The incredible story of a mother who knew her son deserved better.

Sally Richards has four boys, which sounds challenging enough. One of those boys, Jackson, is disabled, and needs full time support.

But rather than engaging in “competitive misery” and giving up on Jackson – letting him live the half-life that so many expected he would – Sally has gone above and beyond to create “a meaningful life” for her son.

In this moving TED talk, she explains how she did it.

When Sally explains why she wanted to do this for her son, you might have trouble not tearing up:

For all his early years I didn’t see any potential in Jackson for a good life. Because for all his early years I’d been told a single story… And that single story was this. That Jackson would forever be a passive absorber of time, energy, resources and emotions. He would be a person who sucked up care and never gave anything back.

I thought he deserved better than that.

So I have created for him, a life of his own. A job of his, and a home of his own.

What an amazing woman. And what an amazing kid.