@heylaurenkay: Having a child with a disability, especially one that is pretty “invisible”, can be difficult in big stores like Walmart or Target, or even grocery stores. Although indi is physically able to walk, with her autism she tends to elope a lot (runs away without warning), or get very overstimulated to point of meltdown- and that can make it increasingly difficult to get through a quick shopping trip. Up until this year, since she is obviously huge and no longer fits in the child section of a cart- we have been having her just sit inside the cart, and I would stack groceries on top of her lol. Yes that seems silly to the average person, but it’s better that I know she won’t run and is safe where I can see her. This is obviously not ideal- but we just make do. I’ve leaned the older we get, the less the world has the accommodations we need. Imagine my surprise when my local @target had a “Caroline’s Cart”. I had never seen this before, it was a shopping cart made for bigger children/adults with disabilities, for a more inclusive shopping experience. I hate to admit this, but I was immediately moved to tears. This is something seemingly so small, or you might even walk by some in your own stores and think nothing of it- but this was a huge stress relief in our family. FINALLY, something that felt intentional for US and other families like us. Indi now calls this her “special cart”. So please, if you work in a big retail store like this, grocery store, or any store that has carts- please ask your manager to inquire about a @carolinescart for your store. I promise you someone, somewhere needs it and doesn’t know it exists. ❤️ babies with disabilities grow into teens with disabilities, who grow into adults with disabilities. Inclusion with size in mind is so appreciated. #autism #autismparents #neurodiversity #disabilityinclusion

Lauren Kay

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Region: US

Thursday 23 October 2025 00:39:54 GMT