My paralysis has forced me have to think outside the box. As a mom, I always have a list of things to do, and at the end of day I get them done, same as an able-bodied mom would - just with a bit more thought! When my kids require me to do something for them I agree to do it, because as a mom, and that's what we do! However, my mind is always working, coming up with a plan for HOW I am going to accomplish a task before I do it.

My wheelchair gets in the way when I reach for items at the back of the fridge to makes school lunches for my youngest son, so I had to figure out a solution that allowed me to access what I need. And sometimes, because of my neuromuscular autoimmune disease, my fingers get a little tired grasping things, so I got an adaptive knife that wraps around my fingers and makes it easier to spread peanut butter and jelly on to bread.  Making my youngest son's bed was another challenge!  Because his bed is against the wall, taking the fitted sheet  off is easy, but putting it back on without being able to easily get up on the bed is hard. I ended up mastering using a pole to helping me stretch the fabric over the mattress closest to the wall. One task that was just too difficult to do was giving my youngest son a bath, so that became my husband's task. 

When my other children were younger I would often choose activities for them  based on the facility  - I went ahead of signing them up to make sure I could actually get in!  However, as they got older they chose, I had no choice but to figure out how maneuver the facilities. For example, when my older son was playing basketball that was easy because the courts in the schools had ramps, but when he wanted to try flag football I encountered many fields where the grass was too thick for me to get up close to the games and I often had to watch from the sidewalk or pavement - but I was still there!

So I am a different kind of mom, but still a great mom!