Disabilities...they can be devastating, there is no doubt about that. They can be so hard on a family, especially on a family who has to deal with a baby or small child with disabilities. Major disabilities can be so hard to deal with, they can be heartbreaking, to watch the child suffer with there limitations. Watch them everyday, knowing you can't change what they go through everyday. Today I want to tell you about a disability that isn't as major, but is still just as devastating, & heartbreaking as the ones that are major.
My nephew, Jacob Ryan just turned 2 on November 3. He cannot speak, & his pediatrician thinks he might be deaf. I sit there everyday & I watch my wonderful nephew play happily wondering what can I possibly do to make things better? It breaks my heart to think of the difficulties he could face in a world where communication is detrimental to your development as a person, as a human being. Many people, I know have thrived not being able to verbally communicate, but they are looked at as different. I don't want that for my nephew. I want him to be a normal little boy. I want him to grow up laughing, talking, spending hours on the phone with is girlfriend as a teenager, etc. It breaks my heart, thinking that he might not be able to do these things because he might not be able to hear to talk on the phone. I look at him playing....so quiet, & I look at other 2 year olds, talking, laughing, playing, asking questions, & it makes me cry. It makes me think, What can I do to make things better? What can I do to help him talk? I watch him try ask his mother for something, & I feel so guilty because I have no clue what he's trying to say, what he's trying to ask. I want to cry when I see that, when I see that I don't understand what he wants.
As I lay here typing this, I cry, & I know not being able to speak is just a mild disability, but it's still so heartbreaking & hard. I'd give anything to see things change for him. I'd give my LIFE, if only I could take his difficulties away from him & make it so that talking would come easy for him. He's the best nephew I could ever ask for. He's even better. I know it must be frustrating for him when he wants something & noone understands what he wants, I'd do anything if I could just take that frustration away from him & make it all better.