Columns | What Genes Can’t Tell Us

Two Black Parents Walk Into a Meeting: On Race, Education, and Our Son’s IEP

I’m not just advocating for a child whose challenges don’t follow a script. I’m also a black mother advocating for my black son in a room full of people who don’t look like us.

That appointment, three months ago now, confirmed a shift for us—away from the search for medical answers. We can monitor Tophs’s blood sugar levels and keep an eye on his growth. We can check his enzyme levels with a blood draw or X-ray his bones to determine their age. But our focus now centers on his developmental and educational needs.

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Okay,their game, their rules.

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Can you imagine if that had been a brutha? They would have taken a white man to Burger King. talk

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