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A Ground-breaking Book
 The birth of a baby brings changes in careers,
income, prospects, outlook. Janeen Reedy Adil '76 says that when her daughter,
Rachael, was born seven years ago with spina bifida, a disability in which a
section of the spine does not close properly, she had to learn to see anew.
"You have to look differently at whether you can get in a building or not,"
said Adil. From curbs and parking places to how society aids the handicapped,
"You look at just about everything differently."
An article Adil wrote five years ago for the Hartford Courant not only
helped her clarify what being the parent of a child with spina bifida involves,
it helped her to make a career switch from teaching to freelance writing. The
gift of a book containing a chapter on gardening aids for the handicapped led
her to examine the world of the disabled, research that culminated in November
1994 when Woodbine House published her book Accessible Gardening for People
with Physical Disabilities.
Although she grew up "messing around with plants," Adil said, she is "no
expert. But I do know how to research, whom to talk to."
Her book provides gardening directions and instructions on how to obtain
special implements. After coming across references to lightweight hand tools or
long-handled garden hoes, for instance, she examined countless mail-order
catalogues so she could supply specific descriptions of tools and company names
to gardeners with disabilities.
Somebody whose only real disability is not having a green thumb can benefit
from her work, too. "There're millions with disabilities--and millions who like
to garden," Adil said, joking that she already has collected "a small file of
volume two, the leaflet." She'd like to introduce as many people as possible to
the therapeutic benefits of gardening.
Adil, who earned a master's in comparative literature at the University of
Connecticut, majored in Spanish and also took creative writing courses at
Colby. She says she is "trying to spin off from gardening" with articles in
children's magazines--pieces about house plants that purify the air and how to
grow a pizza garden. She has published stories in Highlights,
Cobblestone and Spider.
Adil currently is in the beginning stages of editing a book, Children with
Spina Bifida: A Parent's Guide. Despite the many medical issues she and her
husband, Thomas, have yet to face, she says having a child with a disability
has brought them closer. They recently moved to Quakertown, Pa., where Thomas
Adil is a United Church of Christ minister and a soon-to-be-certified art
therapist who uses art to diagnose and treat psychiatric unit patients. Adil
says she and her husband have discovered resources they didn't know they had in
facing their child's disability.
"I'm certainly not the person I would've been," she said. "I like to think I'm
a better person. You grow up fast."
Mule Train
Seventies Class Notes |
Table of Contents | Eighties Class Notes
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