The Voiceless Minority

Your friendly neighborhood super advocate is back! This time I have a question. Have we reached a point where it is okay to tell a “casual lie” rather than the truth? You may ask what made you pose the above question. The answer is sad but simple. During a recent follow-up appointment with my pain management doctor, I began talking to his nurse. I have been to the office several times in the last few months because my pain pump needed to be replaced. On this particular occasion, I found it easy to talk with the attending nurse for that day. For privacy purposes, I will not give her name here.  Throughout my appointment, we chatted easily. She asked me general questions about my education and other topics, and I did the same. As the appointment progressed, it eventually came out that I was a disability blogger. I told her about this blog and mentioned that we had a Facebook page. She seemed genuinely interested, so I invited her to like the page and add me on Facebook. Truth be told...

Today is America’s birthday. I live in the best country in the world. Whether you are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, we all have opportunities in this country. However, just because we live in the greatest country in the world, it doesn’t mean that people don’t often surprise me. I do have all the opportunity in the world. My disability anywhere else would be 10 times more magnified then it is. I am grateful that I was born where I was, but sometimes I wonder about people. As most of you know I am 27 years old and I have a master degree in education, but that piece of paper doesn’t mean much to my social disability. Yesterday, I was out in Erie at a movie, and I got the following reaction from a lady in her mid to late 40’s. She saw me and my caregiver and her immediate response was awwww. To this moment I still don’t know what that meant, but it made me think.. Just because I have a physical disability doesn’t mean that I have a mental one, but apparently you cannot ...