Jennifer

Jennifer is Gavins Mom. Today, on the Gavin's Groupies Facebook page, she shared something that I had to share with all of you. It epitomizes exactly how Beenish and I feel. Thank you for sharing Jennifer.

"One of the questions I received in an email from Jeremy was:
How has your family accepted the diagnosis of blindness, and how do you address it with Gavin?

Our answer:
The onset of the diagnosis was very devastating. We went through a variety of emotions, which has brought us to where we are today. At one point, when we were visiting Children's Hospital frequently for testing/appointments, I began to feel that I didn't deserve to feel sadness for him. I saw so many sick children at the hospital with life threatening conditions, as well as personal family loss. I began to not address the emotions, and felt guilty about them. As a family we were referred to a child psychologist, to help deal with those emotions as a family, and it made a world of difference. I began to feel ok with the fact that I was terribly sad for my son, and I think I finally grieved that last portion towards his second birthday. We still get waves of emotion, but it doesn't hold us down for long. Initially I had no idea what the quality of life there was for Gavin, and part of that was me being uneducated in the blind community, just because I wasn't connected to it anyway. Today, I know Gavin will live a full life, independently, and we give him the tools every day to do just that.

As far as addressing blindness for Gavin... I look at blindness as a characteristic of our son. You won't see me calling him my "blind son"- his blindness does not define him. He is my son, a wonderful, talented, loving, happy, 5 year old, who is also blind. We use the word "blind" in our home, from the very beginning, we have owned his blindness - as a family. He's beginning to understand a little more about his role, and how he does things differently, but he also hasn't asked what "blind" is. I'm sure we will get there, and have that discussion, when he is ready. We use the words 'see', 'look', and so on. They just have different meanings to him. We've never changed our language around him, nor have we ever given him special treatment (outside of his special needs). Those who know us, know he can give us a run for our money!"