The Voiceless Minority

This post comes with a note to readers. This may or may not make complete sense. This post comes from a perspective of being stuck in my head. As much as I use this blog to teach and inform, this time, I am using it as a therapy tool as well. When I ask you, the readers, a question, please know that I am questioning you and my own subconscious. Now that I have said all of that, here we go. Initially, I was going to write a post about a movie I recently saw called “Conclave.” On the surface, the film has nothing to do with disability or disability-related issues. Still, if one looks deeper, one can see that the movie is about both self-acceptance and being accepted by others. I will not go into the movie's plot because, like I said, this is not a film review. I only reference it because it got me thinking. For eleven years now, I’ve been an outspoken voice for The Voiceless Minority, of which I am a member. However, I wonder if I have been an adequate advocate for people with disabi...

Hello again everyone. I hope everyone enjoyed yesterday’s blog on adaptive cooking and cookware. As my fellowship is coming to the end of the contract for my first year tomorrow, I felt it would be appropriate to give a nod to not only Florida SAND but my colleagues and the staff who trained us throughout this past year to thank them for helping my passion for advocacy grow.  I came into this fellowship at a weird time in my life. Before the fellowship, I had worked for Florida SAND as a per diem writer for their blog FSA Central. While this work kept the flame for disability advocacy alive and on life support, when I was presented with the opportunity to be a fellow, I immediately jumped at it. Thank you to Kelli Munn for the opportunity.  I would not be where I am today without your faith in me. However, my fellowship wasn’t as smooth of a journey as I had hoped.  About a month into the fellowship, I began to take it for granted. I had an ego bigger than the state of Fl...

This Christmas will mark thirty years since the passing of my mom’s dad, or the person I like to call my Pop-Pop. To be quite honest I've been lost in my thoughts for a few days now. Late last year I was presented with the opportunity to become a Florida SAND Fellow. The Florida SAND fellowship has allowed me not only to continue my writing which I have been neglecting for the last couple of years but equally as important, it has allowed me to strengthen my advocacy skills. There have been ups and downs throughout my fellowship but as they say, things happen when they are supposed to. As a result of my fellowship, I finally found the best friend I have been searching for my entire life. Nearly ten months ago on a dare from my caregiver, I approached my now girlfriend Samantha Lebron and started a conversation. I did not know it at the time, but God put me right where I needed to be.  For the longest time, I held a belief that I could never date someone in a wheelchair because of th...

It has been a few months since my last blog. However, with it being a new year, what better time than now to hit the ground running with a new sense of purpose and passion? It has always fascinated me how humans can become so disenchanted with life that we reach extremely dark places. To be honest, that’s where I have been the last few months, although it may not seem that way to outsiders. Depression rears its head in the most positive and happy people. You may ask what do I have to be depressed about? To answer without unloading every single problem I face, let’s just say there are quite a few things about my life that would depress most people. How you overcome the difficult times you face defines you as a person. We often require the help and advice of our friends, colleagues, and family to reach the other side of that “dark place.” Lucky for me, I have an amazing group of people that make up the support team that helps me navigate through my “dark place.” Recently, I was having a ...

So, it's been nearly a week since the last time I posted here.  This is not to say that there haven't been things bubbling around in my mind, just that I've been a little busy.  Since the last time I wrote, I've been busy promoting the blog by creating a Facebook page.  You can now show your support for the blog and disability advocacy in general by visiting  The Voiceless Minority  on Facebook.  I've also been busy continuing to write my first full-length screenplay.  Now, however, it is time to get back to the meat of things.         I've written extensively about several different issues, including how disabled people desire to be treated equally but still use the "Disney World" principle, as I like to call it, cut lines, etc.  While I've said that, in most cases, disabled people do want equality and strive for it legitimately, it does not mean that they are always support...