CDHS

The Hudson Valley Writers Guild

Donna Miller's Story

This is the recap by Sandy Rohner of a talk given at the January 14th, 2007 CDHS monthly meeting.

Donna Miller is the current president of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild – a supportive community for people who enjoy writing, devoted to each member’s success. As such, it provides workshops and other resources to its members. A grant from the City Arts Council will sponsor a talk and documentation regarding the architecture of Albany City Hall. More information is available at www.hvwg.org.

Donna was an early reader and has been a life-long writer but began the emotional task a few years ago of recording her experiences as the adoptive mother of a son with emotional disabilities.

Donna’s first association with Christopher began in an elevator ride with Milton Berle at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles as Christopher’s biological mother was in labor (Mr. Berle sent a dozen roses to the room). She fell in love with this baby as soon as she saw him and lived a relatively peaceful and normal two years before a behavior incident occurred that made ongoing denial impossible. While reading to Chris he suddenly looked blank and withdrawn, dropping to the floor to line up toy trucks in precise order of size for an hour, then suddenly returned to the warm toddler who would ask ‘uppy?’ and sit again on mom’s lap. This incident catapulted the parents into a diagnosis shopping spree, thinking there would be magic in a diagnosis; a diagnosis would prescribe a cure. Visits to multiple professionals, hospitals, and clinics did not however furnish a definitive diagnosis and at the age of five Christopher forced Donna into another stage when, during a pumpkin-picking outing with his school group, he became frustrated over his inability to communicate satisfactorily and attacked a staff member.

Chris attended ten different schools from pre-school to now, as both parents and schools tried to achieve a successful match. A middle-school teacher was able to secure an emergency 72-hour admission to a psychiatric hospital after Chris kicked her in the shin. Chris attended a private school in Vermont for three years following this, returning for 11^th grade at the local high school.

Donna insisted that Chris make the arrangements for a driver’s test, which led to failure on his first attempt due to a customary attitude of bravado and blindness. He did it well the second time and finished with the sweet taste of success.

Chris participated in his final educational planning conference, at one point performing accurate imitations of several of the adults present. He is now scheduled to attend a vocational program that interests him and should lead to employable skills. After many years of seeking redemption through the right diagnosis and the right drug, Donna sees her son as a sometimes brittle boy wired together with anxiety, who is finding places and means to feel successful.

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