Patrick has a new love in his life – his daughter Cora. Patrick is not only a new dad, he’s also a dad with spastic cerebral palsy. While parenting with a disability presents a unique set of challenges, at the end of the day, Patrick says he’s just a regular dad doing regular dad stuff with his newborn daughter.
And it’s the everyday stuff that often surprises people. Patrick illustrates this point from a recent encounter with a neighbour.
“My wife was showing off Cora to a woman who lives in our apartment complex. This woman asked my wife, with all seriousness, if I was able to help take care of Cora. When my wife responded that yes, I was, this woman seemed legitimately astounded.”
According to Patrick, people are often “astounded” because our society usually puts people with disabilities into only two categories: those who need full and complete care, and those who accomplish over-the-top feats. There’s no middle ground.
“As a society, usually when we say that handicapped people can do anything, we don’t show them doing “anything.” We show them climbing mountains and winning medals. We don’t show them living an everyday life.”
Patrick hopes to break that stereotype by sharing plenty of the everyday things he does as a parent with a disability. He writes about how when his wife was out of the house for an appointment, he stayed home alone with Cora. “In that span, I lost three pacifiers, changed a diaper, and when my wife came home, Cora was crying and had no pants on,” he shares.
“The point is, I’m working on it. I can’t climb mountains. I can’t win medals. I do very little that is newsworthy. But you can be assured. I can take care of my daughter. I can make a bottle and feed her. I can soothe her and get her to sleep. I can read to her.”
Just a typical dad doing typical dad things.
And that’s pretty awesome.
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