Military Special Needs Network
Proudly Supporting all Military Families with a Special Needs Dependent
May 26, 2012: Honoring Miranda Fort – Military Spouse of the Day!
Miranda is an awesome Navy wife, married to her husband for almost nine years. The Fort Family is currently stationed at Navy Base Kitsap in Silverdale, Washington.
Miranda’s favorite part about being a military spouse is all the amazing people that she’s met. She says, “You never know how long you are going to be in one …duty station, so it forces you to make friends quickly. Some of my dearest friends I have only known a year or two.”
If she could go back and give herself one piece of advice before becoming a military spouse, it would be to do something for yourself during deployment times. Miranda says, “The first few deployments I counted the days until my husband would be home, and that is all I did. The deployments were harder than they needed to be. During the fourth deployment, I started quilting when the girls were sleeping. The deployments sailed by more quickly when I had something to focus on after the kids were in bed.”
Miranda is an unbelievable advocate for our military special needs community. At a very early age, Miranda was taught by her mother, who was a Para-educator for a Special Education classroom, that all students were people first, not disabled people. She says, “My mom taught me to speak up for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.”
When Miranda became an adult, she became a para-educator and cared for a severely disabled child. This experience taught her the skills that, she herself would need in the future, when her first child became ill. “After my daughter was born, I remember feeling so lost and alone during all of the testing. My friends were wonderful, but they didn’t understand.”
Miranda knew she had two choices: to accept the way things were going or to fight for her daughter’s needs. She began advocating for, not only her daughter, but for all other military dependents with disabilities. She became the Family Readiness Group leader for her husband’s command and was elected as a Chairperson for a special needs support group. She said, “I wanted others like me to know that they aren’t alone in this special needs world. It is up to us to stick together and then educate others and teach them about inclusion of our special needs.”
Today, Miranda is the Vice-President of Community Outreach for the Military Special Needs Network. She focuses on one-on-one contact with families, lending an ear, a helping hand, and a voice for any military family that has a dependent with special needs.
The Military Special Needs Network honors and salutes Miranda Fort as the Military Spouse of the Day! We thank you for being such a wonderful military spouse and an amazing advocate for special needs!
Military Special Needs Network 