The SpecialMoms Parenting Magazine 3rd Issue | Page 14

Valerie Carter: Sign Me a Story

Valerie Carter

Sign Me
a Story
Tell us a little about
yourself and family.
I am a parent, app developer, and advocate
for the special needs community. My past
work experiences has included working as
a teacher, social worker and a children’s librarian. I love to read, write, create and to
hike with my dogs in the San Francisco area
where we live. I have six children, four older
stepchildren ( Jamie, Melissa, Elizabeth and
Robert) and my two youngest: Jonathan age
19 and entering college this fall and Grace
who is 12 years old and who as the baby of
the family - is just a little bit spoiled. My husband John and I see each one of them as a
wonderfully imperfect unique individual.

Years ago when I worked
at Easter Seals, every day
I would see people with all
sorts of challenges coming
and going. They did not see
themselves as disabled , they
saw themselves as people .
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Like me, they were just people. I realized
that every one of us has a disability of some
sort, some of us just happen to wear our disability on our shirt sleeve. Years later, I gave
birth to our beautiful little Grace. She was
born with an obvious disability: Down Syndrome. Did this make her less of a person?
No, she is more. God has given her an extra
chromosome!

What have been some of your biggest
obstacles/challenges in raising your
child with special needs?
Grace is a joy. She makes us smile every
day. She most certainly gives us a hard time,
like any child, but I cannot say that she has
been more difficult to raise than our other children. The obstacles that we have encountered have all come from the schools.
We have moved around a lot over the years,
from the east coast to the west, and almost
without exception, the schools have been
our greatest challenge. They are always trying to put her in a box. We have made