Very sad...

This story is sad.

Laurie Recht, disabled mother, with a 14 year old daughter, Rebecca Recht, who had cerebral palsy, had a tough life.

Public school was hard for Rebecca. Kids teased and bullied her. Laurie pulled Rebecca out of public school and got her into private school.

Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, came twice to hold benefit concerts to help with Laurie and Rebecca's expenses.

It wasn't just the private school. Rebecca was having other medical problems that doctor's were trying to diagnose.

Laurie was trying to make ends meet with her disability check, selling whatever she could on craigslist, and trying to start a online business.

Jodie and I were talking about this story. It hits home with us in so many ways.

We attended Holladay Center together as kids. In the 60's and 70's it was a school for the disabled in Portland. Jodie and I remember it fondly as a safe place where we received specialized attention--physical therapy, 0ccupational therapy, speech therapy. I was a "pusher" when we went on field trips because I could help push the wheelchairs.

We were eventually maintstreamed. I went to Beaverton schools; Jodie went to Portland schools. My mainstreaming experience was generally positive. My main accommodation was a typewriter that followed me wherever I went.

Jodie's mainstreaming experience in Portland Public Schools was bad. Stairs, no elevators or ramps. One teacher did not like the sound her crutches made. One school made Jodie sit in the counselor's office for the entire year because they could not (would not?) stop other kids from knocking her down and bullying her.

Jodie and I feel for the struggle that Rebecca went through in public school.

Here's a story about a television executive who sued and won a lawsuit requiring New York to pay for his son's special education at a private school because the public school was unable to provide it.


Laurie, a single mother with the responsibility of raising a daughter. Trying to find a job as a disabled person is not easy. I had a college degree when I went looking for work, but it was not enough. I had to volunteer as a way to prove myself. Making money off the internet, as Laurie was trying to do --- it sounds easy, but it's not.

Jodie and I have the love and support of family. We have been blessed with faith in God.

I wish Laurie and Rebecca were still alive. I wish they had found the hope and support to keep going.