{"id":125,"date":"2023-03-31T00:20:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T23:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/?p=125"},"modified":"2023-03-31T00:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T23:20:34","slug":"supporting-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/2023\/03\/31\/supporting-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Families are full of joy when they welcome a new baby.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most families don\u2019t usually think about how demanding parenting can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one really gets any formal training for bringing up a child. \u201cOne learns on the job\u201d, as the saying goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families rely on their values, beliefs and experience when rearing children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever wondered how rearing a child with disabilities might be different from that of a typically developing child especially in a society where there is little support or awareness of how to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be overwhelming for families sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They often go through different stages of emotions after learning that their child has a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stages are denial, anger, bargaining (for example, saying to a God that if they \u2018cure\u2019 their child, they will be more committed to Him), depression and acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families may be disappointed, embarrassed and ashamed that this is happening to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These psychological responses could even have an impact on relationships within and outside the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, is there a way we can help to make things much easier for these families?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is! As the African saying goes “It takes a community to raise a child.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are different ways we can offer support for families who are raising a child with a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are a friend, aunty, uncle, grandparent, cousin, neighbour, colleague, religious leader etc., you can support these families in several ways including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allow family to grieve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grief is a natural response to learning that you have a child with disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families go through a range of emotions to grieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They may be sad, angry, disappointed and sometimes blame themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ghana, we often don\u2019t encourage grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some religious people, you may be seen as losing \u2018hope\u2019 or \u2018faith\u2019 in the supernatural if you grieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People will often encourage you to put your faith in the supernatural and avoid grieving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, all these feelings are normal and valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no \u2018right\u2019 or \u2018wrong\u2019 ways to react to the news that your child has a disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieving is part of the process of accepting that your child has a disability and beginning to seek help for your child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid saying certain things<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we learn that a family has a child with a disability, our first response is to sympathise or show support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may mean well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the ways we however do this may end up hurting these families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the things we might be tempted to say include \u2018I’m sorry\u2019, \u2018Is there no medicine to cure him?\u2019, \u2018If you disciplined him\/her, they would stop that behaviour\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words may cause more harm than good and should be avoided as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These expressions may be preferrable to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include \u2018typical\u2019 instead of \u2018normal\u2019, \u2018special needs\u2019 instead of \u2018mentally retarded\u2019, \u2018hearing loss\u2019 instead of \u2018deaf & dumb\u2019, \u2018child with Down syndrome\u2019 instead of \u2018Down syndrome child\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some individuals with autism however prefer to be referred to as autistic people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning about the condition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By learning about the condition, you will begin to understand the difficulties the child has and may be able to support the family better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will go a long way to promote inclusion in our society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general attitudes and perceptions of the Ghanaian society towards disabilities are often based on fear and misunderstandings of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your help will go a long way to improve the lives of families raising a child with a disability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer is Speech & Language Therapist\/Clinical Tutor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-mail: jobamp@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Families are full of joy when they welcome a new baby. Most families don\u2019t usually think about how demanding parenting can be. No one really gets any formal training for bringing up a child. \u201cOne learns on the job\u201d, as the saying goes. Families rely on their values, beliefs and experience when rearing children. Have you ever wondered how rearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staag.org.gh\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}