Summary Of A Different Kind Of Perfect Writings

While reading A Different Kind of Perfect Writings by Parents on Raising a Child with Special Needs, I was able to read two personal testimonies related to the perception of anger, and how different people cope- or lack thereof. First, I read a writing by Neil Nicoll speaking on the topic of “Different Kind of Perfect”. Here Nicoll started with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that goes as follows, “We all boil at different degrees” . (Thomas 43) Additionally, I stayed with the theme of anger and children with special needs, and read a personal testimony by Sherrie Ball, titled “Why Should it Matter?”. In her section she goes into detail of her internal struggle she faces everyday with the involvement of her husband, and her special needs son and the integration of her other children.
He first opened up his testimony by introducing the idea of western society and the value of fairness, and justice for the youth. He then goes onto explain how our society has constructed an idea of youth presenting fair qualities to other children as “good parenting” (Thomas 46). He then goes onto give the reader the task of asking a parent of a special needs child if life is fair, and they will undoubtedly reply no. Oftentimes parents of special needs children battle with the idea of terrible parents who abuse and neglect their children being given healthy and well babies, and this feeling never goes away. He then begins to talk about the anger that these parents face on a daily basis. He makes a interesting point when he talks about the displacement of these parents anger. He states that these parents often shift anger from the initial cause of their problem to something that seems less threatening or may be more convenient. (Thomas