"I launched this site to bring more than hope to those caring for children with special needs."
ABOUT
what
The mission is to bring more than hope to those caring for children with special needs. It is to teach, prepare and inspire parents/families of children with special needs and the organizations and caregivers that care for them (schools, school boards, non-profits, government agencies, healthcare centers, health care workers, hospitals, health associations, etc) to not accept the status quo, to expect more of themselves, more of the children and more of society.
Here, you will find that the tools and resources are through a lens of possibility and will equip you with insights, strategies, and pathways that create possibility.
Our goal: helping build your “Warrior Operating System”.
why
My reason for speaking, writing, researching and advocating is to do my part to manifest a world where the potential of brave children facing unimaginable challenges can be realized. To facilitate the thinking that helps families, professionals and educators help children experience life with fewer barriers, with more possibility, and definitely more joy.
We have three wonderful daughters, our youngest has a challenging set of neurological/neurogenetic disorders. A myriad of medical and developmental needs. She has the misfortune of having to grapple with some extremely debilitating symptoms, a shortened life expectancy, ambulance worthy seizures, and at times unanswerable medical issues that make even experienced medical staffs’ pulses race a little faster than the normal quickened response for an emergency.
She is fierce, this one.
But to tell only this part of what her life is like is out of balance, because our daughter is really smart and really funny, and incredibly engaging. For a child who has lost most of the tools which we use to communicate, she is able to convey many of her needs, wants and humour in the most wonderous of ways. She has an almost magical ability to draw people in and win them to her corner.
The question is: “Are we able to listen, to hear what these kids are trying to tell us?”
YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM
The single hardest thing to do as a parent is trust that you’re doing the right thing. This multiplies exponentially when you are the parent of a child with extraordinary challenges. The experts know about disorders, diseases, and genetic mutations theoretically, but they don’t live them day-to-day and that, by default, makes parents the de facto expert on their child and how their needs manifest uniquely in them.
We’re here for the same reason you, and I: the belief that we can source within ourselves the courage and energy to get on with the business of life. Belief that we will find the information to create an ever more extraordinary existence for our children, that we can be the people who make it possible for our kids with special and complex needs to realize their full potential.
Your operating system: Think big ideas and have huge hope, humour and honesty. Focus on being fierce, focus on building “mental muscle”, focus on inclusion, resiliency, improving expectations and compassion. I hope that the seed of trust will blossom between us, and from this, confidence, a perspective of possibility, and the tools and inspiration you seek to swing the pendulum of favour in your child’s direction emerge.
Meet Ariana
Writer, Story Teller, Public Speaker, Business owner, Content Creator, Advocate for children with Special Needs and those who care for them, mother to three, one with a challenging amount of special & medical needs.
Ariana uses her platforms to connect with others centering on children with special needs. Topics cover inclusion, adaptive communication, brain health, education, family, health worker, policy and societal relationships with special needs children and those caring for them. Ariana speaks as eloquently as she feels passionately and her ability to connect with an audience is heartfelt.
Although Ariana’s message is focused on her experience as a parent and activist of a child with special needs, her overall message is one of resilience and developing a personal operating system to help break through the status quo.
what's with the red boots?
The logo we use is a warrior hash mark mixed with red boots. I used to be called the “redboot warrior”. The name happened because of personal circumstances. So where do the red boots come from?
Well, a few years ago I started wearing fire-engine red hunter wellies. They made me feel like I could handle things. They did the walking for me when I felt that I couldn’t take. another. step. I wore out those hunter boots taking plenty of first steps. Read the full story by clicking below.
