Blogging About Kids With Special Needs: On inspiring, changing perceptions and dealing with the pity

People like me who blog about their children with special needs often do so because they found it cathartic. And that, it is. Yet bloggers also have the power to inspire parents of kids with disabilities—and change perceptions of our kids among parents of so-called typical kids. This session will explore blogging without being a depress-fest (well, on most days), the kinds of posts that most tend to inspire other moms, posts that are most likely to go viral (e.g., Top 20 Reasons Moms of Kids With Special Needs Rock), and details such as how to manage email requests from parents seeking help. It will also explore the "Awww, poor thing" reactions that can come from other parents—and how to help people see that kids with special needs are very much kids like any other kids.

About me: I write Love That Max, which Babble ranked #20 in its list of Top 50 Mom Blogs. I'm mom to one kid with special needs (that would be Max) and one kid with extreme 'tude. I'm a columnist for Mom Blogger Magazine and one of the BlogHer/USA Today OwnIt crew. I'm a longtime women's magazine editor (Redbook, Glamour, SELF), currently freelance editing.

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