Michael and Linda Greenberg, distraught parents of 12-year-old Sarah Greenberg, were relieved to have found a nice little sleepaway camp for their daughter to attend this summer so that she can meet like-minded children and also finally be someone else’s goddamn problem.
“We’ve tried everything we could to make Sarah as functional as possible, but it’s just not working! At least if she goes to this place, people there will be trained to deal with her!” Linda hoped.
Linda, despite her desperate optimism, is apparently unaware that the people “trained to deal” with Sarah, though caring and empathetic, would be comprised almost entirely of women in their late teens and early twenties, absolutely none of whom really have their own shit together.
“She can’t speak!” interjected Michael. “What in God’s name are we supposed to do with her?”
Sarah is a young adolescent girl with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, autism (which her parents would know if they paid attention for a goddam minute) and, most importantly, light in her eyes (seemingly despite her parents’ best efforts to extinguish it).
Realizing that her parents have subjected her to severe language deprivation, the Squeaky Wheel staff on site acted quickly, supplying Sarah with an augmentative and alternate communication (AAC) device, of which she learned the basics after only a few hours of attention.
After finally agreeing to let Sarah communicate without their influence, her parents left the room, and she was able to comment on her situation unfiltered. Speaking through the device, Sarah bluntly and briefly remarked, “My parents are fucking shitheads!”
The Squeaky Wheel later reached out to Sarah during her summer session. She confirmed that she had gained a solid circle of friends and had found sparks with her first girlfriend ever, a detail she begged us to withhold from her parents. We are obliged.