as you see the #specialsaturday I have started a new way to try and raise awareness of special needs, a cause very very close to me heart as a mum to 3 special needs children.

Why did I start #specialsaturday, well there are several reasons the main was when this happened to my 4-year-old daughter who has special needs wasn’t invited to a birthday party you can read that post here >> Why are parents so hurtful this just didn’t happen once but twice in as many weeks talk about a devastated little girl. She was that upset she ran out of the front door down the street, luckily she stopped but with no concept of danger it could have been a very different story all over an invite , very sad isn’t it . Then there was this status I was sent on Facebook summed it all up nicely.

Next time you see a child ‘misbehaving’ or hear a child screaming please stop and think ‘could that child have special needs or sensory issues?’. Please spare a thought for the child who struggles to stay calm and regulated and for the parents who are constantly stared at, judged and criticized.

I had an incident in the summer that highlighted this;

There was a lady in a wheelchair you know what really got me that people moved for this lady because she was in the wheelchair. They came past us and Jen wouldn’t move out-of-the-way . This woman had the cheek to say ” can you move, can’t you see I am disabled ” . I thought what ………… I have my 4-year-old daughter here that is maybe just as disabled who can’t walk very far but because she looks normal nobody takes any notice. To them she is just a very naughty girl.

so many people are very quick to judge without knowing the full story. In everyday life we get this as well playgrounds are the worse areas I find for bigots and people being judgmental.

It wasn’t till yesterday that I noticed the full extent of their small mindedness and ignorance. They were quite happy swapping Christmas cards with one another and MORE party invites doing the round. Yes, you guessed it Jen was left out in all of this. I was thinking in my mind ” Can’t you see , your upsetting a 4-year-old ,little girl ” , “You just don’t care “. Anyway I was going to say something but thought it was best not to, to bind my time to have a go at them.

Do you realise how hurt and upset your actions make parents like me feel. I myself, feel like I am a second class citizen that is not worth people talking to. I stand in the playground wishing for the door to open so I can get away from all of you and back to security of my own home. I am not ashamed of my kids or their conditions because that’s what makes them so unique. If you can’t handle that fact then that is your problem, not mine

So to try to stop parents and children going through all this which I have to say is not very nice and totally upsetting.I started specialsaturday

What Is Specialsaturday

The idea behind this is to use Saturdays to spread awareness of the needs, feelings and accomplishments of children and adults with additional needs or autism. Members of Twitter are asked to make awareness posts on Saturdays using the tag #specialsaturday.

Bloggers are asked to write about their experiences of achievement by people who have additional needs or autism on Saturdays. Members of Facebook are asked to write status updates that help spread awareness on Saturdays. Members of both Facebook and Twitter are asked to use the Twibbon that’s designed to spread awareness of the Special Saturday can be found specialsaturday twibbon to add to your profile pictures. Please add your friends and help us spread awareness. People with additional needs have struggled for too long to be accepted as equal members of society and this MUST change.

12 Comments

Alako
March 3, 2011 at 9:45 pm

Can tell your little daughter she has friends in France.
Love to her and you
wendy
March 4, 2011 at 8:56 pm

Hello lovely to meet you Alako and thank you I will tell her. Much love to you as well from the Savettes
blossom1001
March 6, 2011 at 5:34 pm

I really know how you feel I started my blog about my son with Aspergers as a way highlighting how it affects not just the child but families, he looks normal and has been called rude naughty disruptive and like your daughter has not been invited to birthday parties.

Parents of children with out special needs have no idea how it feels when they make disparaging comments, my son is loving caring puts others before himself and i wouldn’t change him for the world. he may try my patients at times but don’t all kids
- Wendy
  March 6, 2011 at 5:50 pm
  
  Thank you for your comment.
  
  I agree with what your saying that just because a person looks” normal” people don’t think there can be anything wrong with them. It really upsets me that our lovely children get treated this way. I do think blogging is the right way to write down what you feel, how things affect you etc. People tend to understand better when they can relate to a situation.
  
  Thank you for sharing your story of your family and I hope lots more people get to read your blog
  
  wendy xx
Anna
March 9, 2011 at 8:40 pm

what you say about birthday invites- we have this problem too. My nearly 6 yr old has been in nursery, reception and year 1 and only ever had 3 birthday invites, out of a possible 90. Once we had a big hoo-har when i fell out with a mum, who coincidentally used to be a friend of mine because her little one told mine that he can go to his party. No invite arrived but all the kids were raving about it on monday morning. My little one was so upset and kept saying “nobody is my friend”. The parents seem to think just coz a child is autistic/special needs they dont have feelings or wont realise. How very wrong they are.
- Wendy
  March 14, 2011 at 2:47 pm
  
  Hi thanks for the comment.
  
  I don’t think people think at times, yes I agree that they think we are very emotionless but don’t they realise how much they actually hurt us x
Liz Burton
March 11, 2011 at 1:55 pm

Hi Wendy,

I’ve just written a post on my blog about disability – specifically how to explain it to a young child.

I was asked to write it, and because of that, and our own personal experience, it focuses on physical disability.

I would really really value your input and advice on how to explain to my toddler about children who have special needs – like you say, if a child ‘looks normal’ then it’s much harder to understand.

Would you mind hun? It’s not something I have personal experience of, and I don’t want to end up being ‘one of those parents’ :0(

x
- Wendy
  March 14, 2011 at 2:46 pm
  
  Hi thank you for your comment and thinking of me.
  
  I thinkits best not to try and overload her with information. You could just say people are different for what ever reason. Best thing to do is play it by ear .
  
  Thanks for wanting her to become of aware of differences, it makes such a difference x
Phiona Richards
March 20, 2011 at 10:41 am

I think quite often your family are your worst enemy. They often hint that it must be bad parenting on your part. The quote from Facebook is brilliant and the comparison to a physical disability is very apt. I’ve just recently attended some ASD parenting training (Spectrum) and I was told that stress is higher for parents of children with ASD than with a physical disability.
- Wendy
  March 20, 2011 at 4:29 pm
  
  Hello thank you for your comment.
  
  I can believe that about the stress levels. I really liked that quote thought it explained it all very well xx
Steph
March 21, 2011 at 10:00 pm

Hi wendy, it’s probably me not reading properly, but I’m a bit confused now about how you want any posts for special saturday – there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to link up? Just not quite sure how it works, sorry….
- Wendy
  March 22, 2011 at 8:54 am
  
  #specialsaturday is any post, comment etc about an achievement of the children its on the other site forspecialneeds . If you go to submit post and enter it there. I will then link it all back to you when I put the post up.
  
  Any problems give me a shout xx