There is Only One Type of Disability: Quitting (Part II)

· Set Goals – Disabilities may force you to adjust goals, but that is okay. Treat disabilities as a challenge to overcome.

· Empathy - Don’t feel sorry for yourself and realize as bad as things may be, they can always be worse and there are people who are suffering more than you.

· Acceptance – The sooner you accept your disability the sooner you can move on to achieve. In many instances, family and self-denial only exasperate disabilities.

· Opportunity – Disabilities are an opportunity to be inspirational, motivational, and to educate the public on your disability.

· Complaining – Never complain about your disability unless you offer reasonable solutions and ideas to help solve the problem. When you talk about your disability do so in a positive manner without emotions.

· Exploitation – Many people exploit their disabilities and tell sob stories about them and become a burden on society. People should never exploit their disability nor should they exploit their race, gender, financial standing, or sexual orientation in any manner.

· Failure – Never be afraid of failure, you cannot succeed if failure is not an option.

· Improvement – Improve each day and become a better person. There is truth to the motto “no pain – no gain”.

· True Disabilities – A disability is not self-inflicted nor is it gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or financially related. As a country we tend to classify minorities, the poor, women, and gays as being disabled, but this is further from the truth. I am not saying these groups of people do not face tough challenges, but living in the United States is the best place to achieve equality.

· Lead – Lead by example and do not be a follower, be the exception not the norm.

· Health – Advocate for your own health and do not rely solely on doctors – I am convinced most are quacks. Exercise daily, it will make you feel better. Yes, even people with chronic pain can find relief from exercise.

· Never Ever Quit

Nothing pains me more to see the fastest growing employment sector in our economy is being disabled. There are 9 million people collecting social security disability and millions more collect these benefits including family members of disabled workers plus disabled spouses and children. I find it hard to believe that 6% (1 in 16 people) of our workforce is disabled and cannot work. I think people are exploiting the system, especially people with self-inflicted disabilities which can be corrected. And to make matters worse, as a country we treat people who impoverished, women, gays, and ethnical minorities as disabled. A healthy person is not disabled. A disability does not discriminate and is not necessarily visual to the naked eye. Disabilities are a uniting issue and problem; they are not a political issue whereas race, gender, financial standing, and sexual orientation are polarizing and divisive political topics.

At some point I hope to add a few posts about achieving some of my goals despite my physical limitations.