Tag Archives: labels

Day 2743: Try to Truly SEE

It is preferable to have mobility problems than to have eyes that cannot see people’s spirits and souls – that’s what I’ve realized.

It’s 1 : 00 PM on day 2743 of my journey towards independence and I managed to pray, have breakfast, read Psalm 37:8-9 and promote my 50 New Feet Campaign benefiting MiracleFeet –raised $12 659 only $6 091 more to raise by June 17, 2018 to reach my new goal of helping 75 kids with Clubfoot by June 17, 2018.

Today I realized with great sadness that while I have mobility problems most of the world has vision problems, as in they can’t see past labels, it makes me sad and also sort of grateful for my life experience I would rather be in a wheelchair and have the ability to truly see people than have all the abilities in the world and still be blind.

Day 2425: Labels and Me

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Labels limit people– that’s what I know.

It’s 11 : 20 AM on day 2425 of my journey towards independence and I managed to pray, have breakfast, read Matthew 6: 9, and learn a new word – Acerbic [a·cer·bic] adj. Sharp or biting, as in character or expression. “The director occasionally allowed an acerbic tone to an otherwise subtle dialogue.”

This morning I was thinking about my evolving relationship with labels first I thought of myself as disabled, then I thought of myself as differently-abled and now I will say my movement and speech are affected because I have a neurological condition called Cerebral Palsy it will probably take a lot longer to say that than just to say I’m disabled or differently-abled but it’s more factual and has less negative connotations than the words disabled or differently-abled do.

Day 2306: My Labels and Living In Spite of Them

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“I am a rare species, not a stereotype.” ― Ivan E. Coyote

It’s 11 : 28 AM on day 2306 of my journey towards independence and I managed to pray, have breakfast, read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and work on my 25 Smiles Campaign – yesterday my family donated $300 which brings the total raised to $9 965.04 only $2 534.96 more to raise to reach my second goal of raising $12 500 for Smile Train before Jan 10 2017 (SO SO SO GRATEFUL to everyone who has supported this campaign so far ).

Yesterday my family found my Grade 2 report and I discovered that I, in fact, have Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegia with spasticity in all four limbs I had always thought I had Cerebral Palsy Paraplegia it’s not a big deal I know they’re just words it’s just I always had an image of what quadriplegics were and I don’t match that image (maybe my parent did me a huge favour by not putting too much emphasis on my labels if I had known the extent of my physical limitations I probably wouldn’t have tried half the things I’ve tried).

Day 1891: Me, Jennifer Lawrence and Labels

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Look past people’s labels and see the human beings– that’s my message to the world.

It’s 12 : 02 PM on day 1801 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Romans 8, publish my Disability of the Day feature, learn one new thing – The ripe oranges that are unplucked from the trees, may turn to green due to a process called re-greening. This effect does not hamper the taste and the oranges nutritional value.– have breakfast, work on my future project and do some work for my real job (which i’m not at liberty to discuss).

A few days ago I read an article about Jennifer Lawrence in which she said she needed to meet a guy who had no idea who she was because all the guys she meets treat her badly or differently because of who she is and although I’m not a celebrity I could relate to what she was saying when most people look at her they probably see the “celebrity” similarly when most people look at me they see my “disability” in both cases people miss the human being behind the label sometimes I feel like I should have give me a shot I’m human just like you stamped on my forehead it’s such a lonely experience when the outside world doesn’t see the human inside you.

Day 1190: Why I hate being referred to as “special needs”

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Everybody has “special needs”– that’s my message to the world.

It’s 12 : 04 PM on day 1190 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, feed myself a boiled egg and bran flakes for breakfast, read 1 Chronicles 23, publish my Disability of the Day feature, listen to music and hang out with my family.

Last night I was thinking about the term special needs I wish people would understand that there is no such thing as a “special needs” person all of us, differently-abled or not, have special needs.Do you use labels such as special needs to sideline certain groups of people?

Day 182

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Being empty of oneself is to be full of the intelligence of life which can then come to us without hindrance. – Nicole Montineri

It’s 9: 58 PM on day 182 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bun and jam for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck – listen to Bollywood music, feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and Kadala Curry – made of brown chickpeas – for dinner and watch TV.

Today as I was listening to music feeling content within myself it occurred to me that I made people uncomfortable because I was happy in spite of the fact that I didn’t have any labels attached to me. Are you trying so hard to hold onto ‘yourself’ that you’re inadvertently blocking life’s intelligence?