222: Intellectual Disabilities | Complicated Grief, Stigma, and Shifting Perspectives w/ Amanda Griffith-Atkins, Madeline and Alyssa

The Rare Life · Apr 16, 2026 · 1h

From an early age, most of us are taught that being “smart” matters. It’s tied to the way society measures and views success, independence, and worth.

So what happens when you're raising a child with an intellectual disability in that world?

In this episode, Alyssa, Amanda, and Madeline get honest about all of it: the grief that's hard to express, the fear that you won't be able to connect with your child, and the ways people with intellectual disabilities get left out, even within disability spaces.

Plus, they dig into the nuance behind "presume competence," the disability hierarchy often…