Acceptance

Acceptance—everybody wants to be accepted no matter what they do.  As individual people, we can be our worst critic.  Some people think that they can’t do something because of some label that they might have, such as “handicapped.”  For the person who does not have any physical challenges at all, it would be harder for them to do things one-handed then the ten different ways that you as a person have had to learn.  You will do almost anything to show that nothing is going to stop you from proving those people wrong.

Sometimes it takes a long time to accept things.  I mean no one wants to be told they will never be able to do something.  If I had a dollar for everything that someone told me that I will never do …. I would be rich!  Things that you want come from working hard and never accepting defeat.  As you have heard, where there is a will, there is a way.  No one does things the same way or lives the same lifestyle.  Everyone’s life is different.  Some will never have the opportunities as others do, some people let their fears hold them back and do not take as many chances.  It is all about accepting your best way of how to live life to the best of your ability and to live as independently as possible.

The world was not always like how we know it today—group homes, supported living and being involved in the community.  The system still has a lot of work to do but there have been many positive changes from where we have come.

If you did not have some form of disability, you were okay to be see out in the world.  However, if you had any sense of being or looking different where you might do harm to something or someone else, you were put away and never seen.  You were never spoken of other than among close family members.  They were not treated like people but more like just objects and look down on.  What kind of world is that?!  I would never want to live that way.  It sounds like a nightmare.  Hearing about all the things that went on and thinking that it was once legal to do such things its mind blowing, it leaves you speechless.  To think that could have been me if I was born 25 years before!