"I Am. . .So Much More Than You See!"

As students and teachers prepare to go back to school across the country, it saddens me that I do not get to welcome a classroom of students. After many interviews over the last seven months, I have slowly discovered that people are not as accepting of people with disabilities as I once thought they were. It is very ironic to me that I am having difficulty finding a full-time job in special education because I literally want to use my own disability to help others learn to deal with their disabilities. I think it would be very powerful for a student with a disability to have a teacher with a disability because it sends the message that they can accomplish anything in life if they work hard and find ways to compensate for their disability. Unfortunately, not all principals can see the positives of a disability and I feel that some only see what I can't do rather than what I can do. Granted I have had some interviews where I could tell that the principals were accepting of me and

There are some people in this world that will go above and beyond to help other people and there are others that are only thinking about themselves. I recently traveled to Las Vegas with two of my closest friends to celebrate my 25th birthday. I had the most amazing trip with my friends exploring Vegas. The best part about the trip was that we were able to spend so much quality time together. Las Vegas is the only place I have traveled where I have to use a wheelchair because there is just too much walking for me to handle. I will let you in on what happened on our trip to Vegas even though they say, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!" From the cab drivers to the people who worked at the shows, people could not have been more helpful. Our favorite person on the trip was the manager of the front desk at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. He upgraded us to this amazing suite that had better accessibility features than normal hotel rooms. He was just an all around nice guy who y