So, I didn’t think I would ever have to address anything like this but I’m just going to put it out there so if anyone else was feeling like they needed to bring me to light, we can squash it now. 😉
1. Let’s start with the obvious- If you barely know me, don’t point out what is “wrong” with my daughter. I have never met you in person. Although your intentions may have been good, they were ballsy and completely unwarranted. You went out of your way to message me and used a fake compliment about our family photos to start the conversation.
2. If you knew me or anything about my family… you would know that Lennyn has glasses, we just can’t keep them on her to save our lives. Friends have tried. Family has tried. Her therapist have tried. She’s a baby. She rips them off.
3. You would know she has a lazy eye (most likely brain related) and is far sighted. SHE CAN STILL SEE WITHOUT HER GLASSES. Objects close up are a little blurry. The eye is not always in. We do eye exercises in hopes it gets stronger.
4. You would know that the kid has a specialist for literally every part of her body.
5. You would know that I am OCD with Lennyn’s health. That her care is my full time job. That I had to resign from my actual full time job to make sure she gets to all of these appointments and sees these specialist. To make sure she’s using her equipment, doing therapy at home, and exercises. I lose sleep over her health, I have panic attacks over her health, I am constantly monitoring and analyzing her every move. I STUDY HER. If her hydrocephalus starts acting up there is VISABLE signs. I’m looking at her always!
6. You would know that to put our baby under for any unnecessary procedure is completely asinine. We’ve had 4 surgeries and she’s not even 11 months yet. We’re good on surgery for a while.
7. There’s nothing “WRONG” with my daughter. Does she have a complex health history? You betcha! That does not make her anything less of than perfect. ITS A LAZY EYE. If it makes you uncomfortable to look at, to the point where you think you need to reach out and give me medical advice and point it out, please remove yourself.
8. Im all about conversations about Lennyns health and journey. I do not want this to come off as we can not have a conversation. But if you are a stranger, this is rude guys. We are so on top of it and I think that is pretty clear. Please don’t do this to anyone in the future.
Furthermore, I’ve known that comments like this would happen. Every special needs parent I’ve met and blog I’ve read has warned me about stuff like this. It took 11 months for me to encounter it. When her head was half shaved – nothing. When she had bandages all over her head – nothing. When she had a helmet on – nothing. It took our gosh darn, BEAUTIFUL, family photos for someone to say something rude. Photos that are a celebration of overcoming every obstacles. It’s so hurtful that something meant to be beautiful was used to criticize and point out an opinion based flaw.
Spoiler alert: I was offended. Let’s use this as a learning lesson.
#advocatelikeamother #lennynstrong
Live, Laugh, Lennyn 