Having a child with a disability brings many losses including social loss. The strength of parents' loving needs emphasis.

Maria and her son Laurence

Having a child with a disability involves a long journey of care over a lifetime. Parents, particularly mothers are very committed, at cost to themselves and there is a cost to the wider family too.  One of the difficulties can be a withdrawal by others who find the child in the family too hard to include or to hear about. It is common that a withdrawal and limited support by others extends to the wider social world where families experience limited community resources to support the child and the family This is because having a child with a disability is not part of the dominant social narrative of "successful" families and this is turn influences care and support and wider resources.

It is worth noting the loving commitment of families and the strength they mobilize in caring for the child. It has been said that families deal with "chronic sorrow" in terms of having a child with a disability. There is truth in this, but grief commonly ebbs and flows in waves. What should be emphasized is the strength of loving of these families that provides a beacon of light in a harsh society.