In this episode of the TiLT Parenting Podcast, I talk with journalist, editor, and mother Tarice Gray. I wanted to bring Tarice on the podcast after reading a powerful essay she wrote for the Huffington Post called Mother Advocate, in which she reflected on her experience raising a black daughter with an auditory processing disorder.

In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground—the negative stigmas attached to black children in the U.S., how Tarice models self-advocacy for her daughter, how special needs children of color are often treated more physically by authorities (in school and elsewhere), the importance of empathy, how parents raising differently-wired children of color can best advocate for their kids, how white parents can be powerful allies to parents of color with atypical kids, and much more. It’s a powerful chat with lots of food for thought.

 

About Tarice: Tarice L.S. Gray is a writer, editor, and essayist who earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is a full-time editor of Nonfiction books in New York City and full-time advocate for her daughter. The former NPR journalist is a married mother of an oft times exceedingly energetic eight year old. Tarice is also an associate member of the Writers’ Guild of America, West and board member of the Community Healing Network.

 

THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

  • The unique challenges faced by differently-wired children of color, as well as differently-wired girls
  • The importance of teaching our children self-advocacy
  • The harms of racial bias in many standardized cognitive tests used by schools
  • The challenges of pushing for change in a slow-moving, traditional educational system
  • How white moms of differently-wired kids can be better allies and supporters of moms of color
  • Advice for parents who are getting the run-around in trying to get a timely diagnosis for their child
  • How to advocate for the right diagnosis

 

RESOURCES MENTIONED: