Something changed for Janet one day. I have an adorable little girl, the sun is shining, we were well fed, sheltered. In having the freedom to reflect something happened. I separated the fact of disability and the meaning that had been attached to it. It opened the door to the possibility to choose new descriptions to what it could mean.
Families live with inherited meaning.
If disability is an ordinary part of life, there is no need to cope. A TV cooking class on making bread supplied an interesting metaphor that I have found useful for thinking about notions of disability in our society and where they come from. In fact, the anecdote has helped me think differently about what there is to cope with. In Europe, years ago, castles and homes were built with a small enclosed room used for making bread. Today after generations of making bread in these rooms, it is unnecessary to add yeast to the bread dough.