When grandparents gather to talk about their grandchildren, the conversations often revolve around first words, school milestones and sports activities. For a growing group who meet through the Macks Jewish Connection Network, an agency of The Associated, the reality looks different.
They are grandparents of grandkids with disabilities, both visible and invisible. And until recently, many of them had never met another grandparent walking the same path.
“That population existed, but each of us was kind of functioning in a vacuum,” said Sheryl B. Cooper, a longtime community volunteer who is helping, alongside her husband, Eric Reisman, lead the Network’s new support group for grandparents. “We didn’t know other grandparents in the same situation.”
The group, formed within the past year, is now one of the few dedicated spaces in Jewish Baltimore focused specifically on the grandparent experience, a role that is often emotionally complex and rarely centered in conversations about disability and inclusion.
