W83 Newsletter Feature April 2019

"Can We Turn Toward Love?"

It always bothered author Amy Julia Becker that other people didn't have the advantages she did, just because of who they were.

But the deep questions of privilege didn't really hit home in her heart until her daughter Penny was born with Down Syndrome.

Interview with author Amy Julia Becker.

W83: What prompted you to write this book?

AJB: I started out working on a book about reading out loud to my children. While I was working on it, I began to think about books as doors or mirrors. So many of the books I was reading to my children were mirrors of their lives, rather than doors into other experiences.  

All of that, combined with the experience of being the mother of a child with disabilities, led me to think about privilege: the reality of it in my own life, what it means to acknowledge it, and how I can respond to it with love. 

W83: What have you learned about privilege as the mother of a daughter with Down Syndrome?
 
AJB: Over time, as I came to recognize the tremendous gift that Penny is, I recognized that as a person of privilege, I have also been cut off from the wonder, beauty, and wholeness of humanity, our full human diversity. I had been cut off from those things by my privilege. Privilege is not just harmful to those excluded, but to those who ostensibly benefit from it.

W83: What do you want to say to people who are thinking of coming to this event?

AJB: This might seem like a scary or challenging topic. But that's the reason to come and to listen to these stories. It's an invitation to participate in a deep healing work: in our own lives and in our culture.