Special needs parents are already building anticipation for ABC’s new sitcom, Speechless.

Airing this fall, Speechless centers around the life of a non-verbal child with special needs, played by Micah Fowler, who also has cerebral palsy in real life. 

ABC is no stranger to airing shows which have a character with a major disability, and in the past have tackled the theme of special needs within a family dynamic. 

In 1989, Life Goes On first aired, which depicted a family with three children, one of whom was a child with Down’s syndrome. This was the first television series to have a major character with Down’s syndrome.

NBC also had a television series Parenthood, which ran for over six seasons and had a character with Asperger syndrome. 

The special needs community applaud the effort of television networks willing to tackle hard and intense dialogs, conversations and life with a child who has special needs.

Speechless which is slotted to air this fall on Wednesdays from 8:30pm to 9:00pm stars Minnie Driver, who plays Maya Dimeo, a dedicated mom determined to better her children’s lives and the life of her child with special needs. 

The trailer offers viewers a glance at the realistic humor with hints of real life drama that resonates with familiarity within the special needs community.

If you ask many families who have children with special needs they often feel as if society has no real understanding of the real life challenges faced by those with a child with special needs.

Networks willing to dive into these topics and accurately reflect the real life challenges with a hint of humor, aim to bring awareness and offer sincerity to the gravity of special needs parenting.

Most importantly we want something on television we can relate to. 

We want something that we see in our daily lives.

When the majority of television programming featuring families that do not have a special needs family dynamic it feels alienating.

Like you are an outsider looking in, simply window-shopping a program that you can’t identify with.

We want to turn on the television and watch a family who is tackling day to day challenges just like ours.

Based on the newly released first trailer, Speechless aims to deliver just what we’ve been looking for!

Note Image credit: Speechless Official Trailer. Watch it here.

We had no doubt that Oliver would take to using it right away, since we had so much practice in his bumbo wheelchair.

A couple pounds heavier, he was soon using it like a pro.

Aaron and I just had to face our fear of bringing it out in public for the first time.

Now don’t get me wrong, we were not ashamed, embarrassed or anything of that nature.

We did have this little flight of excitement with the thought of him being able to finally explore his surroundings out in public and not just be pushed around in the stroller.

We saw what an improvement it made just being able to roam around the house in the little bumbo wheelchair, we could only imagine what taking him to the store or zoo would be like for him!

What we did not expect, nor were we quite ready for, were the stares.

The prolonged looks, whispering under one’s breath, and the questions.

Sure, we got the stares before when Oliver had to go through serial leg casting of both legs… but we just figured they thought he broke his legs and never really got any questions, but rather assumptions from anyone who approached us.

Once he finished the casting, Oliver just appeared like any other two year old in a stroller.

We were never anywhere long enough for anyone to realize he was not walking like the rest his age, or ask why.

So once he got his wheelchair, it was kind of like BAM! Look at me.. I am in a wheelchair. So, right away you know that I cannot walk for whatever reason. (Which is not always the case, as some use it for long distances even though they can indeed walk short distances, etc.)

Not only is it visually inviting one to ask questions, but most people have actually never seen a wheelchair come in such a small size.

I know I had no clue previous to Oliver’s diagnosis, that equipment like this and in this size existed.

After our first two outings with Oliver and the new chair, Aaron and I found ourselves uncomfortable and like the odd balls out.

I could at least be happy knowing that Oliver was still too young and oblivious to the fact that everyone was staring at him and the chair more so than how cute and awesome he is in it.

I knew I had to do something… I knew that as I was before, all these people were staring and asking questions for the simple fact that they were curious.

They did not know, therefore went out in whatever fashion to find out for themselves or just flat out stare.

So I decided to take to social media for help!

The city I live in has a group on Facebook for mothers to join and post questions they may have, sales going on, advice, or anything of that nature.

I knew it was the perfect platform to take in educating the ever curious.

In a short and sweet post, I introduced my son Oliver (pictured in his new chair) and basically let everyone know they would undoubtedly be seeing us around town at some point or another.

I shared why he used the chair and that this chair was no binding deal, but in fact a mode of transportation to allow him to explore and be independent.

I invited anyone to ask questions and was surprised by the overwhelming response we received.

So many blessings and welcoming greets.

Even pictures and stories of other children in the community who had their very own chairs!

With one little post, one little share, I was able to bring everyone just a little bit closer into understanding something just a little bit different.

Oliver, my sweet first born, came into this world early and with a diagnosis of spina bifida.

It’s not that we saw ourselves as risk takers to the mere three percent increased risk, but rather we chose not to fear his or another diagnosis for our future children.

Twenty-two weeks now, and as you can imagine we have already gone through the motions of high risk testing, blood work, and ultrasounds.

Up until now, I guess I spent so much time preparing myself for another phone call and hearing the voice on the other end read off another diagnosis, that I failed to prepare myself for that same voice telling me that all tests came back showing no sign of spina bifida.

First, it was our blood work that came back.

The good ol’ second trimester screening that first clued us into Oliver’s neural tube defect. It had shown that my AFP (alpha feta protein) levels were merely above the normal range.

Tapping into other women’s opinions on a quad-testing board, I was somewhat comforted by the responses claiming their levels were much higher and they ended up giving birth to healthy babies.

Obviously, although healthy in my eyes, that was not the case for me and Oliver was born with spina bifida myelomeningocele.

Back to Theodore (which is what Aaron and I have decided to name him), my blood work came back with everything in normal range.

It was a good sign but these tests are just screenings, not finals says. I was in the middle of my 17th week, when I went in for a routine ultrasound. Or so I thought.

I ended up having my anatomy scan, without any time to prepare myself for what I may or may not hear from the doctor.

With Oliver, we had countless ultrasounds. One every week just about!

I actually have a baby book purely designated to his ultrasound images and scans. Once we knew what to look for, it wasn’t hard seeing what was clearly there.

An open sac where his spine failed to fuse together and close on its own. Even the misshapen skull and fluid on his brain were obvious to us now.

So here I was, during Theodore’s scan, trying to play doctor and look out for all the obvious signs of this defect.

When it was confirmed that indeed nothing presented itself as, “out of the ordinary”, and seemed to be going as it should, I felt this pain. Almost like an emptiness.

I had pictured a concerned tech calling in the doctor, the doctor grabbing tissues again as he explained to me the findings. I had imagined feeling prepared for another baby with spina bifida.

Not a baby boy with no diagnosis.

Not having an uneventful birth, or doctor visits few and far between, or even a child who had no doubt that he would walk in his near future. I was not prepared for the guilt I felt, knowing that Oliver might one day feel different than his siblings.

Although it is still something I am learning to cope with, as each day passes, I can only do my best as a mother to instill in my children that they are all made with different qualities that make them awesome!

Hormones are never good in an equation like this, but for those who have already had children after having a child with a diagnosis, I would love to hear how got through it all.

How did you manage to rise above the negative feelings or quilt?

What is it like now?