About this site

Welcome to Our Kids, a salon for art, photography, writing and poetry by parents who have children with special needs.  I'm glad you stopped by. 

My name is Mya-Lisa and I'd like to tell you a little about why I started this site.  I am the mother of an incredible little boy who has a neurological disorder that results in varied medical and developmental issues and in the past few years I’ve come to find that artistic expression is an important part of living my a-typical life. Writing and painting in particular have provided me with creative outlets; a way of getting some of the clutter out of my head by committing it to paper or canvas. (Occasionally it even frees up enough space in my near-capacity brain to remember where I last set down my car keys.)

Because of this, I wanted to provide a forum where other parents of children with special needs or disabilities could delve into their own art and writing and explore that of others.  You don't need to be a professional nor experienced writer or artist to contribute - this is an open forum intended to foster the artistic process for anyone who wants to join in, not evaluate the end result.

Here I hope you will find a place to express yourself creatively, whether through essays or poetry, photography or art, and do so as often as you wish. And I hope those of you who are not special needs parents will stay to visit - to glimpse the journey of those who contribute through their words and images.

**Update: due to time constraints this site is no longer open to contributions.  Right now it is a static exhibition of diverse artistic works already submitted.  Thank you to the many courageous and talented parents (and children) who shared their words and images here. 

I will have another showing of all new pieces sometime in the future.  If you'd like to submit a piece of your own at that time, simply send me an email indicating you'd like to be contacted in the event of a new showing. 

You can find some general thoughts on creative expression in: Leap Into The Unknown.**

Thank you and enjoy your visit!

 

Mya-Lisa King
mlkne@roadrunner.com