My son wants to be a pilot and a policeman and a video game designer when he grows up. I am sure that next week he will want to be something else entirely. The thing is that when he tells me that he wants to be a pilot or a policeman, part of me wants him to be realistic. At school, they are steering the kids to start thinking about realistic career choices. How is he going to quickly chase those bad guys when he will have to take the time to get his wheelchair in and out of that squad car? Believe me, transferring a wheelchair in and out of a car is not a speedy process because at the moment I am the one hauling his wheelchair in and out of our station wagon and I am sure that I will not be there to help him when he is hunting down those criminals.
Thankfully, the mom part of me wins and I bite my tongue and I do not tell him to be realistic because I will not squelch his hopes and dreams for the future. I am the one who is constantly telling him that there are no barriers, for Pete's sake. At thirteen, he should still be able to dream big. Heck, we should all dream big - no matter our age. How do I know that there won't be some new technologically advanced squad car for police with disabilities or that he won't invent it? I am glad that I have not given in to realism because on todays front page of the Waukesha section of the Journal Sentinel is a story about adaptive airplanes for pilots who use wheelchairs. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=776929
Tomorrow at breakfast, I will show Andrew the story and then I will tell him again that there are no barriers - only hopes and big dreams of whatever you want to be when you grow up.
