{"id":3748,"date":"2013-05-29T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=3748"},"modified":"2013-05-30T15:26:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T20:26:32","slug":"voices-of-the-voiceless-learning-to-live-with-fasd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2013\/voices-of-the-voiceless-learning-to-live-with-fasd\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices of the Voiceless: Learning to live with FASD"},"content":{"rendered":"<style><!--\n\/* Font Definitions *\/\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Times;\n\tpanose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-font-charset:78;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Cambria;\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\np.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{mso-style-unhide:no;\n\tmso-style-qformat:yes;\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmargin:0cm;\n\tmargin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n\tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{mso-style-type:export-only;\n\tmso-default-props:yes;\n\tfont-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n\tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}\n@page WordSection1\n\t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;\n\tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;\n\tmso-header-margin:35.4pt;\n\tmso-footer-margin:35.4pt;\n\tmso-paper-source:0;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n--><\/style>\n<style><!--\n\/* Font Definitions *\/\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Times;\n\tpanose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-font-charset:78;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Cambria;\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\np.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{mso-style-unhide:no;\n\tmso-style-qformat:yes;\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmargin:0cm;\n\tmargin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n\tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{mso-style-type:export-only;\n\tmso-default-props:yes;\n\tfont-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:\"\uff2d\uff33 \u660e\u671d\";\n\tmso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n\tmso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;\n\tmso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}\n@page WordSection1\n\t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;\n\tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;\n\tmso-header-margin:36.0pt;\n\tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt;\n\tmso-paper-source:0;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n--><\/style>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3821\" alt=\"voices\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/voices.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>By Krystofer Penner<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Maia was 4 years old when she was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). She remembers being confused and upset.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cMy mom did what to me? What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>In many ways, the anger the Winnipegger feels toward her mother hasn\u2019t dissipated after more than 30 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Up to 80 per cent of children with FASD will not be raised by their biological parents, according to statistics from the Province of Manitoba. They end up in the child welfare system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Maia was adopted when she was 1 year old, and her adoptive parents decided not to send her back to the adoption organization when she was diagnosed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>FASD is a physical disability that alters the brain of a fetus when a mother drinks alcohol while pregnant. It results in mental, cognitive, and behavioral disabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Maia, for example, has difficulties with multiplication tables and counting money. A handful of change can stump her, and she even has trouble with bills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cI can only understand multiples of 10,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo if I have a five, 10 and 20 dollar bill, I won\u2019t know what to do with the five.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Like many people with FASD, sensory perception is important to Maia. She has a self-proclaimed obsession with down pillows and blankets, because she loves the way they feel. She often plays with things, such as jingling a pocket full of change, which people may see as rude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cI need things to fiddle with, otherwise I\u2019d go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Academics were difficult for Maia, and she was bullied in school. Boys on her street would chase her, throw things at her, laugh, and call her names. One teenage boy used to pull down her pants and spank her every day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Another, who also had FASD, raped her. She stopped going outside because she was afraid, and didn\u2019t even know how to explain these things to her parents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cIt was really awful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Forming and keeping healthy relationships is also difficult for Maia, a trait common to many people with FASD, according to the Government of Manitoba\u2019s Healthy Child Manitoba website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>People with FASD can be compulsive and friends may feel they are being smothered. Maia says people often think she is stalking them, when in reality she simply does not recognize boundaries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>This often results in friends telling her she can only call on certain days or at certain times. Maia finds this offensive, but understands that people need space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just difficult because I don\u2019t have a lot of friends,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Maia copes with life through art. She writes stories about an alien crew of misfits that travels through the galaxy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>She also enjoys playing the bagpipes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cI really like the drones and the feeling of the bag under my arm,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>Still, she has difficulty reading music and mustering the required coordination to play the bagpipes, and is considering quitting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cYou try and try to get to the next level, but you can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>A favourite activity is her work with the Manitoba Visions and Voices program, which lets Maia speak in schools about her disability. She doesn\u2019t want other children to suffer the challenges of FASD because their mother didn\u2019t know, or care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like a life sentence for nothing,\u201d Maia says. \u201cYou didn\u2019t do anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\">\n<p><i>Krystofer Penner is a student at Canadian Mennonite University. He wrote this article as part of his work in the course Journalism\u2014Principles and Practices. \u201cVoices of the Voiceless\u201d is a class project that aims to chronicle the humanity of often-ignored people on the margins of our community.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Krystofer Penner Maia was 4 years old when she was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). She remembers being confused and upset. \u201cMy mom did what to me? What happened?\u201d In many ways, the anger the Winnipegger feels toward her mother hasn\u2019t dissipated after more than 30 years. Up to 80 per cent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,376],"tags":[406,425,404,426,84,403],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3748"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3826,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748\/revisions\/3826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}