I'm Italian. Well, a great many of us Americans like to say that. Truth be told, I'm half Italian. The rest is 25% Swedish and 25% German; but I don't know a lick of either language. I've been to Italy twice, so I call myself "Italian." Now I'm Canadian, as well as Italian and American etc. To bring it all to glorious fruition, I have a son who is Canadian AND who has cerebral palsy. Since 2000, I've been a bit of a crazed knucklehead about this Hungarian stuff called conductive education; and my Mexican spouse has been incredibly tolerant and supportive of my craziness. Thus, Holland beats the cleats off Italy on the pitch the other day ago, now I don't know where I am.
Now to be honest, Emily Perl Kingsley doesn't sound like an Italian name. I honestly doubt she's ever been to Italy, but I have no doubt whatever that she understands what it is to be a parent of a child with a disability. I have read her essay "Welcome to Holland," and it rings true in many ways; but I can't help myself tonight. I just have to say it. Those Dutch uniforms, the orange ones, are a bit brazen.
I think those classical Italians look just that little bit better in their blue. Gli azzuri? No? Aren't they glorious as they run around LOSING the game? (I can almost hear them begging for the ball.)
In all their classical incompetence, they remind me that it doesn't matter where one ends up: Holland, Venice, Vancouver, Saint Paul. The pitch awaits; and cerebral palsy or not, there's a game to play and someone on your side is eagerly waiting for a pass. A whole crew of teammates are ready to burst into cheers when you score, and if you miss the net altogether; they will still run up and give you a smile and a pat on the back because you gave that ball a good kick.
That's all that matters in the end, really. Kick it. Kick it hard.
"Conductive education: a revolution for families with children suffering
cerebral palsy" a view from 2008
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This is a translation from Russian, using Google Translate, of an article
link posted by Andrew Sutton on Facebook, for which there is not otherwise
an Eng...
3 years ago
1 comment:
:) I live in Holland. Holland, MI (USA) that is! I'm not Dutch though.
I too have a daughter with Cerebral Palsy and she is enrolled in Conductive Education! I love it and so does she. I'm glad to see that there are other people that know about this stuff. I think it isn't talked about enough in the medical community and that saddens me!
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