Safety

Safety is a huge issue for parents with children with disabilities. They want to be protective but still allow them some freedom and let them be normal teenagers, kids, or adults. Parents mainly worry about online safety and them on their own. Parents also worry about school and when they are with friends.

School can be worrisome for parents because let’s face it not every school is very accepting of people with IDD. They worry about their kids being bullied or not getting the education appropriate for them.  Schools are getting a lot better but not all are where they should be. I think ours is one of the best when it comes to not bullying but we still need to work on it. I don’t know that everyone will ever be accepted fully but everyone can take steps towards helping them fit in.

Parents worry about their kids being on their own a lot too. Some can be very independent and eventually live on their own with friends while others need a caretaker all the time. Their safety is important and letting them try to stay on their own for the first few times can be very nerve wracking. They are worried they will get hurt and I think every bad scenario goes through their heads of what could happen to them.

What I find interesting is that parents have told me they worry about their children being around their friends. They worry when they go hang out with people without IDD they actually worry that they are going to be left out. I think this is crazy that a parent would have to worry about their child hanging out with their friend.

Social media and the internet is a parent’s worst fear. Their kids can access any website, and anyone can see their child’s profile if they are not careful. It is better now that they can put blocks on it and make their profiles private. The one problem is that they cannot monitor who they accept as followers or friends for their social media and sometimes the blocks can be broken.