A WheelchairJunkie.com Production

By Mark E. Smith

It’s been said that if you want to succeed in corporate management, you have to be a problem-solver. After all, problems arise in any business venture, and while lots of lesser managers will call attention to the problems, place blame, and make excuses, if you’re the one who immediately shifts from dwelling on the problem, to focusing on the solution, you’ll be among the most valuable players on the company team – you’ll be the one moving the bottom line past adversity, into success.

The same mindset proves absolutely vital toward living with disability. It doesn’t matter if it’s relating to the challenges of independent living, or in addressing the emotional struggles of disability acceptance, or all in-between – the fact is, when it comes to facing disability, success doesn’t come from dwelling on problems, but from focusing on solutions.

Maybe it’s not the biggest problem in the world, but a friend of mine, always wanted a Corvette, never having the opportunity to get one when he wished. He told me of saving for his dream car in his 20s, only to fall in love, spending the money on his wedding. Then, in his 30s, after owning a home for a few years, and having two children, he again scraped and saved enough money to buy his dream car, a 2006 yellow Corvette. However, just days after beginning to seriously shop for the car, he was paralyzed in a construction accident, resulting in low-level quadriplegia.

Once out of rehab, he went through an adaptive driving course, and while his driving instructor assessed him for an accessible minivan, my friend longed for the Corvette that always escaped him. In fact, despite the medical bills and financial setbacks of his injury, he never touched his Corvette money, as it was still in the bank, his desire remaining strong for his dream car. However, the driving instructor told him in no uncertain terms that a low-level quad couldn’t drive a Corvette, that there was no room for a wheelchair or hand controls, that there was no way that he could transfer in and out of it. The instructor saw nothing but problems.

Yet, my friend didn’t buy into the driving instructor’s negative focus on the problems that he may encounter in trying to drive a Corvette. Instead, my friend began looking for solutions. He learned of the exact height of a Corvette’s driver’s seat, which sits low to the ground, and he mocked-up the height in his garage with an old car seat, teaching himself to transfer between his wheelchair and the low height. Then, he spoke with hand control manufacturers, discovering that hand controls for a Corvette were possible. And, he purchased an ultralight, folding wheelchair that was so thin that it would fit in the behind the front seats of a Corvette. Indeed, in no time, my friend was driving his beloved yellow Corvette.

The fact is, when it comes to disability, the easiest perspective to take is to dwell on the associated problems. It would have been effortless for my friend to dwell on all of the seeming problems in his life, chalking up quadriplegia as robbing him of all of his dreams, including preventing him from ever owning a Corvette. Yet, he didn’t dwell on the problems in his life; instead, he focused on solutions, using optimism and tenacity to discover the ways to successfully live his life – disability, Corvette dreams, and all.

In my own life, I’m always ready to enter my problem-solving mode. Due to my cerebral palsy, I’m not the most gracious of transferrer, with it being tough to go from my wheelchair to my bed or such – and, as a problem-solver at heart, I like to jest that I’m already thinking of how I’m going to get back up from the floor before I’ve landed on it!

But, there’s absolute truth to my mindset that extends to all areas of my life, where when I encounter a problem, I immediately move toward looking for a solution instead of being thrown for a loop by the issue and dwelling on it.

In a fitting metaphor, life doesn’t always allow us to make it from our wheelchairs to our beds – sometimes we land on the floor. And, at those points in life, we can either lie on the floor and shed tears, cursing everything around us, or we can simply focus on how we can get back up, onto the bed – that is, we can figure out how to get our lives back on track. No, it’s not always easy climbing up from the floor – that is, it’s not always easy overcoming challenges when life knocks us down – but only a lazy or foolish person chooses to wallow on the hard floor when a comfortable bed awaits. Personally, I choose the rewards of climbing onto a soft bed over the misery of sulking on a hard floor whenever the situation presents itself.

Interestingly, people often post very discouraged tales regarding their wheelchairs on the WheelchairJunkie.com message board, which is understandable – when one’s wheelchair isn’t working properly, that’s a very upsetting circumstance. And, as you may have noted, I usually have an answer for many situations, stating to try this or that, or suggesting that I get the provider and rep involved to resolve the issue in-person. However, what I really strive to accomplish is in shifting the situation as quickly as possible from a problem to a solution – namely because that’s the only way to restore one’s mobility. In the most literal sense, talking about how terrible it is that one’s wheelchairs isn’t working doesn’t restore one’s mobility. Instead, while we should appreciate the emotions that others have, we should see the sole goal of postings as finding the solutions to getting one’s mobility physically restored as quickly as possibly – because that’s what will ensure that one can get back on the track of life.

The notion of finding a solution instead of dwelling on the problem goes straight to the heart of most successful outlooks: No matter what obstacles one encounters, it’s striving to solve the problems that creates success, not dwelling on the problem:

My wheelchair just broke, now I’m really stuck – my life is one big nightmare! No, I’m immediately calling my provider, then I’m having my brother come over to help me transfer into my backup chair. I’ll be mobile today, and hopefully, my provider will have my chair fixed by week’s end.

There’s no way that I can go back to college with my disability – it’ll be too hard. I have no money for tuition, no transportation, and there’s no one to help me with personal care. No, I’m making an appointment with Disabled Student Services at my community college to arrange all of the support that I need to get back in school. I’m going to find grants and scholarships, sign-up for the paratransit bus, and arrange for on-campus support. Heck, there’s no reason why I can’t start classes next semester.

I can’t get my dream Corvette because I’m a quad. No, I’m going to find a way to transfer into the car, and obtain the appropriate hand controls and wheelchair that allows me to hit the open road with the top down!

The reality is, people with disabilities – and without – face real challenges every day, and the only way that they move their lives forward is by focusing on solutions, not defeating themselves by dwelling on problems.

Still, there are those who have no wish or desire to even attempt seeking solutions, where they elect to wallow in their problems. My wheelchair situation is terrible, but I’m not going to pursue changing it. I can’t get a job because I lack the needed education, but I’m not going back to school. I always wanted a Corvette, but since I have quadriplegia, I’m not going to look into driving one. And, unfortunately, no matter how much we may wish to pull them out of their rut, it’s up to them, alone, to put forth effort to change the directions of their lives. That is, sometimes, the best that we can do toward those of such negativity is to lend a little inspiration by sitting on the bed, saying, “Man, it sure is comfortable up here – I’m glad that I pursued a way to get off the floor!”

If you’re like many of us, you’ve found yourself on the downside of life more than once, where the sky seemed to be falling and all was going wrong. Maybe it was due to your disability, or a troubled childhood, or a failed marriage, or an addiction, or debt, or a lost career. Regardless of the particular situation, if you wallowed in despair and misery during those trying times, then you know that such a defeated mindset did nothing but bring you down further – that is, you don’t get out of ruts by digging them deeper. However, if you dealt with those bleak moments by striving with perseverance and courage to find a solution – to climb your way back toward a successful path – then you know that it allowed you to move your life forward. As we can each see from assessing our own coping skills in life, these simple truths prove themselves undeniable: Dwelling on problems holds us back, whereas focusing on solutions moves us forward.

When you find yourself on the floor – and maybe you’re there now, as life knocks us all down from time to time – remind yourself that lying there does nothing but creates misery and prevents success, that you must sit up, and just start climbing back to where you wish to be, seeking one solution at a time. No, it’s not always easy, but when we forgo the trap of dwelling on our problems, and focus on finding solutions, we inevitably move our lives to where we wish: Achievement and success.

By Mark E. Smith

Have you ever felt unequipped to handle the entirety of your disability, wondering how you could succeed among such seeming adversities in life?

Now, imagine if someone was there to support you during those discouraging moments – those times when you may have wondered how you were going to get through another day – where someone put a hand on your shoulder and said, “Believe me, I’ve been where you’ve been, with my own disability, and I know that you not only have the strength and the spirit to pull through this, but the abilities to make a tremendous mark on the world.” Just think of the difference that such a person would have in your life.

The truth is, none of us succeed in life on our own, including with disability. At some point, we simply need others to believe in us, to inspire us, to encourage our potentials in life. In fact, I’ve never met or heard of a tremendously successful person who didn’t credit someone else – a parent, a teacher, a boss, a spouse – for his or her successes in life. After all, the decisive factor in many of our paths is whether we simply have the confidence – the belief in ourselves – to pursue our dreams and goals. And, for many people, much of their confidence was established by others encouraging them along the way.

If you’ve spent any time living with disability, no matter your own or relating to someone who you care about, then you know that there are some downright discouraging cultural messages conveyed. We hear of continued discrimination and defeating statistics, such as 62% of those with disabilities are unemployed. We frequently witness family members lowering expectations of their loved ones with disabilities, such as implying day after day that disability is an inherently limiting factor. And, we witness public dismissing of those with disabilities, such as a restaurant waitress speaking to the able-bodied patron instead of directly to the person with the disability. Indeed, these negative social queues can certainly shake one’s confidence toward living with disability.

However, as many of us know, those discouraging factors ultimately have no significance toward our individual lives, toward our own successes with disability. We know that we have the capacity to see beyond any subjective social barriers, and move our lives forward, entirely undaunted by discouraging statistics, unsupportive families, or social stigmas. We know that we are capable, productive, impactful people above and beyond disability, just as with all others who live their lives to their fullest potential.

The question then becomes, how does one move one’s life from being burdened by negative cultural messages regarding disability, and rise to the level of self-confidence needed to truly succeed in life?

Someone offers encouragement along the way – it’s that simple.

In my own life, I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had two people along the way believe in me, one in my early twenties who encouraged my education and writing, and another who’s encouraged my mobility career over the years. And, make no mistake, I wouldn’t be the same person – nor would my career be the same – if it wasn’t for these two people encourage me and believing in me, helping me set my expectations of myself. After all, when we know that others believe in our abilities to make a difference in the world, we can’t help but wish to live up to their expectations, fostering our personal growth in the process.

Interestingly, you’ll note that I stated that I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had two people encourage me during my life, as it is true for many with disabilities that encouraging people can be hard to find. However, while encouraging people can prove scarce, they’re entirely easy to become – all we have to do is reach out to others with our own support and encouragement, letting them know that we see their potential, that we appreciate their vying and victories, that we believe in them.

It’s my belief that, as those with disabilities, we have a responsibility to serve roles of positivity and encouragement toward our peers with disabilities, where we have insight to reach out to others, recognizing their potential, saying to them, “I’ve been where you’ve been, with my own disability, and I know that you not only have the strength and the spirit to pull through this, but the abilities to make a tremendous mark on the world.” We should simply strive to be the ones who help others find their own strength and confidence toward successful living with disability, just as others have done for us.

Now, maybe you’re saying, “Mark, I’m struggling to find my own strength and confidence, with little success toward living with my own disability – I’m in no position to encourage others.”

To the contrary, you’re in every position to encourage others. See, encouraging others is from who you are, speaking as one person to another, and it’s your sincere efforts and belief in others that makes a difference in their lives, not your track record or resume’. I mean, think about how great it feels when a complete stranger compliments you – you know nothing about the person, but his or her words make all of the difference to you. The reality is, it doesn’t take a saint to make a difference in someone’s life, just your sincere effort toward encouragement.

Surely, encouraging others with sincerity seems like a selfless act, as it should be – after all, we help people because we know that they have remarkable potential, not because we expect our own reward. However, as I’ve learned, encouraging others is remarkably reciprocal, where our encouragement of others often encourages us in return, where their inspired efforts lead us to believe more in our own potential. In one of my most valued relationships, years ago I reached out to a young lady who seemed to be struggling with disability, only to find myself forever inspired by her efforts to better her life. As a result, while she’ll kindly tell you that I encouraged her life for the better, she’s certainly encouraged my life for the better – that is, somewhere during our friendship, we forgot who’s encouraging whom, both finding encouragement from each other toward living with disability.

Of course, no matter our positive outlooks in life, we will still encounter those who engage in the complete opposite of encouragement, where rather than trying to uplift others with disabilities, they try to top their misery – If you think your life is bad, wait till you hear about mine! – turning every conversation about living with disability into a pity party. These types of life-is-terrible conversations do nothing more than pull both people down farther. In everyday terms, if we see a fire, it’s our obligation to help put it out, not pour gasoline on it – that is, let us use our words and actions to uplift others with disabilities, not foster negative disability views with woe-is-me conversations.

Amazingly, it doesn’t take an extraordinary effort to make a difference in the lives of others living with disability – often, just a few focused, kind words that encourage one’s good efforts. If you know of someone struggling with disability, jump in and let him or her know that it will get easier, that you recognize his or her potential for success in the face of adversity. If you know someone with a disability who’s striving to move his or her life forward, jump in and cheer him or her, letting him or her know that you recognize the sure-to-come achievement. And, if you know someone with a disability who may not recognize all that he or she has to offer the world, jump in and point out that you and many others believe that he or she has the capacity that it takes to go far in life.

Put simply, we can better all of our lives as those with disabilities by being among the most encouraging, supportive peers possible, where we don’t ever pass on the opportunity to simply put our hand on a friend’s shoulder, and state those four empowering words: I believe in you.

By Mark E. Smith

An acquaintance recently emailed me a “day-in-the-life-of-a-disabled-person” video. Of course, I watched the video, and what I saw was a gentlemen with a severe disability getting himself up in the morning – bathing, shaving, and dressing, then catching a bus to work. Then, in the second half of the video he went through his day at work, returned home, went for a swim, had dinner, surfed the web, and went to bed. Put simply, the video showed the gentleman living a strikingly average life, just with the physicality of profound disability mixed in.

What intrigued me about receiving the video, wasn’t the video, itself. After all, it was about as boring as watching myself get ready for the day. Rather, what intrigued me about the video was the forwarded chain of emails that accompanied it, containing countless people writing of their amazement at the gentleman’s day-in-the-life abilities.

This email chain got me thinking: How is it that some still remain so seemingly culturally ignorant toward others that they are somehow enlightened by a video of a guy with a disability doing what everyone else does? I mean I understand that some folks aren’t familiar with those of us with disabilities, but if one sees a man or woman who has a disability, isn’t it a given to assume that he or she has to bathe, eat, and work like everyone else?

The answer, as insane as it sounds, is, no – some people have no understanding that those with disabilities live lives just like everyone else, where bathing, eating, and working are givens. Surely, those with severe disabilities have to overcome more than others in daily tasks, and I argue that those with disabilities cannot live mediocre lives if we wish to succeed, where we must pursue higher levels of education, and push ourselves above and beyond the everyday standards of others if we wish to make our ways to any success in the world at large. But, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that we do mostly the same tasks as everyone else when it comes to daily living.

Last year, I wrote a piece about the television reality show, Little People, Big World, where I expressed my annoyance at the Roloff’s monologues that explain the obvious, such as that those of short stature have difficulty reaching high cabinets – and I noted that television viewers must be smart enough not to need such explanations. However, I received a host of emails stating that I was, indeed, giving the viewing public too much credit, that some folks truly are clueless when it comes to acknowledging those with disabilities and the lives that we lead. In this way, reading the comments on the forwarded email video that I recently received confirmed that notion, where some on the email clearly had no prior understanding that those with disabilities can lead independent lives.

Yet, I don’t believe that disability, in itself, has any influence toward provoking ignorance in others toward how we live. Truly, anyone who’s impressed that those with disabilities get up and go to work in the morning certainly has an overwhelming lack of cultural awareness as a whole, likely clueless toward countless cultures and backgrounds. After all, no one is going to exercise understanding and enlightenment toward people of all races, ethnicities, religions, orientations, and backgrounds, only to exclude disability. Truly, if a person is genuinely astounded that someone with a disability can get himself up for work in the morning, there’s no doubt that that person is uninformed about many others of diversity, where disability is simply one topic among many that’s escaped his or her radar screen.

However, we can’t fault such people – that is, we can’t presume that ignorance toward disability is an offensive act, or that others being impressed by our abilities is patronizing. What we should do is treat others with the same understanding the we, ourselves, seek, and give them the opportunity to learn and embrace us in their own time. Sure, some will watch such a video of the gentleman with a disability getting himself ready for work – or, even see you and me going about our days – and give no thought to the experience of others. Yet, some will watch such a video, or see you and me living life, and it will truly serve as an education, a lesson that they take to heart, an understanding that people are more the same than they are different, a realization that they will apply to many others of diversity, well beyond disability.

I heard the story once of an ancient Asian clay monument that sat in its location for centuries. The government sought to move the statue, needing to make way for a city’s expansion. With the statue being clay, they didn’t want to damage it in the move, so they called in the best cranes and operators, striving to delicately lift the monument. Unfortunately, in the process, the clay began crumbling, piece by piece. And, what was exposed underneath the clay astounded everyone: A solid gold core. The outer clay was simply a facade, where no one had ever sought to look at what was beyond it, leaving it’s true value unrecognized for centuries.

As people, we’re often quick to not only hide behind our own facades, but also to go through our lives oblivious to the tremendous depths of others around us. In this way, what I found truly remarkable about the gentleman’s day-in-the-life-of-disability video, was that he was generous enough to expose the intimacies of his life to others, and as illustrated through the forwarded email chain, others were receptive enough to learn from the video, to ultimately see past the clay, to recognize the gold within each of us.

And, that’s the answer to my question of, when will some people stop being so culturally ignorant toward those with disabilities – that is, when we, as those with disabilities, are gracious enough to forgo our facades and welcome all others into our lives, presenting them with invaluable opportunities to learn.

The White Stripes are a cutting-edge band that creates some of the most complex, loud rock-and-roll music that you’ll ever hear, filling stadiums with bigger-than-life sounds – and, it all comes from only two people, playing a guitar and a set of drums. “Because we’re so limited, we have to be creative in what we craft,” says Jack White, guitarist, lead singer, and song writer.

Disability experience can prove a lot like playing in a two-man band, trying to compete with bands of more members and instruments. At what point, though, as the White Stripes prove, do limitations breed inspiration and success, on levels where one finds a way to turn seeming restrictions into liberation, where a lone musician can rival the power of an orchestra?

In many ways, limitations encourage focus, and focus is what’s needed to achieve success – all of which often takes place within the realm of living with disability. You’ll encounter those with disabilities who have experienced tremendous hardships, yet have achieved tremendous success in many areas of life. Indeed, it’s a seeming contradiction that hardship and tragedy – facets of many disabilities – allow or foster success, just as with two musicians filling a stadium with sounds that can only come from multi-piece bands. And, yet, time and time again, limitations – disability and otherwise – provide the focus needed to achieve success.

When Richard Pryor recently died, his widow said that Pryor’s multiple sclerosis brought clarity and comfort to his life that he’d never known, where disability encouraged him to look at himself and others with a new perspective, one stemming from understanding rather than angst. And, limitations have such an affect on many, where they’re often encouraged to see what they may have previously overlooked or ignored. Limitations, in fact, narrow one’s field in a way that clarity and focus are all but demanded, where one inherently maximizes potentials. In Pryor’s case, his focus was more demanded by circumstance than idealism, where he was always running, chasing drugs, chasing women, trying to flee his demons. However, once he literally couldn’t run anymore as a result of multiple sclerosis, he had to focus on himself and those within his family – his physical limitations created emotional focus and growth. In this way, Pryor achieved greater success as a husband and father under the limitations of his disability than previously without, proving that limitations can inherently empower.

If limitations can inherently empower, then even more remarkable success is achievable through consciously knowing how limitations can foster success. In working with many wheelchair users over the years, I’ve witness countless specialty control needs, where a user must only use a single body part and movement – a finger, foot, or tongue – to control his or her powerchair, where with focus, creativity, and tenacity, expansive mobility is achieved. The same conscious effort that goes into maximizing physical abilities – working with constraints to achieve success – applies to so many aspects of life. If a stock broker, for example, applies the same creativity, tenacity, and foresight to maintaining portfolios as one does in addressing one’s disability – identifying potentials amidst limitations – he’s bound to succeed. The key to success in all aspects of life, then, is to consciously focus on the sole areas of opportunity that you have at any given moment, and work them to fullest potentials. If your disability relates to your legs, what can you achieve with your upper body and education? If stocks as a whole are tanking, where is a sector of potential growth to enhance your portfolio? If your relationship isn’t fulfilling, in what steps can you identify that will improve it? There are ingredients to life, ones that are never constant or equal – and, it’s in assessing the ingredients in your life at any point, recognizing what can be created, that breeds resiliency and success – it’s where single instruments are played to fullest potentials.

For the New Year, all of us – disabled or not – have the chance to view our limitations as opportunities, where we can fully assess the potentials that we have, thriving and empowering our roles. You may have a few less instruments in your band than others, but play them with more skill, talent, and creativity than most others – and you will fill stadiums with the sounds of your success.

Scroll EBay under the search term, “wheelchair,” and every couple of weeks you’ll see someone trying to auctioning off the back of his or her wheelchair as advertising signage, where for very little money, a marketing marvel will roll around with your business’ slogan on the backrest of his or her wheelchair. Brilliant – as brilliant as the guys who auction off their foreheads, or the women who auction off their cleavage.

Or, is it?

There’s a difference between auctioning one’s wheelchair, and auctioning one’s forehead or cleavage for advertising. If auctioning one’s forehead ties into a Howard Stern stupid stunt, and auctioning one’s cleavage ties into our culture’s adage that sex sells, where does using auctioning one’s wheelchair as advertising land as an object of entertaining value in pop-marketing?

It doesn’t. What auctioning off one’s wheelchair as signage does tie into is historical need, where those with disabilities have been portraits of charitable empathy, not empowered earners. In this way, auctioning one’s wheelchair as signage is a step backward, conjuring images of times past, eras where wheelchairs, signboards, tin cans, and street corners were acceptable means for those with disabilities to use in raising money via panhandling.

In fact, the view of auctioning off the back of one’s wheelchair as a cry for charity isn’t lost on the mainstream, as the media wrote about a recent auction, “He is looking for a sponsor for his wheelchair. Finding a sponsor would mean a great deal, as it would help him to finally be rid of SSI.”

I certainly can’t know why any one individual tries to auction off one’s wheelchair as signage – maybe it is charitable need, a stupid stunt, or good ol’ greed, all without an understanding of the harmful portrait of disability that it paints. Nevertheless, whatever the reason, I say keep the sign, but change the message and venue. I say that such wheelchair-draped signs should be printed in bold with one’s education, skills, and work history – one’s resume’ – where one pounds the pavement as a rolling endorsement of employment for oneself and others with disabilities, advertising strengths, not portraying weakness.

Then again, don’t settle for just a sign on the back of your wheelchair – make your entire life a rolling billboard of your education, employment, and empowerment, where the only backer that you need to succeed in life is yourself.

Timmy and Jimmy are at the forefront of disability thought.  You know, Jimmy and Timmy, the two disabled characters of the foul-mouthed television cartoon, South Park - truly, they’re among our community’s most profound thinkers.  As the story goes, Timmy, who uses a wheelchair, and Jimmy, who uses crutches, were upset at Christopher Reeve, whom they didn’t view as a real “crip” because he wasn’t born with disability as they were - disability, according to Timmy and Jimmy, is a culture you’re born into.

This episode hit home with me not only as among the most daring topics - as with mocking Reeve’s struggles - but also as among the most true, bringing to light the common but rarely discussed lines of dissention within the disabled community among those born with disability and those whom received disability later in life.  As one born with a disability, and active among all forms of disabilities, I have been acutely aware since a young age of how the disabled community divides itself based on the origin of disability.  The standard fallacy of those born with disabilities says that because you received your disability later in life than at birth, you haven’t lived the full disability experience, you’re not a full-fledged member of the disability club.  On the flip side, the fallacy is that those whom received disabilities later in life don’t see themselves as “one of them,” those with so-called true disability, because they’ve lived a “normal experience” to a given extent. As a result, you end up with a divided community where our brothers and sisters face each other, stating, “You’re not one of us,” or “I’m not one of you.”  

On a similar note, South Park is not the only television show of recent to bring to light division among those with disabilities based on how we view each other.  Christy Smith, a hearing-impaired competitor on TV’s Survivor, has undergone a barrage of bashing from the deaf community for not complying with a code of conduct that many of her deaf peers follow regarding using sign language at all times.  Smith, a graduate of Gallaudet University, chose to read lips and speak by voice on the show, rather than using sign language and an interpreter.  On the web and in the press, many members of the deaf community have labeled Smith as somewhat of a trader for not staying true to her deaf culture’s form of communication.  Again, we see the phenomena of segregating each other within the disabled community based on status policies that we create.

Beyond the interpersonal, organizations within the disabled community set up similar fractions, striving to support one particular classification of disabilities over others.  If you use a wheelchair due to paralysis, one group will assist in your ADA complaint. However, if you use a wheelchair due to any other disability, you’re not eligible to use their services - you need to go through a cerebral palsy, or muscular dystrophy, or multiple sclerosis, or other disability-specific organization to get assistance. And, let’s not overlook wheelchair sports like quad rugby or events like United Cerebral Palsy sports that have both implied and formal rules stating that you cannot participate unless you have that particular medical designation.  You may have all four extremities affected by disability or have a disorder of the central nervous system, but unless you’re a card-carrying medical member of this or that “disability” group, you’re not allowed in the door.

If all this sound absurd - that is, differentiating others based on origin or type of disability - it is.  In my mind, segregating others based on differing disabilities is as absurd as Timmy and Jimmy labeling Reeve as not really disabled, or members within the deaf community calling Christy Smith a trader for using her communication abilities as she wishes.  No matter our disabilities, or how we handle them, for the most part society doesn’t distinguish among us - lack of access, employment discrimination and similar “mainstreaming” issues impact all of us.  Why, then, do we discriminate against each other, why do we divide amongst ourselves when we face common struggles?  

There are many possible answers to such a complex question.  From the interpersonal, maybe it’s hard to witness your own struggles in another person?  From the organizational, maybe resources are so scarce that groups feel a need to protect their own?  And, from the societal, maybe we struggle to maintain our culture while still striving to be part of the mainstream?  Indeed, in the grand perspective, all of these aspects play a role in division within the disabled community.  However, ultimately, individual action supercedes all, and we have an obligation to support others with similar situations to our own, uniting and creating a better life for everyone.