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

Would you want to live in a world where everybody is the same? Would you want to live in a world where everybody has the same abilities, strengths, weaknesses and thoughts? I would not want to live in this world because I think it would be so boring. Unfortunately, the physical environment of our world is built with the mindset that everyone is the same and even more unfortunate is that many people in our world still stigmatize disabilities. There are so many things that I wish I could change for those with disabilities in my life and internationally. I wish I could change the stares from strangers and the questions to be more respectful. I was with a friend this weekend who has a physical disability. We were in the lobby of a movie theater and this man came up to her and started asking her all these questions about her injury. Why do people think it is their business how a stranger got injured?   I wish I could change the mindset of potential employers to see every ...

Would you go to a haunted house the day before halloween if you had difficulty walking? If you asked me this question on Monday of last week, "I would have said, "hell no." My coworkers had planned a trip to the haunted house and all day on Tuesday I was back and forth if I should go or not. Around 1:30pm, I told my coworkers that I don't think I should go because I do not want to fall again and I think it will just be too difficult for me. Around 4:30pm, my coworkers came into my office and said that they had been talking and really wanted me to come. They told me they would hold onto my arms, so I wouldn't fall. I still was not convinced that it would be safe for me, so we decided to call the place to find out if the haunted house was accessible. We found out that all but one part was accessible for me and they could walk me around that one part. The lady on the phone said that she would radio down to the people in the obstacle to let them know that I...

Have you ever sat in a movie and had no idea what was going on? This happened to me yesterday because I couldn't see the subtitles when the characters were speaking Spanish. The first half of the movie was in english, so you can imagine my surprise and frustration when the movie changed languages. As I was sitting there cluelessly in the movie, I was thinking about how I will change this experience for others who are visually impaired in the future. My opinion is that the producers of all films should either make the film subtitles in a larger font size or have an option where the moviegoer can wear headphones and listen to the movie in their language.  Even if these accommodations are not feasible, the least they can do is put on the previews and showtime listings that the movie has subtitles. This way I can choose whether to see the movie and sit closer to the screen if I do choose to see the movie.  This is not the first time I have endured this frustration wh...

Shaking hands, pounding heart and breathless speech. This is how I have felt in the past before and during public speaking and it is NOT a good feeling. I struggled through presentations in college and graduate school and eventually just conceded to write every word that I was going to say down in order to calm my nerves. This made my life easier because I could simply read from the paper. However, by the time I got to graduate school a professor told me that I should try to present without reading from the paper because it shows confidence and will sound more natural. For the remainder of graduate school, I tried to speak naturally during presentations. Sometimes it went well and other times it did not go as well. On the eve of completing my master's degree, I produced a presentation that unfortunately I will never forget. This was about a 30 minute presentation and we were being chosen at random to present. I also had been up until 4am the night before preparing for this pr...

"Imagine being surrounded by people who have similar challenges to you and who are fighting for the same outcome." This is what I experienced last week as I attended the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) conference in Washington, D.C. for work. I felt an energy in the room that was unexplainable as we all cheered for rights for people with disabilities. In one of the sessions, someone said that people with disabilities are not a group that is often thought to be discriminated against but people with disabilities do still face discrimination and we need to fight to end this inequality. As a person with a disability and an advocate for others, I totally agree with this statement as I feel I have faced discrimination in areas of my life and have heard stories of others with disabilities facing the same.  My favorite part of the conference was connecting with people with all different types of disabilities and seeing and hearing about the tools they use to l...

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people speak for those with disabilities because they feel they can't speak for themselves or understand what others are saying. I believe that every person should have the ability to express their wants and needs, whether that be through speech, a communication device or even eye or body movements.  I recently encountered a situation where a family told me that the person I would be working with can't understand. This threw my whole intake off because I am not used to talking to the family of a person without talking to the person I will be helping. I ended up asking the person with the disability the majority of the questions and I believe she understood what I was asking her. While I understand that her family is trying to help her by speaking for her, I believe that it is teaching her to not communicate her wants and needs and one day she will have to live without them.  Additionally, I recently attended a conference and liste...

While I don't want people to bend over backwards for me, sometimes an offer to help would be nice. I was recently going to teach at a local school and as I was walking into the building, some papers fell out of my folder and onto the ground.  I went to bend over and pick them up but I was really struggling to lean down that far. As I was struggling, two people walked by me without offering to help. One was a student and the other was an adult. I feel the adult should have had the manners and common courtesy to stop and at least ask me if I needed help. I was kind of shocked because I know if I saw someone struggling to do something I would at least offer to help them. On a positive note, recently a cashier in a convenience store gladly helped me when I was struggling to see the credit card machine in order to check out. I kept apologizing because I felt like I was holding up the line. He said to me,"You are a customer like everybody else and they can wait." I actu...