The Voiceless Minority

So, on Monday, I started writing again for this blog. I’m trying to get my shit together. One would think by the time someone is 31; they would have figured things out. I have a great support system and parents who love me beyond measure, yet something is still lacking in my life. I did not know what this was until this morning. As I’ve stated in the other blogs, I attempt to replay conversations in my head after the fact. I was replaying one such conversation from a few months ago this morning when I realized it fit into exactly what’s going on in my life right now. On the surface, it seems as if everything is going perfectly for me. I am being considered for my first job, and from what I’m told, I’m high on the list of potential candidates. I didn’t mess up the actual interview even though I was nervous as all get out. I just had a visit with one of my best friends. Life couldn’t be sweeter, right? Well, I am sad to report that this is not the case. I never thought I’d use this blog...

My Random Rantings for the Night I haven't written in a while on the Voiceless minority. I've been busy dealing with some medical issues and capturing and taking advantage of several opportunities that have come my way. More on that later – However, the point of this blog is to get on my soapbox. Before I do so, I must say that this blog is a straight opinion piece, and it comes from the point of me being extra picky when it comes to semantics. The other night I was watching one of my TV shows – the WWE- when they announced a partnership with the "Special" Olympics. When I first heard this, I went all noble, and my mind took over. I said, "Oh, here we go again, the mainstream media and the able-bodied community using the disabled as 'inspiration porn.'" For those who don't know what that is, the term inspiration porn was coined by disabled activists and comedienne Stella Young. It is the idea that the able-bodied community uses their...

     This past year I turned 30. They say, whoever they are, that 30 is supposed to be a significant turning point in life.        Up until recently, I found this statement hard to believe, but events have occurred in the past couple of weeks that have changed my mind. For anyone who has been following my blog lately, they've noticed a couple of things; I've increased the number of posts I've written. Hopefully, you also saw a renewed passion regarding issues within the disability community.  It has taken some time to realize the origin of the change in my motivation, but now I think I have figured it out.        During a recent conversation with my friend Eliza, she put things into perspective. Our conversation occurred weeks ago, and I thought nothing of it at the time. However, I tend to replay conversations in my head rather than finding their significance later. I was replaying t...

        So, a conversation came up this weekend with a friend who is also my PCA, which made me think of a complex problem facing the disability community. The following sentence was spoken: "I don't understand why it's a problem when people protect you when you are in a wheelchair." Upon hearing this, I lost my mind. After I was done screaming incoherently in rage, I got to thinking about the statement, and I realized that the problem was not my PCA's problem; it is a societal problem.       In this writer's opinion, if you have any disability, most of society sees you as a fragile doll that needs protection. I'm here to say this: WE ARE NOT SOME FRAGILE DOLL THAT YOU CAN COLLECT AND BUY ON QVC; WE ARE PEOPLE! Some of us are motivational speakers, some of us are doctors, some of us have Master's degrees, and we are not happy being put in a box. This is very true for me personally. Recently, I had a conversation with my dad, who is going ...

I know I have written a lot lately; hopefully, it’s a trend that will continue. There are a lot of exciting things happening in my world since the Florida SAND conference. It’s funny how one event can put things in motion that you weren’t even thinking about before the event. Today I met an interesting person by the name of Chris. I have many big ideas, but I have realized that they will take networking and time to implement. I am starting to see that the universe puts things in motion when you least expect it. I was putting together my two-year plan, and it did not involve staying where I am at. I’m not saying that I will, but after the past few days, I’m more open to the possibility of it. I won’t get into great detail about the things that Chris and I discussed because it isn’t set in stone yet; I will say that if it happens, the world will be vastly different (at least in my little corner). I know this was short and sweet, more to come later. 

So, I was talking to a couple friends tonight and I realized that I missed another episode of Speechless. For those who don’t know, Speechless is a show about a young boy named JJ with Cerebral Palsy. JJ cannot speak and has a wonderful mom as a disability advocate. The cool thing about this show is that as a few shows in the past, they actually use an individual with a disability to play the disabled character. I wrote a blog early on in the history of this blog that was relevant to tonight’s episode. Tonight’s episode dealt with the idea of “inspiration porn”. I will not go into detail about the episode as I have not watched it fully yet. Towards the end of this blog, I will link the above-mentioned post. Why am I writing about it now? I am writing because it is amazing that a major network like ABC is finally paying attention to disability issues and portraying them fairly. Perhaps if this show gets picked up for more seasons the perception of people with disabilities in societ...

So, this weekend I attended my first Florida SAND conference. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect; I had never been to an event like this. I had heard mixed reviews from those who have attended in the past. It started slow; there were a bit of technical and arrival glitches with myself and my PCA. However, once we got there, it quickly became apparent that this would not be anything like I had heard. Friday night was a chill night; I met some pretty amazing people and lost Uno's rather exciting game of No official conference business that took place that night. Although my PCA won a bag of espresso beans for some strange reason, I was hoping we would win the autographed football but still pretty awesome. Saturday was the heart of the conference, right away Saturday morning, I realized that something was different. My college brain had kicked in again, and I was in learning mode. I have tried two other academic endeavors since I graduated with my Masters, one in real esta...