I will admit, before I was in occupational therapy school, and even when I was in middle school and high school, I was afraid to interact with kids my age who had disabilities. It wasn't that I thought negatively about them, but I was afraid to ask the wrong thing and end up putting my foot in my mouth. Being in school has taught me that everyone is different, everyone faces challenges, and everyone has a purpose in life that they are trying to fulfill. Just because someone has a disability, doesn't meant that they AREN'T ABLE. It just means that they do things differently.
I have a very good friend, Lindsey, who uses a wheelchair because of her spina bifida and is a survivor of thyroid cancer. She loves to blog and came out with an interesting post a while back giving her point of view on how people view her in a wheelchair. Reading her blog post and learning about disabilities in school has really opened my eyes to how I talk to, and even how I look at people who use a wheelchair and other assistive devices. She owns her own business, is very active, goes to the gym, goes to concerts, and even just completed a huge bucket list of things she wanted to do before she died. Despite all that she has been through, Lindsey has not let her diagnoses get in her way of accomplishing her goals and doing things that bring her to joy to her life.
With new advances in technology every single day, we as future occupational therapists are better able to serve our clients and meet their needs, despite any challenges they may face. Lindsey has been an inspiration to me and has given me the confidence and encouragement to achieve my goals. If everyone had her outlook on life, the world would be a much brighter place.
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