The Dove

I am terrified to make a wrong move.
My character has been perceived as aggressive.
Hitting the send button is oftentimes a traumatic experience for me.

I think we have a politician willing to help in the Region of Lazio- home to Rome.
He is my facebook friend, clicked in from I have no idea where.
But once we talked about a dove- I had thought it was a pigeon, but it was a dove.
He joined the forum.
He started posting ci articles on the Italian forum and interacting with the members...kind of like I did when I began writing on Deafread.
A stranger with no experience in the sector.
I had forum members react in not a nice way.
They felt like their privacy was being violated.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes we need to open the door to our pain and joy and let others become aware. If I had blocked his participation, it would have been similar to when in the past Deaf Community members shut out ci parents. When, instead we were allowed in...we did not offend, we just presented a different reality.

Turns out he's a politician willing to help, interested in promoting the screening.
He asked me to write a note to present to the Regional meeting.
I slightly panicked, who the hell am I to write a note?
I contacted the two parent associations I know in Rome, and one in another Region of Italy. I collaborated with our pediatric federation representative for Lazio and an ENT researcher I've been collaborating with in Rome.
They all responded within three hours and provided me with history and resources.
I just sent the note.
Hitting the send button was traumatic.
How bad can a politician be who loves doves?
Faith.

Once upon a time I dreamt of a dove that took me to a white light...I didn't want to leave the light, but I had to. Then I woke up with the sensation that everything was going to be ok.
The day before Jordan's surgery, I walked by a church and saw a dove sitting on the cross. I am not Catholic, but in those situations, you pray to all. And love the dove.
I don't know...there are a lot of babies born in Lazio every year...

Just Thinkin'

In the past four months since our last Tuscan Pediatric Course on Audiology where we invited regional representatives to participate in the hope that they would take what they'd learned to their regions and create a course to train pediatricians in Audiology, two regions have already begun and concluded training courses from Screening to Diagnosis and Habilitation..
And....
I have been invited to speak on the parental perpective in two other regions, while yet another region has prepared a course for May.

So, Tuscany, Marche, Lecce, Salerno, Calabria, Sardegna and Abruzzo are on their way to assisting so many families.

And I have found that the pediatricians involved in this Audiology Network are passionate about creating the courses and providing the resources necessary to help the families.

Sometimes, although I've explained the bumpy road in so many blogposts, it seems surreal. And I have this strange sensation of calmness, no idea where it came from, but I think I'll hold onto it.

I mean you fight the battle, and while you're in the middle of it, you don't even imagine what getting closer to the finish line might mean.
And then you get a call from yet another mom whose child resulted refer for the Newborn Hearing Screening, she is distraught, in shock and does not realize how she will cope with the news of a potential diagnosis.

She has one thing we did not.

Time and resources to make the best decisions possible for her child.