(55th Entry) When is a disability a good thing?

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.