My Baby Rides the Short Bus: The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities (Paperback)

~ Yantra Bertelli (Editor), Jennifer Silverman (Editor), Sarah Talbot (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The stories in this collection provide parents of special needs kids with a dose of both laughter and reality. Featuring works by so-called alternative parents who have attempted to move away from mainstream thought, this anthology carefully considers the implications of raising children with disabilities. From professional writers to novice storytellers, including original essays by Robert Rummel-Hudson, Ayun Halliday, and Kerry Cohen, this assortment of authentic, shared experiences from parents in the know is a partial antidote to the stories that misrepresent, ridicule, and objectify disabled children and their parents.

About the Author

Yantra Bertelli was one of the founding publishers of RAG Magazine, a moderator for Hipmama.com, and has essays published in Breeder and Essential Hipmama. She lives in Seattle. Jennifer Silverman was an activist with m*a*m*a, a collective of radical mothers, has been published in Hip Mama and Off Our Backs, and has written for a variety of parenting publications. She lives in New York City. Sarah Talbot is an assistant principal at a comprehensive high school in Washington. Her writing has appeared in Best Books for High School Students and Breeder: Stories for the New Generation of Mothers. She lives in Seattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: PM Press (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604861096
• ISBN-13: 978-1604861099
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #220,906 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Families, November 1, 2009

By	Homework Helper (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a book that deservers a wide and varied audience. Parents of ordinary kids will find much that they share with the parents of kids with disabilities. Andrea Winninghoff's describes the departure of her ten-year-old deaf son for a boarding school where ASL is the everyday language of students and teachers. Her son is overjoyed at the prospect, his mother sees it the end of a special and precious period in her life. Every parent who has ever sent a child off to a distant college has experienced some measure of this feeling. There is also much that we, the parents of ordinary children do not share. Yantra Bertelli's account of her collision with family court reminds us of how little our institutions are prepared to accommodate children with disabilities and the parents who raise them. Yantra's inability to afford the legal resources she needs to retain custody of her child makes clear the burdens of social class and those of gay and lesbian parents. Those who make and administer child welfare policies need to take a good look at this material and consider whether their plans and agencies are meeting the needs of a large, diverse and growing population of children with disabilities and their parents.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!, November 3, 2009

By	Christina Witkowski (chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a fabulous book; I was intrigued by the idea of a book about special needs parenting from and about alternative parenting in the world of special needs children and education and it did NOT fail to live up to the expectations I had. From Autism to Spina Bifida, to CP to hemophila, this book covered pretty much every thing. It was very raw and emotional, it's at time heartbreaking and at others absolutely hysterical.I would recommend this book to any special needs parent or anyone going into special education or disability activism!