Personal Meets Professional: Advocating on the Rights of Parents with Disabilities

Erin Andrews with her son Gavin

by Erin Andrews, PsyD, ABPP (APA Committee on Disability Issues in Psychology)

As a psychologist, my experience has primarily been in the clinical domain. However, on April 17, I was thrilled to expand my experience with advocacy when I represented the American Psychological Association at a congressional briefing on the groundbreaking National Council on Disability (NCD) report - Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children.

The briefing was a joint effort between APA, NCD, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). When I spoke to that room of congressional members and staff, I spoke from personal experience. My interest in parenting and disability goes beyond the professional. I am a disabled parent myself and have written about my pregnancy journey before.

Here is the back story. Rocking the Cradle is the first truly inclusive overview of reproductive and parenting rights among people with disabilities. The issues contained in the report impact me both personally and professionally.

PushLiving Nutrition for an Optimized You: How your diet can make your “Push Living” easier and less complicated.

By Deborah Davis

You may exercise, take vitamins and supplements, and think you are eating a healthy diet, but you could still be feeling lethargic, depressed, and tired and don’t know why. It could all be based on your diet and its effects on “elimination”. Yep, we are going to be talking about a diet that revolves around the best practices for eliminating “Poop”.

Having a disability that affects your mobility can create more health concerns and complications if your diet is not optimized to aide you, but instead is a contributing factor in what ails you. Some of the common complaints often complicating quality of life and work for so many in our Push community include:

        Skin breakdowns,

        Bacterial infections (uti’s being a main one) 

        Pain in joints/stiffness

        Low blood pressure

        Blood sugar issues

        Stomach issues such as bloating, spasms, pain, constipation or diarrhea, 

        Weight gain due to lack of activity

Then there are the “beauty and aging” factors that we would all like to optimize:

        Clear bright eyes

        Healthy, shiny  and thick hair

        Supple skin with fewer breakout

        Less wrinkling and sagging of skin

        Less dark circles and eye puffiness

        Strong nails

Based on years of research, and travel throughout the globe, the bestselling author featured in this article highlights how some of the above issues can be addressed via food. Kimberly Snyder is most famous for giving high paid movie stars and celebrities the EDGE they needed before a movie to look their best, stay youthful and maintain their highly sought after beauty. But don’t use her celeb fame against her, she is also a clinical nutritionist who has done extensive research.