Thoughts on Disability: "I am not here..."

I am not here to secure your pity or your compassion.

I am here to show you that because of disability I am here, because of the discrimination and prejudice I have experienced. I am here because on occasion I have been overlooked because of my disability.

My abilities have been, and are, still ignored because some cannot see past a perceived physical imperfection, which in truth is a social construction. I didn’t invent stairs. If I did that would defy my own logic.

I am here to present to you whatever your circumstances, whatever your obstacle; they can be overcome, even used to your advantage. You are the hero/heroine of your own story. Other’s assumptions do not diminish your talents and abilities. But by allowing people, and actually giving them consent to dehumanise you, will diminish your capabilities. Therein lays the real disability, an unwillingness to become the author of your own deliberate design, the person you know you can be.

Impairments should never be used as an excuse not to do what needs to be done. This is the person I am and still can to be. This is the person I need to be, to educate myself so that I may educate others.

I do not entertain self-pity enough to derail my goals.

I do not entertain self-doubt enough to lose my way.

I do not entertain despair as it will eat away at my worth and the respect for I have for myself.

I embrace my life and disability, as they fulfil my purpose in life equally.

"I think, therefore I am" (Descartes)

Please give each other that respect and you will excel in life.