 Definition of anarchist 1 : a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power 2 : a person who believes in, advocates, or promotes anarchism or anarchy; especially : one who uses violent means to overthrow the established order By Definition it's necessary to be an Anarchist if you are a parent of a child with special needs. You have to be willing to buck the system! There are so many times when our instinct is to rely on the system, or the specialist and follow blindly. There many more times that “the systems”: the school system, the legal system and society as a whole work against you as a special needs parent. Let’s look at an example, does the 3 letters “IEP” give you chills! The process by which we have to sit with the school system and develop and Individualized Education Plan. I promise you if you haven’t been through this process it’s a battle every time, those that have been through it I think you know what I mean. If you don’t go into that meeting with the mind set of an Anarchist then your child will lose. If you’re not willing to ignore the system and advocate for your child then you child will lose. Why, because “school systems” have their normal pre-package state approved education plans already to go. Well kids whether they have special needs or not, are humans and no two humans are the same. So when you go into the at IEP meeting you need to have a plan for your child not necessarily what the system wants. I can go on and on about the IEP process. The IEP example is an easy one - fighting the norms to get what your child needs.  We were lucky enough to learn this early in raising Garrett let me share that experience with you. It was 20 years ago when Garrett was 8. Our older son had been playing little league baseball and I was coaching for a few years. Our youngest turned 5 and of course T-Ball was on the agenda. Garrett was 8 at the time and wanted to start playing baseball just like his brothers. Me I couldn’t of been more excited that he wanted to play – but I never imagine what we would have to do to make this happen. I was already a coach an involved as member of the Optimist club - they knew Garrett - so I thought it wasn’t a big deal for him to play T –Ball. Oh boy was I wrong. See first they hit with the liability and does insurance cover it – Bureaucratic BS. Once we shot those excuses down it was time for a Board meeting. That board meeting would have made anybody crazy. The lack of knowledge from intelligent people is amazing. The what if’s people come up with just to exclude him from player for their own stupid reason. I made some new friends but also pissed a lot of people off. What nerve I had to fight for my son to have a normal child hold. I can share with you it was the single best thing we did as parents.  From the moment on I realized that I had to be an Anarchist to make sure my son had every opportunity my other sons would have. Sure the first time he ran the bases backwards we heard about it – the see why is he playing came pretty fast. But being a coach as I was we taught him the right way to play the game. By the end of that first season Garrett had fans cheering on and it was a great experience for the park.
It was an important early lesson - it’s ok to be an Anarchist Parent. That sometimes you have to say NO to the “tired and true” methods of conventional wisdom and norms is something you have to do. It was almost 15 years later that Garrett became his own Anarchist - as he sued in Federal Court for his right to fight in a sanctioned MMA Fight. That was worth it also - because now he legitimately calls himself “Champ”! Don’t be afraid to be an Anarchist – fight for what you know is right for your child they are worth it!
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