international day of persons with disability

[furrychristian]

Here's a site if you want to know more: https://idpwd.org/
 

I figured I'd make this thread for disabled people and those who love someone with a disability to talk about their challenges and life. If you want to.

Though I have mental illness, I don't consider myself disabled as I'm still able to work and do things I need to do. I had a stepdad who was, though. In 2001, we were on a family vacation and he began having a hard time walking. One night he couldn't get out of the van, and we had to call an ambulance. A disease had settled in his spine, and he became paralyzed from the waist down. He was also bedridden, which, turns out you need to be able to move around because your body isn't designed to lay in one place all the time. So being bedridden led to other complications and the development of other chronic illnesses. My stepdad spent, I think, the first two or so years of being disabled in the hospital up north near where we had been vacationing, and was eventually flown back down to where we live to stay at the local hospital.

We eventually made room for him at home, set him up a space with a hospital bed and a computer so he could play video games to pass the time. He was still in and out of the hospital on an at least yearly basis, if not every few months.

We had just over 10 years with my stepdad before he finally ended up in the ICU with many many complications and we made the decision to pull life support because living on a breathing machine is no life to have and he didn't want that either.

Disability can happen to anyone at any age. The years we did have with my stepdad were good ones, and he had the chance to be a parent. My stepdad was very smart and practical and I learned so very much from him. I was 19 when he passed.

[Henry_iain]

This is a wonderful thread to start and I certainly intend to add some things here later. Going to bed now but I will be back. 

[Henry_iain]

First I will tell you a bit about my story.

I was born with a condition known as hypotonic cerebral palsy. I must immediately add that I am high functioning. And through the help of physiotherapists and other intervention I am only have very slight issues. Nevertheless, I have low muscle tone.

I have slight impairment with fine-motor and gross-motor activities. This results in an inability to drive a car, increased risk of falling on stairs and limited writing speed ( I type much faster than I write and my although my handwriting is now readable, I find typing much easier. I have been typing since I was around 8 years old, although back then it was on a typewriter. This btw is also why I struggled with spelling for a long time. Reading large blocks  of text can be taxing to me but I was fortunate to grow up in a bookish family so that helped me to eventually handle that more effectively. 

I have slower reaction time (another reason why I can't drive).  Any activities that require a quick response are hard for me although it has been improved dramatically. Now and then my reflexed function well, but I can't rely on them. 

My limbs are pretty strong in general but because I lack stability in my core muscles and also in my legs, I struggle with getting up and sitting down sometimes. Especially when I have to do so quickly. I actually should never sit for too long. 

I have low stamina, I struggle with balance and my hand-eye coordination is not very good. And I find it hard to handle too many tasks at the same time. 

So when I was 8, I was moved from a normal school to a school for special needs children. It was not a very positive experience for me for various reasons, but it did help me to be able to function as well as I do today. I left that school and attended a normal school from grade 4 onwards. I always chose small schools and I got extra time in exams and was allowed to type. What I have found is that, as a boy, I was expected to compete in sports (our nation is crazy about sport) and because I couldn't I was looked down upon and people thought I was a nerd. I was never bullied explicitly and I always had great favour with the teachers, but I was left out of things and people often patronised me. Because I look normal, people often thought I was faking it and spoke harshly to me because they thought I was just being lazy. Kid can be cruel. And bullies do not need to use fists to get to you. 

But I eventually dealt with that. I studied social work because I wanted to help people. Currently this affects me most strongly because I can't drive and this makes job opportunities in social work virtually impossible. I am also more inclined to gain weight because exercise is very taxing and I can only do it in short bursts and when I do gain weight it looks worse because my stomach muscles are already floppy. 

I thank God for the way that he made me. For my compassion for people and my desire to reach out to the broken hearted and lonely is partly a result of what I have lived through myself. 

 

[Henry_iain]

Now, like I said, I went to a special needs school. And because of this I have often been in close contact with people with disabilities. One such person who I remember was a man named Leon Botha. Most of you might not have heard of him, but he was quite famous. He had a condition called progeria. In basic terms, this condition makes people age much faster than normal. They do not live very long. My friend is famous for being one of the oldest survivors. He died at age 26. When I was in school with him, he was my best friend. Being friends with him was a strange experience because he lived life twice as fast as anyone else. He was very mature and his life as fully as he could because he h knew he didn't have that long. Unfortunately I am not sure if he ever became a Christian but he was a huge inspiration to me because his attitude to life and his inner strength took him very far. I often wish I understood better at the time that I knew it just what it meant to him to be the way he was. He was an artist and his work can be seen with a google search.

Long after this I did an outreach programme for kids with a man called Fanie Van der Merwe. He is a Paralympic athlete. He has cerebral palsy. And of course he has very similar issues as I have. He now coaches children with disability. He overcame great odds and worked very hard to get gold meddles in the Paralympics. He is one of the humblest people I have ever met. He is always talking about God and never fails to give God the glory for his successes. 

Further abroad, the human I most admire is Nick Vujicic (it happens to be his birthday today  ). This man who had bigger challenges than I have has accomplished so much in his life. He makes all my excuses look lame He is just over 2 years older, yet he has done so much more than me. In fact he has used his disability to great affect which would never have been the case had he not been the way he is. 

There are more people I could mention.  But the point is that I hope people are inspired. I think it is so important for people to be made aware of people  who have disabilities and the challenges they face. While people should never be treated as if they are unable, we should always keep in mind how something might affect someone else. Try to think how you would want to be treated if that was you and then act on that. 

 I think there is a deep connection between mental health and disability. And I think that when you add factors such as poverty and lack of access into the mix, I think we still need to realise that the need is very big. 

Just some thought I would like to share.

[NotAllThere]

I have no disabilities, and am pretty fit. But I like this thread and look forward to reading more contributions. 

Thank you. 

[missmuffet]

My heart and my prayers go out to all those with special needs. 

[Henry_iain]

Bump.