Hi-Five Nights is a sensory-friendly comedy and music night for families with differently abled kids on Chicago's South Side.

Most special needs families don't get a night out. Sitters who can handle feeding tubes and seizure protocols are expensive if you can find them at all. Restaurants get weird when your kid is loud or moves differently. So families stay home or they get a break, but it means leaving their kid behind. It shouldn't have to be one or the other.

And here's the thing nobody talks about: even when events exist, the ticket price is a gamble. Sometimes your kid has a rough day — a seizure, a meltdown, sensory overload, or a big kid sized blowout, and you have to leave an event early . I've skipped events I wanted to attend because I couldn't afford the risk of paying $50+ per person ($100+ fees for 2) for a night that might last half an hour. That fear has kept me home many times.

Hi-Five Nights changes that. The first event is a 2-hour evening with a stand-up comedian who's a former special ed teacher and mom of two kids on the spectrum, interactive games like a kids' drum-off, and a quiet zone for anyone who gets overstimulated. No one has to explain their kid. No one has to apologize. And if you need to leave early, you didn't just blow your budget for the month.

Every family deserves a night out — not despite their kid, but because of them.