STRATEGY 5: KEEPING AN EYE ON YOUR DESTINATION
You must see where you want to be! If you want to be an astronaut, you need to see yourself inside the space ship launching into space. If there is something you want to accomplish, picture yourself achieving it. Athletes see themselves throwing, jumping, running, skating, and swimming faster or better than anyone else. If they didn’t, they would be content to watch from the sidelines. To be a winner you must see yourself as a winner. Paint a beautiful picture of your moment of achievement within your mind. Visit it often. It belongs to you. No one can see it, criticize it, or destroy it. Use it to energize you, excite you, and motivate you to take the steps in your journey to bring you to that moment when your dream becomes your reality.
As a child, I wanted to do all the same things my non disabled friends did. My friends, like most children, liked riding bikes, so I rode a bike. No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to balance a bicycle on two wheels, so my bicycle always had a sturdy set of heavy duty training wheels. This was acceptable to my friends, who were just glad to have me along. However, by age 12, my greatest hope was that when I turned 16 I would be able to get a driver’s license. When I shared this dream with my orthopedic doctor, I was told I would never drive a car and would always depend on family, friends, and taxicabs for transportation. I refused to believe him. I was going to drive a car someday. I was resigned to the possibility that it may not happen at age 16 and that I may have to wait until I was of legal age, but I was determined that someday I would have a driver’s license. Surprisingly, at age 18, I was told by the same doctor who said I would never drive that he thought it was time for me to try to get a driver’s license. It took a very courageous mother, 2 driving instructors, and several failed driving tests before I was award my first driver’s license.
It is important to note that the year was 1967. Only people who were paraplegic and used hand controls were considered for a driver’s license. I suppose no one in their right mind would enable a person who walked on her tiptoes with her knees bent and her arms flailing through the air to legal become a driver. At the time, I failed to see it as a small step forward in the disability movement. To me it was a personal victory—my driver’s license was my key to achieving the independent life I wanted to have. It was just the beginning of a long road paved with endless possibilities.
No matter what your dream is, there are people who will say it will never happen. They be right. Certainly, if you choose to listen to them they will be right. No effort equals no success. Even if you only manage to achieve a small part of your dream, that part may lead you in a different direction in which you achieve more than you ever dreamed possible.
Try, evaluate, decide, and go forth. Life is an endless road of possibilities. Live to discover them!
Linda Thompson, MSRC, has 30 years professional experience serving people with disabilities as instructor and advocate. As a keynote speaker, she addresses audiences of parents, professionals, care providers, students, congregations, and business administrators/employers on the importance of recognizing the individual and abilities rather than the “labels” of disabilities. “People with disabilities are people first. Our disabilities are second.”
www.empoweringusall.com
www.liveforthepossibilities.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
STRATEGY 4: ENJOYING THE JOURNEY
You now have a dream, a vision, and a path to follow. In making the commitment to move forward, it is important to remember this is your dream. It is a process you should want to embrace and even enjoy. It will mean dedicated hard work, but if it is definitely something you want you won’t see it as work. After all this is what you want. It is not something you are required to do as in a job. You are doing it because you choose to change your life. Though the path may be rocky and long at times, keep your eye on the reward and celebrate each step, small or large, you complete. Believe in your dream, and, most of all believe in yourself.
When I was in high school, I pretty much decided I wanted to be a social worker and help people work through their problems. I knew I needed a college degree to do the work I wanted to do, but when I graduated in 1967, I found the doors of universities not only shut, but locked to people with disabilities. There were steps going into every building, multi-floored buildings were often without elevators, building were sprawled across large campuses with no easy access to get from one to another, there were no disabled parking spaces provided, no disabled student service offices to assist with registration or note taking, and professors were not educated in alternate testing methods often needed by the person with a disability. Since it appeared I would not be going to college, I went into a sheltered workshop and earned $0.10/hour counting nuts and bolts and stringing turkey needles. After four days in that place, I vowed I would not spend the rest of my life there. I would go to school and get a good paying job. I didn’t know how or when, I only knew I would. Believe in your dream!
Long story short: I have a BA degree in journalism from Kent State University and a MS degree in rehabilitation counseling from San Diego State University. I have worked in the disability field since 1977. Today I develop curriculum and training materials and do presentations to teach people with developmental disabilities how to increase their independence and live satisfying productive lives. My highest pay rate to date is $50/hour—and I felt I short changed myself. Believe in yourself!
If you have done any traveling at all, you know that things don’t always go as expected. There are potholes in the road, detours, dead ends, flat tires, missed directions, and many unknown obstacles that stand between you and your dream. You always have a choice—quit and continue what you have been doing or accept the challenges and move forward. Learn to enjoy the rough spots as well as the smooth sailing—it is all a part of your journey to success!
Linda Thompson, MSRC, has 30 years professional experience serving people with disabilities as instructor and advocate. As a keynote speaker, she addresses audiences of parents, professionals, care providers, students, congregations, and business administrators/employers on the importance of recognizing the individual and abilities rather than the “labels” of disabilities. “People with disabilities are people first. Our disabilities are second.”
www.empoweringusall.com
You now have a dream, a vision, and a path to follow. In making the commitment to move forward, it is important to remember this is your dream. It is a process you should want to embrace and even enjoy. It will mean dedicated hard work, but if it is definitely something you want you won’t see it as work. After all this is what you want. It is not something you are required to do as in a job. You are doing it because you choose to change your life. Though the path may be rocky and long at times, keep your eye on the reward and celebrate each step, small or large, you complete. Believe in your dream, and, most of all believe in yourself.
When I was in high school, I pretty much decided I wanted to be a social worker and help people work through their problems. I knew I needed a college degree to do the work I wanted to do, but when I graduated in 1967, I found the doors of universities not only shut, but locked to people with disabilities. There were steps going into every building, multi-floored buildings were often without elevators, building were sprawled across large campuses with no easy access to get from one to another, there were no disabled parking spaces provided, no disabled student service offices to assist with registration or note taking, and professors were not educated in alternate testing methods often needed by the person with a disability. Since it appeared I would not be going to college, I went into a sheltered workshop and earned $0.10/hour counting nuts and bolts and stringing turkey needles. After four days in that place, I vowed I would not spend the rest of my life there. I would go to school and get a good paying job. I didn’t know how or when, I only knew I would. Believe in your dream!
Long story short: I have a BA degree in journalism from Kent State University and a MS degree in rehabilitation counseling from San Diego State University. I have worked in the disability field since 1977. Today I develop curriculum and training materials and do presentations to teach people with developmental disabilities how to increase their independence and live satisfying productive lives. My highest pay rate to date is $50/hour—and I felt I short changed myself. Believe in yourself!
If you have done any traveling at all, you know that things don’t always go as expected. There are potholes in the road, detours, dead ends, flat tires, missed directions, and many unknown obstacles that stand between you and your dream. You always have a choice—quit and continue what you have been doing or accept the challenges and move forward. Learn to enjoy the rough spots as well as the smooth sailing—it is all a part of your journey to success!
Linda Thompson, MSRC, has 30 years professional experience serving people with disabilities as instructor and advocate. As a keynote speaker, she addresses audiences of parents, professionals, care providers, students, congregations, and business administrators/employers on the importance of recognizing the individual and abilities rather than the “labels” of disabilities. “People with disabilities are people first. Our disabilities are second.”
www.empoweringusall.com
Sunday, May 13, 2007
STRATEGY 3: DECIDING THE JOURNEY
OK, you have a dream, you know where you are now, and you know where you will be and what you will have when your dream comes true. You have begun your journey. Yes, I said journey. None of us go anywhere without putting one step in front of another or pushing the toggle switch forward on our power chairs. It is sometimes hard to know what lies before you, but one thing is for certain—you will never know until you move forward.
Think your dream. Feel your dream. Picture your dream. That’s the easy part. Now comes the harder part. Commit to your dream. It would be wonderful if all we had to do was twitch our nose and whatever we needed or wanted would simply appear. But unfortunately life doesn’t work that way. It tries to teach us that anything worth having is worth working for. That is how we learn to appreciate what we have. We all want to be successful and in order to be successful we need to commit to the journey. Success is not an event—it is an ongoing process only achieved by the willingness to keep going forward. However, before you move forward, you need a path to follow. Even Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz had to decide on a path. She knew where she wanted to be and she wanted to be sure she took the best path in order to get to Oz and then back home. What did Dorothy do? She found a consultant. True, the Scarecrow’s was a bit confusing, but she didn’t have much choice since she left her GPS and cell phone at home (ha, ha).
Get yourself a large pad of paper or a roll of butcher paper, color felt pens, crayons, poster paints, or whatever supplies you like to use when you want to express yourself. Write, draw, paint your dream. If you are a writer, describe your dream. If you are an artistic person, draw or paint your dream. Give your dream vision—give it life! When you are done, put it on the bathroom mirror, over your computer, on the refrigerator, or anywhere you will see it daily. Now write down what you feel you must do to make your dream a reality. Do you need school? Training? People? Money? What will it take to get you from here to that vision in front of you? When you have your list, draw a simple side view of stairs. Decide what needs to be done first and put it next to the bottom stair. What should be done next goes next to the second stair and so on and so forth. It is best to remember that each step may take a series of smaller steps. Education, for example, would take research on where to get the needed education, applying for admission, registration, financing, and attending classes. A step may take a month, a year, or several years to complete, but once completed, you will actually be one step closer to your dream. With each step, you are rising up to your own expectations and closer to the reality of your dream.
www.empoweringusall.com
Linda Thompson, MSRC, has 30 years professional experience serving people with disabilities as instructor and advocate. As a keynote speaker, she addresses audiences of parents, professionals, care providers, students, congregations, and business administrators/employers on the importance of recognizing the individual and abilities rather than the “labels” of disabilities. “People with disabilities are people first. Our disabilities are second.”
OK, you have a dream, you know where you are now, and you know where you will be and what you will have when your dream comes true. You have begun your journey. Yes, I said journey. None of us go anywhere without putting one step in front of another or pushing the toggle switch forward on our power chairs. It is sometimes hard to know what lies before you, but one thing is for certain—you will never know until you move forward.
Think your dream. Feel your dream. Picture your dream. That’s the easy part. Now comes the harder part. Commit to your dream. It would be wonderful if all we had to do was twitch our nose and whatever we needed or wanted would simply appear. But unfortunately life doesn’t work that way. It tries to teach us that anything worth having is worth working for. That is how we learn to appreciate what we have. We all want to be successful and in order to be successful we need to commit to the journey. Success is not an event—it is an ongoing process only achieved by the willingness to keep going forward. However, before you move forward, you need a path to follow. Even Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz had to decide on a path. She knew where she wanted to be and she wanted to be sure she took the best path in order to get to Oz and then back home. What did Dorothy do? She found a consultant. True, the Scarecrow’s was a bit confusing, but she didn’t have much choice since she left her GPS and cell phone at home (ha, ha).
Get yourself a large pad of paper or a roll of butcher paper, color felt pens, crayons, poster paints, or whatever supplies you like to use when you want to express yourself. Write, draw, paint your dream. If you are a writer, describe your dream. If you are an artistic person, draw or paint your dream. Give your dream vision—give it life! When you are done, put it on the bathroom mirror, over your computer, on the refrigerator, or anywhere you will see it daily. Now write down what you feel you must do to make your dream a reality. Do you need school? Training? People? Money? What will it take to get you from here to that vision in front of you? When you have your list, draw a simple side view of stairs. Decide what needs to be done first and put it next to the bottom stair. What should be done next goes next to the second stair and so on and so forth. It is best to remember that each step may take a series of smaller steps. Education, for example, would take research on where to get the needed education, applying for admission, registration, financing, and attending classes. A step may take a month, a year, or several years to complete, but once completed, you will actually be one step closer to your dream. With each step, you are rising up to your own expectations and closer to the reality of your dream.
www.empoweringusall.com
Linda Thompson, MSRC, has 30 years professional experience serving people with disabilities as instructor and advocate. As a keynote speaker, she addresses audiences of parents, professionals, care providers, students, congregations, and business administrators/employers on the importance of recognizing the individual and abilities rather than the “labels” of disabilities. “People with disabilities are people first. Our disabilities are second.”
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