Article Provided By : CTV News
Source : https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/obviously-touching-a-nerve-ont-couple-starts-support-group-for-black-parents-of-children-with-disabilities-1.5235632
Date: 2020-17-12

TORONTO — After their youngest son Isaiah was diagnosed with autism at age four, Sherron and Clovis Grant started attending support groups in the Greater Toronto Area for parents of children with disabilities.

However, they were often the only Black parents in the room and Sherron said that the cultural barriers were getting in the way of non-Black parents in the group understanding what they were going through.

“The information was there, but just being able to share experiences and know that if I ask certain questions that other people are able to understand where I’m coming from,” Sherron said in an interview with CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday.

“I wasn’t able to connect with other families on that level in the groups because I was the only one usually that was Black in those groups.”

The Grants’ joined parenting support groups to help combat this, but found that the groups didn’t address anti-Black racism and other issues specific to Black culture. The couple says the experience inspired them to create a support group specifically for Black parents and caregivers of children and adults with disabilities.

Clovis noted that because Isaiah is Black, he will find himself in certain situations that other, non-Black children with autism will not be in, such as being watched by security while shopping at a store. He said these are just some of the issues their support group works to address.

Sherron said that since autism is often an “invisible disability,” few people including those in their family and church, knew how to respond, often dismissing Isaiah’s autism as a lack of discipline from the parents.

“When we’d have family get-togethers and Isaiah would be acting up in a certain way, we would be criticized that we weren’t being strong enough parents, that we weren’t giving him enough structure, that we were spoiling him,” she said.

Sherron said she understands it was just a “lack of knowledge” about autism from others that brought about this criticism, but it started to impact them as parents.

“It’s a lack of understanding what we’re going through, and it can make you feel isolated alone and maybe make you feel like you are being a bad parent,” Sherron said.

Clovis says their support group meets on the second Tuesday of every month and participants can connect online via Zoom. While the group isn’t focused on a specific disability, attendants must be Black.

More than 30 parents attended the first meeting and about 40 attended the second one, according to Clovis.

Clovis said the turnout of the first meeting was “very surprising” in terms of numbers and engagement from the parents.

“They are very open with their lives, and they want mentorship, they want their journeys to be shared, they want to learn from each other and they want resources,” Clovis said.

“We’re obviously touching a nerve,” he added.

Clovis said the response to their support group has been so great, they already have meetings scheduled up until June 2021.

However, their support group hasn’t just caught the attention of Black families in Ontario. Sherron said she has heard from parents in the United States, Jamaica and South Africa looking to join the meetings.

When it is safe to do so, the couple said they want to use a hybrid of in-person and virtual meetings so people from across Canada and the world can join. Sherron said she would like to see their support group have a physical space for meetings in the future.

“We live in the Scarborough area and compared to other parts of the city, there seems to be a little less services available for us so I’d love to see us have a space where families can come together and meet and connect,” Sherron said.

Sherron said she also hopes their meetings inspire Black parents in other provinces to start their own chapters of the support group.

Those looking to join the Grants’ support group can email them at BPSGroup2020@gmail.com.