Thriving in the Midst of Chaos: Parenting With Special Needs Kids

Episode 35: Beating All The Odds With Guest Linda Smith

In this episode, we discuss guest Linda Smith's story of raising her son, Christopher. At an early age, Linda overcame her childhood abuse. As an adult, she experienced homelessness but also fame with being a dancer, actress, and model. She and her husband were living in Las Vegas during her pregnancy, but at 8 months pregnant, she chose to fly back to Canada. However, she went into labor on the airplane. She landed in Canada and had her baby 3 hours later. Her son, Christopher was born with Downs Syndrome. This meant that he was not allowed citizenship or even entrance in the USA due to his diagnosis. Linda had to fight for 18 years to allow him entrance into and citizenship in the USA. Linda further shares her and her son's incredible story. There were times, in addition to immigration issues, that were very difficult. People often misunderstood the disorder, had lots of misconceptions, or turned away from him. At the time he was born, there was no education available to him and there were no jobs for him. Linda created her foundation Christopher Smith Foundation to help caregivers and to thank them for all of their hard work. Linda wrote Unwanted about her journey raising Christopher. Those proceeds go to the Christopher Smith Foundation.

Links:
Linda's Website
Email
Christopher Smith Foundation
Downs Syndrome Organizations
Autism Society

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Show Music:
Intro Outro: Intro Outro 2 by Mattias Lahoud under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org)
Theme Song: 90s rock style by monkeyman535 under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org)
Self Care Song: Green and Orange No Water by Duncan Alex under CC-BY 3.0 License (www.freesound.org)

Hosted by: Jessica Temple and Lewis Temple

Disclaimer: Our show is not designed to provide listeners with specific or personal legal, medical, or professional services or advice. Parents of children with health issues should always consult their health care provider for medical advice, medication, or treatment.

Copyright 2020 Jessica and Lewis Temple