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

"The only limits in life are the ones you set for yourself." This rang true on Friday when I attended the North Carolina State Fair for the first time. The fair was so much fun and definitely unlike any experience I have ever had. From the food to the rides and games, it was definitely a day to remember. Despite the enjoyment of the day, I had to think and prepare for my physical disability. 1. I had to reserve a wheelchair, which ended up being a lifesaver with all of the walking. The wheelchair allowed me to have no limits at the fair because I was able to go anywhere in spite of the crowds and excessive amount of walking. 2. I had to figure out which parking lot had handicap parking. The ironic part about this parking lot was that it was made of rocks. It was not only hard to walk on but it would really be impossible to get a wheelchair or walker over. This made me sad for people who cannot walk at all because they would probably miss out on the fair. 3. The hardes...

Imagine standing in front of your entire class to present one of your final projects of graduate school and not having the energy to talk. This happened to me and it was NOT a good feeling. I don't know what happened that day but I was having trouble getting enough air to talk clearly. I think my nerves combined with the lack of sleep and my speech impairment were not a good combination.  My speech impairment is something that I am extremely sensitive about and I am sometimes ashamed of. I think I feel this way because often times society associates speech impairments with intellectual disabilities. Would you assume that someone in a wheelchair has an intellectual disability? Probably not! Then, why do we assume that people with speech impairments have intellectual disabilities? Is it because the mouth is closer to the brain? I don't know the answer to these questions but I will tell you that the jaw, tongue and all of the other components associated with speech are muscles ...