Starting by fighting for her own children's rights, she ends up in government implementing the UN Convention on Disability Rights.

December 29, 2010 3:41 PM

Mother of disabled children changes country to suit their needs.
posted by maiamaia (19 comments total)

This made me tear up. It's a good reminder that a determined individual can make the world a better place.
posted by anotherkate at 4:19 PM on December 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I totally thought this was going to be an Onion article about Sarah Palin.
posted by mrnutty at 4:36 PM on December 29, 2010 [12 favorites]

I spoke to a priest and he told me that I had these children because I was paying the price for a sin, that it was a curse.

If this woman is a sinner, then I am the devil himself.
posted by AugustWest at 4:52 PM on December 29, 2010 [7 favorites]

I seriously thought that this article would be about a woman who moved from America to Canada or the UK or somewhere so that she could get help for her disabled children. I took "changing the country" the wrong way.

This woman is amazing.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:58 PM on December 29, 2010 [15 favorites]

Great story, thanks.
posted by bowline at 5:38 PM on December 29, 2010

If this woman is a sinner, then I am the devil himself.

Indeed. I hate to harp too much on this one line out of the whole, amazing article. But what can you say about a person who believes in a God that would afflict children this way to punish the mother, and becomes a priest?
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:14 PM on December 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

...what can you say about a person who believes in a God that would afflict children this way to punish the mother, and becomes a priest?
Oh, I could think of a lot of things to say. But I'm better than that.
posted by Floydd at 6:18 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Maybe.
posted by Floydd at 6:22 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

This article really impressed me! Thanks for posting it!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:37 PM on December 29, 2010

What an amazing, inspiring, dedicated woman. I've been at least peripherally (and at times more) involved in issues of disability rights here in the US, and the hurdles that people with disabilities have to deal with here can be incredibly frustrating. But that is nothing compared to what Lucia Gavrilita has gone through for her own children and others.
posted by lexicakes at 9:06 PM on December 29, 2010

So rarely seen, the portrait of true courage.
posted by dhartung at 9:10 PM on December 29, 2010

Speranta website.

ChildAid (UK NGO) page about Speranta.
posted by dhartung at 9:15 PM on December 29, 2010

Speaking in the fluent English she taught herself to understand medical text books . . .

Amazing. Thank you, maiamaia.
posted by peep at 10:36 PM on December 29, 2010

Barbara Roberts did something like that in Oregon. She started at the school board level because she insisted that the state had to educate her autistic son. She became governor and Oregon Supreme Court justice.
posted by Cranberry at 10:56 PM on December 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hell yes! The best way to "change your country". Great story, maiamaia!
posted by Harald74 at 1:38 AM on December 30, 2010

I've been travelling and staying a lot in Latvia, and to some extent the other Baltic countries, for ten years now. At no point have I seen a developmentally disabled person anywhere. I've seen one or two amputees and people with marks from other injuries, but in my native Norway I'm used to seeing i.e. people with Down's syndrome out and about. I know they are somewhere, of course, but they are kept out of sight. I image it was like this here in the 50s and earlier.

I noticed it first after two years or so, and the feeling was eerie.
posted by Harald74 at 1:54 AM on December 30, 2010

This is a fabulous story.

It's very Hollywoodesque . . . in an indie sort of way.
posted by WaspEnterprises at 5:58 AM on December 30, 2010

Inspirational, at a time when I need inspiration. Thank you.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:19 PM on January 1, 2011

Thank you for the link. I ended up donating to the organization after reading the article... having been born in the Soviet Union, I remember the few interactions I've had with disabled kids. The state and the society there would typically treat these "invalid kids" with disdain and did its hardest to hide them all away.
posted by haykinson at 10:59 AM on January 13, 2011