I'm not a doll you can buy on QVC

 

     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 through his trials right now. The discussion centered around new opportunities that have been presented to me lately. I think about the "big picture" and think about what things will be like long term. I have trouble living in the moment, and my dad is pretty good about centering me. However, in this instance, he did what I think most people do with people with disabilities; he went into the over-protective mode. Granted, he may be overly protective because I am his son, but I see my world differently; I have the most wonderful sister who does not have a disability, and sometimes I feel like they are less protective of her. I'm not saying they do this on purpose; I'm just saying that this occurs.

 

    It is said that as a society, whether consciously or subconsciously, we have gotten to the point where we coddle an entire group of people. I know that I have written on the topic before in previous blogs; I wonder if I'm the only person with a disability that feels this way. I am not trying to rock the boat or come across as having a chip on my shoulder, as some have said. Instead, I express my true feelings about an important issue that is not getting as much attention as it needs. As my previous blogs have stated, it is not impressive if a person with a disability gets out of bed. How is it possible in the twenty-first century that we do not recognize the fight for disability equality as a civil rights issue? No matter what one's disability is, it does not define them as a person; they are still people first and need to be treated as such.         

Oh The Possibilities

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. 

It's Time to Get Political Again

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 society may change in time. It is up to the mainstream media, people with disabilities and their allies to help shape societies view of a minority long silenced. When I contemplated writing this blog today, Speechless had nothing to do with the topic but I realize now that it is a key part of why I need to write the following: I am a Republican with a disability. Most people outside of the disability community would ask, "Why to attach something political to a disability?" Politics is a hard topic for people to swallow and so is a disability. Why combine such controversial topics? The answer is quite simple. It is time that people with disabilities take more of a political stance and fight for more of what they want, need, and desire. Anybody who read yesterday’s post knows that I went to the Florida SAND conference last weekend. There was a small political presence at this conference. But the number of attendees at the conference was small in comparison to the number of people with disabilities that need to be heard. I am writing today to not only complain but suggest a solution. I am currently working on a radio show about disability advocacy. The individual who gave me this opportunity put another idea in my head as well. To have a political voice one needs to have voting power. Individual voices can make noise but if a large portion of a population shouts the same message it is more apt to be heard. In the recent election, this could be seen through Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump neither candidate fit the typical mold and they didn’t do things quietly. It is the time that people with disabilities make their voice heard. I live in Florida and I am suggesting to any Floridian who is an advocate orally that it is time to build a disability caucus in Florida. Below are the names of all 27 Florida Congressmen and women, I am urging you to read the post I recently put up entitled An Open letter to President-Elect Trump. In it, I discussed some important legislation that is currently up for debate in the house. Read the article and go and read the legislation known as the “Time Act” and contact these congressmen and let them know that, to steal from your Florida SAND anthem “Our Voice Matters.”

Debbie Wasserman

Charlie Crist

Stephanie Murphy

Brian Mast

Llena Ros-Lehtinen

Carlos Curbelo

Mario Diaz-Balart

Ted Yoho

Val Demings

Frederica Wilson

Ron Desantis

Alcee Hastings

Kathy Castor

Ted Deutch

Darren Soto

Gus Bilirakis

Vern Buchanan

Francis Rooney

Bill Posey

Lois Frankel

Dennis A. Ross

John Rutherford

Matt Gaetz

Tom Rooney

Neal Dunn

Al Lawson

Daniel Webster

http://thevoicelssminority.blogspot.com/2014/06/i-dont-want-destiny-you-have-planned.html

http://thevoicelssminority.blogspot.com/2016/12/an-open-letter-to-president-elect-trump.html

Florida Sand, The First Time Was A Charm

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 estate and one in Political Science. Neither of those was as engaging as the Florida SAND conference was. I guess it just took my brain a while to realize that disability advocacy was what it wanted to focus on. As the Saturday session progressed, we voted on the legislative platform. Without getting into the details of the proceedings, I will say that we came up with two legislative issues: That of provider rates and transportation.

One of Florida SAND's essential functions is to provide a legislative platform for people with developmental disabilities. After the legislative part of the conference ended, we broke for lunch, where we were randomly mixed with other groups that had attended the meeting. We were then given a challenge to overcome, having the sense of humor that I find the word challenge ironic. The challenges ranged from how we would react to being denied the right to vote to the somewhat controversial challenge of meeting Donald Trump. While I am supportive of Trump, I will leave my feelings about that for another blog.

After lunch, the conference broke into my favorite sessions; characteristically, at that point, my body intervened. First, I witnessed an excellent presentation on marketing and fundraising that I was not familiar with. It was given by the head of the conference and her husband. After this, I was hoping to attend a session on recruiting allies and like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, medical issues intervened. I was able to come back near the end of the session and caught some great tidbits from a woman named Whitney and a gentleman by the name of Arizona.

 The day's final session piqued my interest because it dealt with increasing one's voice on social media. This blog has been going on for quite some time now, but I learned some valuable do's and don'ts for an increasing presence on social media and using it effectively to advance one's cause. The night ended with a dinner at a local Olive Garden type restaurant and an optional dance. Seeing as how I don't have all that great of moves with or without the chair, I spent most of the dance talking to some great people. I then went back up to my room to watch some TV before calling it a night.

 

The last day of the conference consisted of a general board meeting for all Florida SAND members. The conference wrapped up around midday on Sunday. Overall the discussion was very informative and very productive for me on a personal level. This was the first time that the conference had been held in nearly two years. However, it was hard to tell that there had been such a large gap between this conference and the last one. It seemed as if the conference and its organizers had put an extreme amount of effort to present a quality experience for all those involved. Some things need to be improved upon, but improvement is always a good thing; nothing is ever perfect.