Chapter 2: Children and Discovering Daughter's Disability
21:52:02:19 - 21:52:47:00
L. Did you have children?
C. Yes, mm-hmm, um we were married in 1951 and in 1952 our first child was born. His name is Howard and uh, we were very delighted and very busy new parents and my husband was in the restaurant business and it was a kind of, he and his brother were the owners and partners but it was a family operation and everybody was involved so it was, it was interesting.
21:52:47:04 - 21:53:25:11
L. Did you continue to work after you had your first child?
C. Yes, uh-huh, off and on. I would fill in wherever I was needed and uh, whatever I had to do I would do. And we just, uh, had the same goals and objectives, I guess, and that was to… we started out in a little house and of course we were hoping to move into something bigger eventually. And uh we just went along day by day and did our thing and it was, it was quite successful.
21:53:25:25 - 21:53:54:10
L. When did you have your next child?
C. Uh, let's see. I think about three years later. Uh, trying to think but it was probably about three years later. We had a daughter, Beverly, and it wasn't until she was about two years old that we had confirmed the fact that she was a mentally challenged.
21:53:56:23 - 21:56:36:28
L. You say it was about two that Beverly was about two when you realized she had a disability. Were there any signs or any indications early on that Beverly wasn't developing perhaps the way Howard had developed?
C. Yeah there were. Having had a child and raised one for a couple of years, uh, I had some idea of the progression that children make and it seemed to me that Beverly was slow. She sort of did everything but she was very slow about doing… she was a happy child and not a problem but I was getting more and more concerned. And so eventually, I had taken her to several… she had a pediatrician and a GP so forth but I raised concerns but they said "Oh, I think you're just being an overly concerned mother and she'll be fine" and so forth and so on. It got to the point where I wasn't happy with that answer and so on my own and to tell you the truth I don't recall how I found this doctor but I took her to a neurologist and that was, at that time, that he confirmed my suspicions and said that she undoubtedly brain injured, probably from birth at some point and we've never really had a clear definition or diagnosis. I've also been told that it possibly could've been a fetal stroke which uh, I had never even heard of but I know it is, it does happen. So his recommendation was that it was not anything genetic and that I should think about placing her in an institution and go home and have another baby and go see her on Sunday and that was that. So I was, guess I wasn't expecting to get such a, such a confirmation at that moment and I left his office absolutely stunned and in shock and uh, was very upset for a couple of weeks.
21:56:37:01 - 21:59:23:28
L. What was that car ride home like?
C. Not good, not good, not good. It was very upsetting. I truly… I hate to admit it but I truly thought about the advantage of running the car off the road and into a tree and just ending it at that moment but knowing me I like life too much and I don't think I really could have ever done anything like that but uh I was terribly, terribly upset and my husband was horribly upset to see me so upset and we just had to eventually accept what is and as I've often been quoted as saying that someone once told me and I think it's true that when something like this happens, when you face the fact that you have a child who had disabled; first it's denial. No, no. This can't be. And then secondly it's acceptance. Well I guess it is. And then it's well what do I do? Now what do I do? And then fourth, well what can I do to help others in this position? And as I've said before there are some people that don't get to that fourth place but it didn't take me long to get through all four, all four situations and so I started immediately to look for, uh, help. I thought I can't be the only person in the world that has this problem even though it was a foreign problem to me. And so I started to look around for support and back in those days, in 1956, Beverly was born in 56 and there was very little available of anything but I did find the ARC of Chester County and it was of course the Chester County Association for Retarded Children in those days and so I immediately made contact with them and low and behold there were other people that did have this difficulty and so I quickly became involved and they were a great help. It was a help just knowing that there was someone out there to talk to and uh, be supportive.
22:00:01:16 - 22:00:50:20
L. Charlotte, I certainly want to ask you about your involvement with the ARC but I want to go back to something that you had said, um when you saw the neurologist who gave Beverly the diagnosis of then the terminology mental retardation, he suggested that you place her. Is that something that you and your husband considered?
C. No, at the time I was so stunned. I mean there I was with my adorable little girl and just the thoughts of placing her any place but with me, I couldn't even imagine. So I was totally dumbfounded and so that was not going to be a consideration. Not then, that's for sure.
More Interview Chapters
- Childhood, Early Adulthood, and Marriage
- YOU ARE HERE: Children and Discovering Daughter's Disability
- Involvement with Chester County ARC
- Looking for Supports for Daughter, Placement at Elwyn
- Community Living, Successes and Challenges
- Charlotte's Current Advocacy Efforts and Thoughts on the Current System
- Reflections on Work, Inspirations
About Charlotte Twaddell
Born: Philadelphia, PA
Parent, Advocate, Former President Chester County ARC, Former President Pennsylvania ARC
Keywords
ARC, Community, Elwyn, Embreeville, Group Homes, Guardianship, Medication, Nursing Homes, Pennhurst
The Disability and Change Symposium is available as a free online learning module.
Combating Implicit Bias: Employment
About this year's theme
Employment statistics for persons with disabilities continue to be disappointing, ~19% compared to ~66% of peers without disabilities. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). We ask ourselves, "is there something beyond overt discrimination and access that perhaps we need to address? Are there silent barriers such as those created by implicit bias?"
Most of us believe that we are fair and equitable, and evaluate others based on objective facts. However, all of us, even the most egalitarian, have implicit biases – triggered automatically, in about a tenth of a second, without our conscious awareness or intention, and cause us to have attitudes about and preferences for people based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. These implicit biases often do not reflect or align with our conscious, declared beliefs.(American Bar Association, Commission on Disability Rights, "Implicit Bias Guide," 2019)
This year's theme challenges us to each ask ourselves "What implicit bias(es) do we have and encounter, and how do we recognize them and move beyond them to create opportunities, welcome, and full participation for all?"
As always, this Symposium privileges first-person voices and experiences.
About the Disability and Change Symposium
The stated goal of the annual Symposium is "to create conversation that transcends any one-dimensional depiction of people with disabilities, and foregrounds the multidimensional lives of our speakers - as writers, educators, performers, and advocates."
The Disability and Change Symposium is a one-day, interdisciplinary conference focusing on cultural equity and disability. The event is free, accessible and open to the public.
Acknowledgments
Organized by the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, the Symposium is an outcome of collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Faculty Council on Disability whose mission is "to foster collaboration across Temple University on disability-related projects including research, teaching, programming, publication, and grant-seeking. By connecting with one another, Council members help build community among the growing number of people at Temple whose work engages with disability."
Core funding for the Disability and Change Symposium is through a grant from the Center for the Humanities at Temple University (CHAT)
We extend our appreciation to Disability Resources and Services for providing Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) and American Sign Language services for the day.
The Institute on Disabilities, Temple University College of Education is pleased to recognize some of our 2020 Symposium Partners/Sponsors from Temple University:
- Center for Bioethics, Urban Health, and Policy (CBHUP), Lewis Katz School of Medicine
- Center for Humanities at Temple (CHAT), College of Liberal Arts
- Dean of Libraries
- Dean of Students
- Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society
- Disability Resources and Services (DRS), Student Affairs
- Division of Student Affairs
- Faculty Senate Committee on Disability Concerns
- First Year Writing
- Intellectual Heritage
- Interdisciplinary Faculty Council on Disabilities
- Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership (IDEAL)
- School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management
This year we also want to recognize the contributions of students (Associate Professor Deb Blair, STHM 2114 - Leisure & Tourism in a Diverse Society), who contributed to shaping and supporting this symposium:
- Madeline Culbert, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management; Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
- Jair Guardia, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management. (est. 08/2021)
- Hallie Ingrim, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management
- Thomas Leonard, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
- Bryan McCurdy, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 05/2022)