It’s funny… sometimes I listen to what I say on these short video clips and they make me laugh. Sometimes they come across differently than I’m thinking at the time I’m doing them. After all they’re done extemporaneously.
For instance… when I’m talking in this clip about “When is a disability a good thing?” In the beginning of the clip, I’m really making fun of what we can get away with. The title is ironic. Because I can get by and have gotten by with things my entire life I probably haven’t been as independent or “accomplished” as much as maybe I could have. I haven’t had to be as responsible for my life as I might otherwise have been. Many of us want to get by with things instead of having to take responsibility. All you have to do is walk around any bookstore and see the number of books written about motivation, attitude, etc. The title is ironic because it implies that getting by or out of “things’ is a good thing. Sometimes it is… Sometimes it’s not…
A disability is neither a “good” nor a “bad” thing… It’s what we bring to it, give back to it that gives it meaning. (5th Entry)
My challenge… Basically it’s the definition of disability that I use…. It’s going beyond… what keeps us from doing or trying or felling good about ourselves. It’s going beyond our basic needs…to begin to go after those higher needs that give life meaning… that give ourselves and our own lives meaning.
It’s so easy to look back and say to ourselves… “Why didn’t I do things differently?” Then again… There’s an option to do things differently today. It’s up to each of us to decide.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
(54th Entry) Tying my shoe!
Every once in a while I get in front of the video camera and just play. I’m trying to get used to being on camera and work on speaking extemporaneously. Plus we’re still trying to learn how to operate the camera. So when I do it… It’s not a scripted. In fact I really have no idea what I’m going to say at all. When I did the video… “What is a Disability?” (Between entries 51 and 52) I did use my definition of disability which is included in the Mission Statement and I had written it down so that I wouldn’t forget it in case I wanted to use it.
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One of the things I left out of this video was… almost always after the teacher introduced me they would walk to the back of the classroom to observe. After writing my name on the board and turning around introducing myself as, “Hi! My names Charlie and I was born this way. Do you have any questions?”… It became obvious that there were two types of teachers… The first and most common would react with a look of fright on their face. These were the control freaks. The other type would lean back against the wall and smile. This reaction was much less common however.
In the classrooms where the teacher leaned back and smiled, the kids almost immediately began raising their hands with questions. In the classrooms where the teacher reacted with a look of fear or worry of losing control, the kids would be less likely to ask questions in the beginning. I would have to coax them by telling a little more about myself and then asking them tell if they new anyone with a disability. Then they would begin to open up.
This to me is a great metaphor for the issue of disability. Anyone who works in Corporate America has undoubtedly been through some type of sensitivity, harassment or diversity training class. We’re basically taught not to ask questions and thus not be able to truly understand those around us. It’s basically the “Don’t ask. Don’t tell” scenario.
I remember in my last corporate position, a manager from the Malaysian plant met me in person for the first time. He was a good person who I enjoyed working. After talking for quit some time, he did something quite extraordinary for this company. He just looked at me and said something to the effect… Why didn’t someone just tell us about you so that we would have a better understanding of…?
The teachers who smiled as I introduced myself created an environment in their classrooms that fostered creativity, an environment that created inclusion rather than exclusion. When you’re not allowed to talk about, discuss issues… How can you be a part of…
The issue of disability is a metaphor for life. It’s just one of the reasons I say that everyone has a disability and yet it is more!
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One of the things I left out of this video was… almost always after the teacher introduced me they would walk to the back of the classroom to observe. After writing my name on the board and turning around introducing myself as, “Hi! My names Charlie and I was born this way. Do you have any questions?”… It became obvious that there were two types of teachers… The first and most common would react with a look of fright on their face. These were the control freaks. The other type would lean back against the wall and smile. This reaction was much less common however.
In the classrooms where the teacher leaned back and smiled, the kids almost immediately began raising their hands with questions. In the classrooms where the teacher reacted with a look of fear or worry of losing control, the kids would be less likely to ask questions in the beginning. I would have to coax them by telling a little more about myself and then asking them tell if they new anyone with a disability. Then they would begin to open up.
This to me is a great metaphor for the issue of disability. Anyone who works in Corporate America has undoubtedly been through some type of sensitivity, harassment or diversity training class. We’re basically taught not to ask questions and thus not be able to truly understand those around us. It’s basically the “Don’t ask. Don’t tell” scenario.
I remember in my last corporate position, a manager from the Malaysian plant met me in person for the first time. He was a good person who I enjoyed working. After talking for quit some time, he did something quite extraordinary for this company. He just looked at me and said something to the effect… Why didn’t someone just tell us about you so that we would have a better understanding of…?
The teachers who smiled as I introduced myself created an environment in their classrooms that fostered creativity, an environment that created inclusion rather than exclusion. When you’re not allowed to talk about, discuss issues… How can you be a part of…
The issue of disability is a metaphor for life. It’s just one of the reasons I say that everyone has a disability and yet it is more!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
It’s been to long…
I know it’s been a while since my last entry. I hope to get back on track in the next 48 hours. Life has been hectic, but that’s no excuse. Many of the events keeping me busy are a direct result of the Mission Statement…
Things are moving along quickly.
So soon… more entries, a couple more video clips, etc.
Things are moving along quickly.
So soon… more entries, a couple more video clips, etc.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
(53rd Entry) Twenty years ago I wrote…
“Because of modern medicine and advances in technologies disabled individuals are “coming-out” for the first time in history.”
I wrote this in the late 80’s. The push for disability rights began to gain momentum in the early 1970’s with the first major piece of legislation called the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Part of this was probably a result of the Vietnam War and the number of Disabled Veterans returning during this time period. Disability rights took much of its early forms from the civil rights movement. Legislation focused on education, mainstreaming, accommodations, independent living, etc. The Americans with disabilities Act signed in 1990 was undoubtedly the most ambitious piece of legislation in terms of the issue of disability. All of these laws have helped disabled individuals by bringing attention to the issue of disability, opening doors and opportunities that might not have been otherwise available.
While legislation can open doors by removing barriers, providing education and independent living, etc. It doesn’t necessarily change people’s attitudes… disabled or non-disabled. It can be the beginning for disabled individuals to live a more fulfilling life. It is a first step.
Again, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs… It seems to me that legislation is most effective for those lower needs… the “biological and physical needs”, “safety needs” and even “belongingness and love needs”. What about the higher needs… Esteem Needs and Self Actualization? You can’t legislate these needs either for disabled individuals or non-disabled individuals.
Ironically, shortly after the Americans with Disability Act was passed companies actually hired less disabled individuals. This can be interpreted in many different ways…
Disabled individuals are “coming-out” in greater numbers. What does this mean? Disabled individuals are a minority group in every sense of the term, but what does that mean and how are we different from other minority groups? First, anyone can “join this group” at any time via accident, injury, illness… (I just read something close to this, so I wanted to mention this and not be accused of plagiarizing.) It crosses all ethnic, cultural, economic, etc. groups. It can happen at any time.
Second, in many ways we’re a “new” group of individuals. What I mean by this is that many of us that are considered disabled would have died prior to “modern” medicine, technology. I also wrote twenty years ago… that disabled individuals are coming out and we have no conscious path to follow. There’s not a long history of individuals for us to pattern our lives after… role models. After all, FDR hid his disability from the American people.
It seems to me as we “mature” as a group, a minority… we’re responsible for taking ourselves to those higher needs… Self Esteem and Self Actualization! If we’ve learned anything from the civil rights movement… no one is going to do it for you. Doors might open, but how you respond to that door opening is totally dependent on you. Understanding how the issue of disability affects us as well as those around us I believe is the key to our future.
Over time I hope to explain this belief in more and more detail!
I wrote this in the late 80’s. The push for disability rights began to gain momentum in the early 1970’s with the first major piece of legislation called the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Part of this was probably a result of the Vietnam War and the number of Disabled Veterans returning during this time period. Disability rights took much of its early forms from the civil rights movement. Legislation focused on education, mainstreaming, accommodations, independent living, etc. The Americans with disabilities Act signed in 1990 was undoubtedly the most ambitious piece of legislation in terms of the issue of disability. All of these laws have helped disabled individuals by bringing attention to the issue of disability, opening doors and opportunities that might not have been otherwise available.
While legislation can open doors by removing barriers, providing education and independent living, etc. It doesn’t necessarily change people’s attitudes… disabled or non-disabled. It can be the beginning for disabled individuals to live a more fulfilling life. It is a first step.
Again, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs… It seems to me that legislation is most effective for those lower needs… the “biological and physical needs”, “safety needs” and even “belongingness and love needs”. What about the higher needs… Esteem Needs and Self Actualization? You can’t legislate these needs either for disabled individuals or non-disabled individuals.
Ironically, shortly after the Americans with Disability Act was passed companies actually hired less disabled individuals. This can be interpreted in many different ways…
Disabled individuals are “coming-out” in greater numbers. What does this mean? Disabled individuals are a minority group in every sense of the term, but what does that mean and how are we different from other minority groups? First, anyone can “join this group” at any time via accident, injury, illness… (I just read something close to this, so I wanted to mention this and not be accused of plagiarizing.) It crosses all ethnic, cultural, economic, etc. groups. It can happen at any time.
Second, in many ways we’re a “new” group of individuals. What I mean by this is that many of us that are considered disabled would have died prior to “modern” medicine, technology. I also wrote twenty years ago… that disabled individuals are coming out and we have no conscious path to follow. There’s not a long history of individuals for us to pattern our lives after… role models. After all, FDR hid his disability from the American people.
It seems to me as we “mature” as a group, a minority… we’re responsible for taking ourselves to those higher needs… Self Esteem and Self Actualization! If we’ve learned anything from the civil rights movement… no one is going to do it for you. Doors might open, but how you respond to that door opening is totally dependent on you. Understanding how the issue of disability affects us as well as those around us I believe is the key to our future.
Over time I hope to explain this belief in more and more detail!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
(52nd Entry) What is a disability? In words…
Once while sitting in an all night coffee shop in East Texas during my college years… a man handed me a note. It was written on a paper napkin and simply said, “Personally I consider myself as a strong adaptable human being. However when I look at you I am humbled.” I don’t have the napkin with me so this might not be completely accurate, but the idea is there…
It seems to me… All of us think of ourselves, perceive ourselves, and limit ourselves by our own beliefs about ourselves and the beliefs of those around us. I don’t want to minimize anyone that has a physical, mental, emotional or any other type of disability, but I want to challenge all of us think beyond our own current beliefs about ourselves, our own perceived reality.
Why is someone humbled by the sight of me? I actually don’t think it was the sight of me that he was speaking of… The town was small. I’m sure he had seen me many times before. It was that I was “out there, doing things” that made him think about himself. I think he might have been saying to himself… I have all of my body “strong adaptable” and this guy… well?
I think back to my realization on the subway in New York City (described earlier in a blog entry) and my entry about “all we know is our own reality” and realize how easy it is to limit ourselves. We think of ourselves as “who we are” in our minds, our perception of ourselves. After all… we are who we are. Then all of a sudden… we’re confronted by someone or an event, maybe something that was done or said or by someone’s appearance. We’re taken out of our own reality, our own comfort zone and must reflect back upon ourselves… asking ourselves… what if? What if I were that person? What would I be like? What would I or could I…?
People bring out emotions in others. A compelling story of someone’s accomplishment or a person who has overcome adversity always inspires, brings out in people certain emotions, energy. I used this line several times since beginning this blog… “When we forget who we are, we forget how to act.” Or possibly… When we forget who we are, we forget how to feel… as well.
This applies to both disabled individuals and non-disabled individuals. In talking about the subject of disability one difficulty is that I say that everyone has a disability, yet I just categorized people into disabled and non-disabled. Maybe it would be better to say that everyone has a “wound”… and then there are those who are disabled in terms of the world… still a label. It’s this “wound” that causes all of us to empathize, to have sympathy and to have compassion.
I’ve talked before about Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. Once we begin to take care of those basic needs… food, clothing, security… What’s next? Those higher needs… belongingness/love… self esteem… and ultimately self actualization.
What does it mean to be disabled… to have a disability? As Maslow said… you have to have the basic needs, those needs at the base of the pyramid met before moving up to the higher needs. I’ve always felt that there were many good people and many good organizations working with, helping with the basic needs, the physical needs.
My goal, my focus is to ask the question… What happens after I meet these basic needs? How do I go into the world, live my life and be successful? My belief is that in order to be successful in the world as a disabled individual, it’s a combination of understanding ourselves, our needs… as well as the effects that we have on those around us. It’s about learning to be an individual, independent of others… yet being able to accept any help that we might need and any feelings that we bring out in others.
It seems to me… All of us think of ourselves, perceive ourselves, and limit ourselves by our own beliefs about ourselves and the beliefs of those around us. I don’t want to minimize anyone that has a physical, mental, emotional or any other type of disability, but I want to challenge all of us think beyond our own current beliefs about ourselves, our own perceived reality.
Why is someone humbled by the sight of me? I actually don’t think it was the sight of me that he was speaking of… The town was small. I’m sure he had seen me many times before. It was that I was “out there, doing things” that made him think about himself. I think he might have been saying to himself… I have all of my body “strong adaptable” and this guy… well?
I think back to my realization on the subway in New York City (described earlier in a blog entry) and my entry about “all we know is our own reality” and realize how easy it is to limit ourselves. We think of ourselves as “who we are” in our minds, our perception of ourselves. After all… we are who we are. Then all of a sudden… we’re confronted by someone or an event, maybe something that was done or said or by someone’s appearance. We’re taken out of our own reality, our own comfort zone and must reflect back upon ourselves… asking ourselves… what if? What if I were that person? What would I be like? What would I or could I…?
People bring out emotions in others. A compelling story of someone’s accomplishment or a person who has overcome adversity always inspires, brings out in people certain emotions, energy. I used this line several times since beginning this blog… “When we forget who we are, we forget how to act.” Or possibly… When we forget who we are, we forget how to feel… as well.
This applies to both disabled individuals and non-disabled individuals. In talking about the subject of disability one difficulty is that I say that everyone has a disability, yet I just categorized people into disabled and non-disabled. Maybe it would be better to say that everyone has a “wound”… and then there are those who are disabled in terms of the world… still a label. It’s this “wound” that causes all of us to empathize, to have sympathy and to have compassion.
I’ve talked before about Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. Once we begin to take care of those basic needs… food, clothing, security… What’s next? Those higher needs… belongingness/love… self esteem… and ultimately self actualization.
What does it mean to be disabled… to have a disability? As Maslow said… you have to have the basic needs, those needs at the base of the pyramid met before moving up to the higher needs. I’ve always felt that there were many good people and many good organizations working with, helping with the basic needs, the physical needs.
My goal, my focus is to ask the question… What happens after I meet these basic needs? How do I go into the world, live my life and be successful? My belief is that in order to be successful in the world as a disabled individual, it’s a combination of understanding ourselves, our needs… as well as the effects that we have on those around us. It’s about learning to be an individual, independent of others… yet being able to accept any help that we might need and any feelings that we bring out in others.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
What is a disability?
Since I haven't written in a while I'm putting out a short video clip. I'm still learning, but having fun with it!
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