Amy Julia Becker
@amyjuliabecker.bsky.social
Author | Speaker | Reimagining the Good Life podcast | Disability. Faith. Culture. | MDiv, Princeton | WORKSHOP: Reimagining Family Life with Disability
https://amyjuliabecker.com/
https://amyjuliabecker.com/
Pepper Stetler's essay about the recent funding reductions and lack of support for students with disabilities summarizes why “ending federal oversight of IDEA isn’t about giving control to the states. It is about denying the civil rights of all students with disabilities.”
The Trump administration has abandoned its commitment to an equitable education for all children, Pepper Stetler argues. But this attack isn’t new—Congress has been weakening the transformative law that governs education for disabled students for decades:
The Slow Death of Special Education
The government has abandoned its commitment to an equitable education for all children—if it ever had one.
bit.ly
November 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Pepper Stetler's essay about the recent funding reductions and lack of support for students with disabilities summarizes why “ending federal oversight of IDEA isn’t about giving control to the states. It is about denying the civil rights of all students with disabilities.”
For my child who will never take the SAT and for my child who will be evaluated based on that score, both need to know that...
They are beloved apart from achievement.
They are supported and connected to a loving community.
They can walk toward a good future, held by love.
They are beloved apart from achievement.
They are supported and connected to a loving community.
They can walk toward a good future, held by love.
November 11, 2025 at 2:10 PM
For my child who will never take the SAT and for my child who will be evaluated based on that score, both need to know that...
They are beloved apart from achievement.
They are supported and connected to a loving community.
They can walk toward a good future, held by love.
They are beloved apart from achievement.
They are supported and connected to a loving community.
They can walk toward a good future, held by love.
Our son didn’t want to simply hit submit on his college application, so he invited me to join him (by Facetime—he’s at boarding school). I loved his recognition that even in this digital age it is so good to pause, connect with each other, & enact a sort of ritual commemoration of milestone events.
November 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Our son didn’t want to simply hit submit on his college application, so he invited me to join him (by Facetime—he’s at boarding school). I loved his recognition that even in this digital age it is so good to pause, connect with each other, & enact a sort of ritual commemoration of milestone events.
Our daughter was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth, and I used to see her limits as brokenness—until a moment with a friend changed how I saw myself and her. I share that story this week on the Reimagining the Good Life podcast (around 04:25). 👇🏻
You Were Never Meant to Do It All - Amy Julia Becker
Author Kelly Kapic reimagines the “good life” and why love, limits, and interdependence matter more than achievement or self-reliance.
amyjuliabecker.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Our daughter was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth, and I used to see her limits as brokenness—until a moment with a friend changed how I saw myself and her. I share that story this week on the Reimagining the Good Life podcast (around 04:25). 👇🏻
“Limits aren’t a problem. There are problems... worth lamenting, but being a creature is not one of them.” — Kelly Kapic👇🏻
November 6, 2025 at 7:14 PM
“Limits aren’t a problem. There are problems... worth lamenting, but being a creature is not one of them.” — Kelly Kapic👇🏻
‘Tis the season…for early college applications! If you have a high school senior (our son is a senior!), you’ve probably been on standby, ready to support them through the Nov 1st deadline. Last week I was reminded how love & connection matter more than any outcome.
open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
The Most Important Thing Before a College Acceptance
This moment during college applications reminded me how love and connection matter more than any outcome. {Plus 4 things worth your time}
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:53 PM
‘Tis the season…for early college applications! If you have a high school senior (our son is a senior!), you’ve probably been on standby, ready to support them through the Nov 1st deadline. Last week I was reminded how love & connection matter more than any outcome.
open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
Reposted by Amy Julia Becker
Catch the interview with @amyjuliabecker.bsky.social and Kelly Kapic about his latest book, You Were Never Meant To Do It All youtu.be/k0dSxlNYRTo?...
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Catch the interview with @amyjuliabecker.bsky.social and Kelly Kapic about his latest book, You Were Never Meant To Do It All youtu.be/k0dSxlNYRTo?...
One thing I loved about my conversation with Kelly Kapic was his honesty about how easy it is to pretend that we are not creatures designed for lives of love—and how beautiful it is to imagine admitting our limits and depending on God and one another more fully. amyjuliabecker.com/kelly-kapic-...
You Were Never Meant to Do It All - Amy Julia Becker
Author Kelly Kapic reimagines the “good life” and why love, limits, and interdependence matter more than achievement or self-reliance.
amyjuliabecker.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:13 PM
One thing I loved about my conversation with Kelly Kapic was his honesty about how easy it is to pretend that we are not creatures designed for lives of love—and how beautiful it is to imagine admitting our limits and depending on God and one another more fully. amyjuliabecker.com/kelly-kapic-...
The fall has felt pretty fast, full, and furious to me. I thought I could, well, do it all. My body told me differently a few weeks ago. First, there was a round of vertigo. Then a night where I woke up at 2am with my heart pounding. Then my eye started twitching. So I started to pay attention. 1/
November 3, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The fall has felt pretty fast, full, and furious to me. I thought I could, well, do it all. My body told me differently a few weeks ago. First, there was a round of vertigo. Then a night where I woke up at 2am with my heart pounding. Then my eye started twitching. So I started to pay attention. 1/
Wherever you are as a parent—of a typical kid or a child with disabilities—maybe you are with me in needing to reimagine their future, their limits, and their possibilities. And maybe you are with me in needing to take a deep breath and take one small next step.
November 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Wherever you are as a parent—of a typical kid or a child with disabilities—maybe you are with me in needing to reimagine their future, their limits, and their possibilities. And maybe you are with me in needing to take a deep breath and take one small next step.
“If you believe your child is a gift... that changes the way you think about your child’s future, their involvement in their church, their involvement in their community.” - Matt Mooney 👇🏻
November 1, 2025 at 5:22 PM
“If you believe your child is a gift... that changes the way you think about your child’s future, their involvement in their church, their involvement in their community.” - Matt Mooney 👇🏻
“Grief is any time there’s a gap between the realities of life and what you expected... Being honest and open that this is not what [you] expected is a portal for you to begin to love the actual life that you have.” - Matt Mooney
October 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
“Grief is any time there’s a gap between the realities of life and what you expected... Being honest and open that this is not what [you] expected is a portal for you to begin to love the actual life that you have.” - Matt Mooney
I never imagined Penny in college among both her peers w/ intellectual disabilities & her peers with typical abilities. I need to allow my imagination to be shaped not by my own fears & ignorance but by the real students thriving in these programs. Penny’s limits are real—so are her possibilities.👇🏻
October 31, 2025 at 12:43 PM
I never imagined Penny in college among both her peers w/ intellectual disabilities & her peers with typical abilities. I need to allow my imagination to be shaped not by my own fears & ignorance but by the real students thriving in these programs. Penny’s limits are real—so are her possibilities.👇🏻
I'm exhausted. How do I avoid burnout? • I focus a lot of my attention on my child with a disability. How do I make sure siblings aren't overlooked? • Is it okay to grieve? • How do I stop feeling guilty? Matt Mooney joins me on Take the Next Step to respond to listener questions.👇🏻
October 29, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I'm exhausted. How do I avoid burnout? • I focus a lot of my attention on my child with a disability. How do I make sure siblings aren't overlooked? • Is it okay to grieve? • How do I stop feeling guilty? Matt Mooney joins me on Take the Next Step to respond to listener questions.👇🏻
"I think we should be biased towards one another as humans, [biased] to assume goodness, to assume love, to assume relationship, to be curious to lean into love instead of fear."
Some thoughts from: TAKE THE NEXT STEP🎙️From Deficit to Delight: Changing the Disability Narrative with Heather Avis
Some thoughts from: TAKE THE NEXT STEP🎙️From Deficit to Delight: Changing the Disability Narrative with Heather Avis
October 28, 2025 at 12:59 PM
"I think we should be biased towards one another as humans, [biased] to assume goodness, to assume love, to assume relationship, to be curious to lean into love instead of fear."
Some thoughts from: TAKE THE NEXT STEP🎙️From Deficit to Delight: Changing the Disability Narrative with Heather Avis
Some thoughts from: TAKE THE NEXT STEP🎙️From Deficit to Delight: Changing the Disability Narrative with Heather Avis
"I had this conflicting narrative of 'Down syndrome bad, Down syndrome bad.' And then I'm like, 'I love this kid. I love this kid.' I had to take it all down—my understanding of disability—and rebuild it around what was true and real, which was my kid."
-Heather Avis 👇🏻
-Heather Avis 👇🏻
October 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
"I had this conflicting narrative of 'Down syndrome bad, Down syndrome bad.' And then I'm like, 'I love this kid. I love this kid.' I had to take it all down—my understanding of disability—and rebuild it around what was true and real, which was my kid."
-Heather Avis 👇🏻
-Heather Avis 👇🏻
“Hard is not always bad. Sometimes it’s just hard.”
- Heather Avis 👇🏻
- Heather Avis 👇🏻
October 26, 2025 at 11:51 AM
“Hard is not always bad. Sometimes it’s just hard.”
- Heather Avis 👇🏻
- Heather Avis 👇🏻
"The kind of language you use affects the way that you look at the world. If you're talking about people living with disabilities as suffering, that's what you'll see & that's how you’ll respond. How do you respond to suffering very often? You avoid it. You move away from it." 1/
October 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
"The kind of language you use affects the way that you look at the world. If you're talking about people living with disabilities as suffering, that's what you'll see & that's how you’ll respond. How do you respond to suffering very often? You avoid it. You move away from it." 1/
“We don’t have to ask permission for our kids to exist, and we don’t have to ask forgiveness for who they are… We actually get to exist in this space, and our person, our loved one, our child with disability gets to be exactly who they are.”
- Heather Avis
- Heather Avis
October 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“We don’t have to ask permission for our kids to exist, and we don’t have to ask forgiveness for who they are… We actually get to exist in this space, and our person, our loved one, our child with disability gets to be exactly who they are.”
- Heather Avis
- Heather Avis
Grateful to talk with Professor John Swinton about his recent essay for @christianitytoday.com: It Was 'Good,' Not Perfect. "The language of creation can reframe the way we view people with disabilities in the church."
🎙️ amyjuliabecker.com/disability-t...
🎙️ amyjuliabecker.com/disability-t...
October 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Grateful to talk with Professor John Swinton about his recent essay for @christianitytoday.com: It Was 'Good,' Not Perfect. "The language of creation can reframe the way we view people with disabilities in the church."
🎙️ amyjuliabecker.com/disability-t...
🎙️ amyjuliabecker.com/disability-t...
“Your existence is your advocacy.” Author and advocate Heather Avis talks with me about learning to find joy in family life, even when the world isn’t built for disability. 🎙️https://amyjuliabecker.com/disability-advocacy-and-delight-heather-avis/
October 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
“Your existence is your advocacy.” Author and advocate Heather Avis talks with me about learning to find joy in family life, even when the world isn’t built for disability. 🎙️https://amyjuliabecker.com/disability-advocacy-and-delight-heather-avis/
A better way to see our families and communities, the beautiful full circle of friendship, and what I wish every family knew about trick-or-treating open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
Lean Toward Love
A better story for our families and communities, the beautiful full circle of friendship, and what I wish every family knew about trick-or-treating
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:43 AM
A better way to see our families and communities, the beautiful full circle of friendship, and what I wish every family knew about trick-or-treating open.substack.com/pub/amyjulia...
What if disability isn’t something to fix, but a way to see God and one another more clearly? Theologian John Swinton joins me to explore how our ideas of perfection, healing, and humanity can distort—or deepen—our understanding of the good life. 👇🏻
October 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM
What if disability isn’t something to fix, but a way to see God and one another more clearly? Theologian John Swinton joins me to explore how our ideas of perfection, healing, and humanity can distort—or deepen—our understanding of the good life. 👇🏻
"You know you belong when a group says, 'We aren’t us without you.'”
- Erik Carter 👇🏻
- Erik Carter 👇🏻
October 20, 2025 at 4:00 PM
"You know you belong when a group says, 'We aren’t us without you.'”
- Erik Carter 👇🏻
- Erik Carter 👇🏻
In honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month, I want to put out a plea for companionship and friendship. Acknowledging the person with Down syndrome who goes to your church. Eating a meal with the student with Down syndrome at your school. Looking for opportunities to learn from each other.
"We aren't us without you."
Why I’ve been silent this Down Syndrome Awareness Month {Plus 3 things worth your time}
open.substack.com
October 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
In honor of Down Syndrome Awareness Month, I want to put out a plea for companionship and friendship. Acknowledging the person with Down syndrome who goes to your church. Eating a meal with the student with Down syndrome at your school. Looking for opportunities to learn from each other.