Ron, I love you man, but that's a very defeatist attitude. It can be argued that ANY successful person got there with the support of others. But, to say the ONLY way a person with a disability can be successful is to be "lucky" enough to have supports in place. It's not luck, it's all a matter of your own perception of what you can or cannot do. This falls in line with what is happening to this country where the thought is that you must have your entitlements to survive. It's simply not true. Yes, many more obstacles are added when you have a disability, but it is still up to each and every one of us to suck it up, and do the best we can. If you don't have the support, find it, it's there. As a counselor, I met with hundreds of people with disabilities every year. I spent most of my time convincing them not to sit idle trying to live on the government money, but to get the job, get the therapy, get the counseling. All of that apathy stems from our poorly structured government aid programs. None of them have anything built into enforce that the people receiving the money are doing anything to better themselves.
I am not ignoring the fact that some of us have more severe disabilities. Where without support the slope is much steeper. But, I believe deeply that as long as you are alive, there is a way to contribute. Each of us has our definition of success and independence. As Quads, we the most powerful tool available to us, our brain. Do everything you can with what you have. I am a C4-5 quad who cannot transfer, take care of bathroom needs, nor transport myself (for the first 15 years). At 17 I went to college using Vocational Rehab programs. I was responsible for everything in my life except the cost of paying for college and attendant care. I made all of the connections needed to survive; friends, attendants. I had family, but purposely went to school in a different city. Getting away was my biggest step toward the independence I wanted. When graduation came, I swore I'd never take SSDI. I found petty jobs fixing peoples computers until I became employed. Did it pay great, no, but it was enough to scrape by; paying for attendants and such. I had many opportunities to run home; sickness, bed wounds, jobless, and divorce. But, I knew that that path would not lead to success. Now, many years later, I educated myself on an ongoing basis. (through both Vocational Rehab and Employer Assistance). Have a wonderful family, I have a good job. Looking back, I don't consider anything I did to be because of "luck". I relied on the supports I created. Nor was it because I am 1 in a million. I did what almost all of us can do. Sorry for the rant, but I feel very strongly about this topic. We're not as weak as we seem. Aaron Mann On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 1:29 PM, RONALD L PRACHT <r.pra...@sbcglobal.net>wrote: > I remember a talk I had with my spinal cord doctor years ago and he told > me, "no successful quad ever becomes successful on his own". Thats what we > all have to understand, if you are lucky enough to have support you go far, > if you have no support you are lucky to survive, then there are most of us > in the middle. Not everybody can achieve the same things, its simply not a > fair fight. You do as good as you can personally and then you can sleep at > night. > > Ron > > *From:* "gah17...@aol.com" <gah17...@aol.com> > *To:* quad-list@eskimo.com > *Sent:* Friday, October 25, 2013 11:23 AM > *Subject:* [QUAD-L] Like him or hate him, he is a role model > > Friday night @ 10:00 p.m. on Sean Hannity Show on Fox > will be a quad that didn't let his injury stop him. > > > Glenn Henry > > G.A.Henry Radio > 100 Mill Street > Washington Boro, PA 17582 > > >
