BLOOM combines real family stories with the best expert advice, plus the latest news and opinion on disability.
A deaf girl writes about the pain and beauty of being different
The 12-year-old protagonist of a new book finds herself alienated from her family, who refuse to use sign language.
Missed milestones
By Katharine HarrisonWhen my son Max was a baby and a toddler I cringed and flinched and recoiled when the topic of milestones came up. M...
Mom knits 'special needs' story into art
Kathryn Ruppert-Dazai (above) is a Toronto textile artist who plans to create an art series called A Failure to Thrive. These large-scale...
'P-what?' A dad teaches doctors about child's rare condition
Yesterday a dad came to visit me.His name is Syed Haider and his daughter Zahra, 5, has pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration ...
There isn't a detour around grief
A very wiseperson—Julie Keon, who wrote What I would Tell You: One Mother's Adventure with Medical Fragility—told me that youcan't gr...
Why is beauty essential for disabled children, but not adults?
In 2006, Holland Bloorview broke the institutional mould when it opened the doors of an extraordinary building that would operate as a ch...
When a clown is the best medicine
Lorrine Peruzzo anticipated the daily unpacking and packing of special dressings in her daughter Katie's pressure sores with dread.Katie,...
My girl Nydia swims butterfly with one arm
This morning I saw Nydia Langill swim in the Parapan Am Games. This is a photo of Nydia (in black swimsuit closest to front) from an earl...
A helping hand? It depends on your kid's perspective
A recent piece in Business Insider features this photo of a girl born without a hand who gets a new pink bionic one thanks to 3D printing...
Are you a special-needs parent? Dream, fail, do it again!
When my son was about two-and-a-half, I called a family support line at Holland Bloorview and the kind voice at the end of the line was J...
Are we really from a different planet?
Editor's note: No, this piece is not related to my Facebook post about my "bad day" today. It happened a few days ago. But I couldn't get...
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