Special Needs Kids and Bullying

Adapt and Adjust

This world is not made for me... It is made for people without physical limitations such as mine. Steps, curbs, heavy doors, lids that are on too tight, and couches that are too low abound! And polished slippery floors. I have a choice. I could stay home and cry in my beer all day watching bad day time TV or I can go out and deal with the world as it is. Beer can be expensive, gives me a hangover and day time TV sucks. Nah, I think I'd rather go out and deal with obstacles and barriers.

I'm different from a lot of people. I've always been handicapped. I don't know what it is like to run, go through boot camp, dunk a basketball or drive a motorcycle. So what? As cool as those things are, there is more to life. On the same level there is walking and getting around. Figure out how to do it and make it happen. I'll also take smooching over boot camp any day. And I've ridden on a motorcycle, thank you Dad and Thomas for taking the time to make that happen. Life is meant to be lived on a higher level than just the physical. I've said it before and I'll say it again, physical limitations are no barrier to friendship and love. I'd rather have rich relationships than fat bank. I know of too many rich people that love their stuff more than people. What can be worse than poverty of spirit? I'd rather have friends that would fly across oceans to help when I needed it. That's cool and all but I still have to deal with a world that was not designed for me.

I have to adapt and adjust. I can step off most curbs. If there is a car close by, I'll use it for support to climb up the curb. I prefer to use my own car but I'll use others if needed. I'm careful where and how I put my weight and have not hurt a car yet. To date, I've never had anyone get upset with me. My old Buick Grand National was much faster than the fastest runner in the world. It was faster than most cars around! Yeah, I cannot run but I put an inner-cooled turbo to good use. It was fun until the blue-lights put the kibosh on it one Saturday afternoon. Now I drive a 1.5 liter. It is not fast, but I can drive to Mongolia on a tank of gas. Let me try to get back on topic. I think getting over, around and through barriers of all kinds is mostly a mental game.

Being patient and persistent are the keys for unlocking success. I was a teenager before I finally learned how to dress myself. The hardest thing for me was putting on socks. I could not figure out a way to make it work, and neither could anyone else. The problem stumped physical therapists and even an engineer or two. My old friend and and co-worker Joe The Vietnam Vet thought of an idea late one insomnia filled night. I was doubtful but agreed to give it a try. It did not work as he designed it to. We spent a little time fooling around with it, and got it to work another way. I use it to this day. I met a guy with a really bad back and showed the device (the sock machine) to him. He made a copy and used it as well also for putting on socks. It was well worth the time and effort! It is worth noting Joe would not take any money for his work. That just might be the coolest part of all.

I'll end it here. I have more to say on the mental aspects of adapting and adjusting and being patient and persistent. Look for that later this week.  

Education is Power

Like it or not, power plays a major role in our lives. All too often the disabled have too little power over their own lives. Its pretty extreme to have to wait on some else just to go to the bathroom. Powerlessness spills over into all aspects of life, affecting everything from self-esteem to basic safety and security. Powerlessness equals poverty. I know we have progressed in the area of disability rights, but things are still bad, really bad. Here in the USA, the poverty rate is close to 30% for disabled people. Keep in mind this does not count people institutionalized, and the "Poverty Rate" may not be all that great a measurement for those living in substandard conditions. Many go uncounted. The picture only gets bleaker looking over seas. With the advent of the internet, things are slowly changing.

I've said before. If I had been born twenty years earlier, there is a good chance I would have been institutionalized. Little to no school, no control over life decisions, no Bulgarian Adventure, and no beer; sounds like missing out on a lot of fun to me. My parents were both teachers who knew the value of education. As a young person, I did not! I was more interested in being the class clown. This changed in the last year or two of high school when I realized I would have to use my brain to make a living. I got the grades up, went to community college and on to a four year school, and graduated. I got a good liberal arts education, and got better at critical thinking. No, it was not a top money-making degree, but it was enough to get me employable. Being able to work gave me the means to support myself living independently. I doubt I would have ever got out of the state institution had I been born twenty years before. How could that have even happened? I would know nothing beyond the walls of the "day room."Well, they may have kicked me out due to budget cuts, and I would now be royally screwed. I would have lacked the means to support myself economically, emotionally, and physically. Things do not happen in a vacuum  This happens today with ex-cons, and mental patients, but that's for another blog soon. This bring me to the main point. 

Yeah, there are those who still become wildly successful with no high school diploma. I personally have never met such a person, but they do exist. Even those who did not graduate high school and still built a successful life have educated themselves in some way. Here's a list. They still had to LEARN something.  I've met plenty of successful people who are educated via school and college. I bet you have too. It is like much in life, this is a numbers game. Check this out. No high school diploma closes too many doors. It is even worse for the physically challenged. I cannot do physically demanding labor. Unless your are a genius, born with a horseshoe up your ass, you are not going to be on the successful dropout list. Neither am I.   

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