Where Advocacy, Special Needs Parenting, & Life Collide
Bloggy Conference and Health Advocacy #WeGoHealth #BloggyCon
Late, but Not Forgotten – Health Advocacy at Bloggy Con This Year!
Special & Determined’s Marla and I became fast friends at Bloggy Con!
I think if most people stop to think about why they go to a conference, networking with other bloggers comes up high on their list. Learning about blogging, using video and Youtube, utilizing pohtography, using social media appropriately … they all are important and awesome things to learn about at a great conference. But …
At Bloggy Con I had a chance to spread my wings, just a little bit, as the health advocate I am. And to me, that was a huge benefit for the conference. I met the amazing Marla who blogs over at Special and Determined about her perspective on being a mother to an amazing little guy with *designer* genes (love that one!). We have some amazing plans for a real partnership as we push advocacy forward a bit!
At the conference, though, I also met many other amazing bloggers who have a child (or children) with a bit of awesomeness, and while their blogs’ topics range from homeschooling to crafting, they reminded me of why the Cafe is so important to me.
Where the Passion is – Advocacy will Follow
Advocating for our children comes naturally. When you have a child with special needs you learn, over the years, how to fight for your child. But as parents, we tend to sometimes get lost in the shuffle – our goals and dreams, blogging and work – they all come secondary to this reality that is being a special needs parent. Sometime blogging is a way to deal with the stress (and the blessings! Don’t ever forget the blessings!) of being a special needs parent.
I blog about being a special needs mom, about our very awesome family and the boys, and about the challenges of advocating for our kids, and I share tons of awareness information and advocacy projects – because my passion is centered around helping others deal with things I have experience in. Yes, I have other “passions” and interests, but the Cafe — it’s all about my passion for being a special needs parent, and for sharing and connecting with other special needs parents. And others in general.
Why?
Because until you’ve walked a mile in mine or another special needs family’s shoes you can’t understand what it like … unless we try to tell you, share that with you. And it’s a personal thing to share. It’s hard to be positive sometimes. So I’m not always. Blogging is a way to advocate both for our kids and for ourselves.
And that, my friends, is how connecting with some amazing bloggers at Bloggy Con really helped me out. It helped me remember that purpose, that passion.
You’ll notice I took a bit of a break, just posting a little here and there over the last couple of weeks – that’s because I had some deadlines to take care of and I wanted to think about my goals for Cafe a bit more carefully. I expect to share some fun and serious posts, including some global awareness posts, some amazing brands I think you’ll love as much as I do, and potentially a special needs gift guide … but now’s the time to tell me:
What would YOU like to see me post at the Cafe? Are you a special needs parent? Do you have more than one child with special needs (or awesomeness, as I like to say!)? What challenges would you like to see someone else share about? How does health advocacy impact your life? It’s all YOU … tell me what you would like more information on, more discussion about, more laughs about (I have plenty of toilet paper stories!).
Katrina Moody
Graphic Designer, Wordpress Addict, Blogger at Kat's Media & More
I'm a special needs parent before just about everything else in life, but also a passionate advocate for my three boys and husband, who all have a bit of awesomeness about them. Awesomeness = Axenfeld-Rieger Syndrome, Autism, Epilepsy, Dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy, and more. It all adds up to some awesome kids and an amazing family.
Latest posts by Katrina Moody (see all)
- Special Needs Kids Win the World! 29 Great Bike Giveaway Winners! - May 17, 2013
- Our Birth Story and the Story of Hope - May 8, 2013
- Awesome Adaptive Bike Giveaway for Children with Special Needs - May 6, 2013