NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–October 23 2016
This new Hillary Clinton ad tells of one of the most moving stories about one mother who gave birth to a child with a disability and how the democratic presidential nominee’s work for families and children over the years made all the difference.
When Martha Soltani found out she was pregnant, she says she did “the happy dance.” They had been trying to have a child for a few years and were very excited. At seven months, they induced labor, because she was no longer growing and Martha was very sick.
“So it was time to have her come visit.”
Martha had the baby and named her Sara.
Martha: I’m sure everybody feels this way, but I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than my child —just absolutely gorgeous (three pounds, 10 ounces).
The hearing test they did the very last day before we were supposed to leave and couldn’t get that machine to work for nothing. So we go back to the hospital. By golly that machine still wasn’t working. Nothing. So, the following week I could hear that the sounds they were putting in your ears. I said, “Ok, she’s alive and breathing everything else is gravy, just tell me how bad.” She said, “In layman’s terms, she deaf.”
Martha said she cried like a baby when the School For The Deaf told her Sara would never have enough hearing to learn how to talk. That same day, we saw the ENT doctor who said, “It may not be as bad as you might think. Technologies coming. Let’s see what we can do to stimulate.”
Martha: I had to choose if I wanted her to speak. Signing she can learn later. Spoken language had to start then. It’s not that I didn’t want her to not be part of the deaf world—I just want my daughter to be able to do whatever she chose to do with her life. It’s not just one visit the audiologist, get her started on hearing aids and it’s done. It doesn’t work like that.
It’s a constant adjustment, Martha says. It’s an early intervention program, home therapy, constantly making sure that Sara is hearing the best she can hear. Martha says the resources were limited. “It’s expensive and we were struggling.” But then the went to a pediatrician who said Sara needed to go on a new insurance called Children’s Health Insurance Program/CHIP.
Even so, the progress for Sara was tough and it’s easy to lose faith. There were times Martha wondered if the doctors were wrong, then she decided.
Martha: These people were put in our path for a reason, have a little faith. And I did. I just kept plugging at it.
Martha then talks about how she had hoped for the day when Sara would say “mama” but her deaf child kept saying “bubba.” But then something changed.
Martha: …When “bubba” turned into “mama,” so beautiful that day was… a beautiful day.
Wow. What kind of woman is my child? She is everything that I could ever dreamed and more, she truly is. She is. (Martha begins to cry) I never dreamed we would have this much. I always thought, maybe she’ll need help with this. Maybe she’ll need help. She does it on her own. She’s independent. She knows what she wants to do for, in her life. She’s focused and smart and hardworking, and every attribute you could want in your child—she is. I can be prouder. I really can’t.
Sara talks about the hurdles she has experienced in life with her deafness.
Sara: I’ve had people tell me that I would never be able to get good grades, I’d never be able to be normal, I would never be able to have a lot of friends—something that I’ve continually, like a mountain, have climbed over, over my entire life.
Martha: She’s able to communicate with both signing deaf people and oral.
Sara: It’s just not something that’s holding me back.
When asked if Sara knew Hillary was involved in her recovery, Sara said she hand no idea. It was her mother who told her.
Martha said she was sitting in front of the TV watching the Democratic National Convention and she discovered Hillary had worked on the Children’s Defense Fund, a fund that also allowed children with disabilities to be able to attend public school. Martha discovered Hillary had done work to put the Children’s Health Insurance Program into place—insurance that now covers eight million kids in our country. That’s when Martha suddenly realized it was Hillary Clinton who helps make the progress of her child possible.
Sara: I’m like okay—why are you making a big deal out of this? And she said, well that’s how I got my hearing aids, and also how we could afford my first implant. That actually made a huge difference in my life because if I didn’t get those hearing aids such an early age…
Martha: And without the right of a child with this disability to go to a public school…
Sara: I would not be able to communicate the way I do.
Martha says Sara simply wouldn’t be where she is if not for the work Hillary Clinton has done. The ad then cuts to at TV screen of Hillary Clinton speaking at the DNC:
Hillary Clinton: So, it’s true—I sweat the details of policy, because it’s not just a detail if it it’s your kid. If it’s your family it’s a big deal and it should be a big deal to your president too.
The ad concludes:
Martha: She’s [Hillary Clinton] done the work that I believe in, that’s important especially for little children, and I see no reason why I shouldn’t continue to do that work.
What I want to say the Hillary is, “Thank you. You made a difference in my child’s life—and I couldn’t ask for more.”
Goodness, don’t you just love stories like this? If you feel compelled, please share this one, so that others can better see how those “30 years” which Republican nominee Donald Trump accuses Hillary of doing nothing—are actually years of her doing incredibly something, a lot of somethings.
#ImWithHer
#I Will Vote
CHIP provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. In some states, CHIP covers pregnant women. Each state offers CHIP coverage, and works closely with its state Medicaid program. For more information on Children’s Health Insurance click HERE.
Source: http://dailykos.com
