Sometimes in the process of establishing your identity you can make those around you feel rejected or not needed – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 6: 53 PM on day 484 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, practice typing with both hands, change my Twitter background, Facebook picture and start making a blog button with graphics made for me by Margot, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, continue making a blog button and feed myself spaghetti bolognaise for dinner.

Yesterday my dad stayed over at my uncle’s – my uncle was out of town and somebody needed to stay with my grandma – and my brother was at a sleepover at my cousin’s house so my mother decided that she would sleep in my room – my sister was sleeping in her own room – I had a complete meltdown and blurted out I feel so claustrophobic I need some space because by doing that my mom was saying I don’t believe you can sleep by yourself and be okay looking back now I can still see how hurt she was when she left to go sleep in her own bed and can understand why she probably felt rejected by me when I said I need some space while all I was trying to do by saying that was assert my independence. Are you establishing your identity at the expense of your relationships?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!