06/22/2026
I graduated from Partners in Policymaking this weekend, the national disability policy and advocacy program the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council runs for Louisiana participants.
In one of our sessions this cohort, one of our instructors walked us through the research on relationships and disability. People with disabilities have a fraction of the close relationships everyone else does. The number they gave us was around twenty-five, against about a hundred and fifty for a typical person. I want Landry to have the typical fulfilling relationships the rest of us get naturally through society and community. I want that for his peers too. Saturday he had that. I looked around and my classmates were passing Landry around the room, taking turns holding him. Half the people who held my son this weekend use wheelchairs themselves. Some are self-advocates. Many are parents who have been doing this a LOT longer than me, and I think Landry may actually be the youngest kid of our group.
I spend most of my time in the part of this work that is law and statutes and paperwork and testimony. THIS was the part I don't get enough of. Leaving the isolation for this community was so refreshing, as was being in a room full of people who get this life and journey without me explaining a thing, loving on my boy like he was theirs. And BOY DO THEY LOVE HIM. It fills me with the level of happiness only conjured up by seeing other people love your child so sincerely.
I left with a diploma and my PiP binder (iykyk 😂) and friends and community for our family, and most importantly FOR LANDRY. That's who this last 6 months was for.
Most people don't know I almost didn't make it to my first PiP session. Our program coordinator Rebecca compassionately gave me until 3pm to get there before I wouldn't get to continue. The first session is mandatory. I was struggling with PPD and leaving Landry overnight, even just to spend a night down the interstate, 15 minutes away. My friend and mentor in advocacy, Bambi, communicated with Rebecca, came to my home, picked me up, and dropped me off at the Marriott when I couldn't show up for myself that day. I'm as much a Partners graduate because of her as I am because of myself and my family that made sure I finished. Thank you, Bambi. I would've regretted not doing this. You and Rebecca were right.
