HeyJaredThe Rare Life
This is the real, raw, and all the feels of loving a child with disabilities. Episodes feature parent-guests, professionals, and solo episodes with host Madeline Cheney.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 24, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 9, 2026
Latest episodes
232: Exercise + Disability Parents (opens the original)
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Exercise can be a powerful coping tool, a way to feel stronger, and something that improves our mental health as parents of disabled children. But for those in our community, it can also be hard to access, hard to sustain, and just one more thing on our never-ending to-do list. In today’s episode, we’re talking about that tension: the ways exercise has helped so many parents cope with stress, anger, trauma, and the physical demands of caregiving, alongside the very real barriers of time, energy,
231: Numbing Out | When Disability Parents Need a Break From Reality (opens the original)
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Scrolling. Comfort shows. Exercise. Reading. Keeping yourself so busy you don’t have time to think. Numbing out can look a lot of different ways. In today’s episode, we’re talking about why medical parents numb out, especially during stressful seasons, before and after scary medical moments, and after long days of being “on” for everyone else. We also dig into the difference between numbing out and dissociation, how to tell when distraction is helping versus becoming avoidance, and why sometimes
230: Amanda’s Story | Medical-Parent Anxiety, Fear of the Future + 17 Years of Perspective (opens the original)
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When your first child is medically complex, your experience can look very different from a “typical” parent. But sometimes, that’s only really apparent in hindsight. In today’s episode, we (finally!) have Amanda Griffith-Atkins on to share the story of her and her son Asher. From the first inkling that something wasn’t quite right to navigating conflicting messages and fears about the future to what her life looks like now seventeen years later, Amanda shares it all. We also dig into that moment
229: Season 14 Kickoff | Our Board Retreat, Summer Recaps + Sneak Peeks (opens the original)
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Season 14 is here, and this time the focus is on how raising a disabled or medically complex child impacts us as people. This season, we’ll be talking about things like anxiety, PTSD, identity, feeling like your body failed your child, numbing out and dissociation, exercise, and being seen as a “Debbie Downer” when you’re honest about the realities of this life. As always, we’ll also have story episodes woven throughout the season, including a long-overdue story episode with Amanda Griffith-Atki
New Launch: The NICU Survival Guide w/ Cindy Reinhard and Ashley Caywood (Summer Mini #10) (opens the original)
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It’s finally here! For the last year and a half, we’ve been working on this project to be a big hug for NICU families from parents who just get it. In this episode, we’re sharing our NICU Guide for the first time, why we created it, who it’s for, and how you can help get it into the hands of families who need it the most. If you’d like to help, send us a message on Instagram, on therarelife.org/contact or by emailing us directly at team@therarelife.org. A huge thank you to our sponsor for this s
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