All agents face challenges outside of their business life. Family, health, setbacks and challenges, all tend to take our eyes off the ball. Yet it is these challenges that make us work as hard as we do. We have carved out in niche with colleagues in the industry who have children with special needs or face challenges themselves like for example ADHD.
Children with special needs
My personal story is that I won the autism lottery with my four children. One has Asperger‘s, dyslexia, and a few other learning disabilities, and his younger brother is lower functioning and currently is in a residential institution where he is thriving.
Our collective journey included the heartbreak and exhaustion of the diagnosis, and subsequent lifestyle changes to foster their treatment. Their mother and I faced an avalanche of IEP meetings, doctor visits, various therapies in locations all over several counties, and a vigilant advocacy at all times to make sure that the school district was providing the services that they needed.
Any parent with a child with autism can relate to the frustration of hearing well meaning friend acquaintance ask “why don’t you just get a babysitter? “ you get tired of explaining that no one‘s 16-year-old daughter is equipped to handle a 45 minute temper tantrum from an adolescent boy who cannot express his problem.
I could go on for pages about this, but I made their needs my reason to succeed and not my excuse. That can be a very trite platitude without the right guidance.
I remember once that we did have a babysitter who seem to be working out for a period of time, who called out when I needed to go to the office to interview a new agent. It was a very stressful situation. I was bringing an adolescent who was barely verbal and tended to script and chant to my office while I interviewed someone I had never met before.
I figured that if this guy was not phased that he would fit right in and to his credit, he was quite understanding and empathetic. I did hire him, and we remain friendly to this day.
But the world really isn’t built for us to take our kids to work very often, and that is especially true when you have a child with special needs
Parents of children with special needs have to find their tribe for life to work optimally. If this is you, we might be in the very same tribe.
Comments