I met up with an old friend that has a similar disability to mine.  She uses augmentative communication with her eyes and I was chatting now her last night.  She’s graduated high school and looking for work.  I, myself, was impressed.  From what I gather, she’ll be working at a camp.  I am very proud of her.  She’s got more disabilities than I do and she’s job hunting.

More people should be willing to take risks in the job market.  I’m sure that if more people with disabilities did, the economy would prosper.  Don’t let your issues prevent you from getting a job.  I didn’t let my disability stop me from volunteering and going to college so why should you?  Getting a job might help you defeat depression and boredom.  I feel that discrimination against people with disabilities has lessened as the years passed.  Make it your New Year’s resolution and make a living for yourself.

So today Grandma and I went to lunch with my old bus attendant.  It was so delightful to see her.  I haven’t seen her in months.  We went to a local café, but place that I absolutely love.  We caught up on school, the holidays and more.  She has a daughter that has a learning disability.  She was always afraid to go back to school because she’s not a good test-taker.  A friend of theirs offered to take a nursing class with her.  The daughter took the class, passed and is going for her LPN.

She went on talking about the holidays.  She had a good Christmas.  We then went to Walmart and looked around.  It was nice to see her.  I’ve known her since third grade and we still keep in touch.  I find it nice to have somebody to take me out.  More people should do that.  Not enough people get people with disabilities out and about.  If more people got us out, we could socialize better.  And people with learning disabilities shouldn’t feel discouraged about their futures.  They might have to work a little harder, but they too can be successful.  They just have to work a little harder.  I have a physical disability and I got through a rough semester with minimal assistance.  If I can do it, other people can do it too.

I’m giving social media another after being off it for many years.  I’m a little wary about it because I had a really bad experience with Facebook a few years ago.  What happened was I was adding some people that I shouldn’t have and I got caught.  My grandparents suspended me from Facebook for two weeks.  I went back on after two weeks and I just deactivated it when I went back on.  I wasn’t happy with my friend list and decided to discipline myself further.

I advise everyone to watch who you’re adding on social media.  Add only family and close friends.  If your kids are on it, please check their friends, statuses, pictures and comments.  Nobody should have total freedom online.  So it’s like swimming.  Use the buddy system and use the privacy settings as life jackets.

Have fun and stay safe.

Alright, this year was a really tough one for you.  Maybe you got hurt and  can’t walk anymore or maybe you were turned down for a new augmentative communication device because yours wasn’t five-years-old.  Maybe you went through a tragic death or you’re going through a terrible divorce.  The possibilities keep going on and on and you’re groping for some relief.

Well, the New Year is the right time to start over.  You can abolish the bad situation and start over.  No tragedy just disappears right away, but there is a lot of social support you can receive.  I was paranoid going to bed when my grandfather passed away.  I was afraid of experiencing the paranormal and break-ins.  But I learned that break-ins are very rare in my area.  I also learned that the paranormal can’t hurt you.  I have been visited by my grandfather only to find out that he was ok.  So I don’t want you guys fretting about a negative change.  I want you, my friends, to start the New Year on a positive note.

Let’s explore a few techniques that I have been using.  Do a positive thought of a day for one hundred days.  That will alleviate some misery.  Another thing that I do in my spare time is keeping a diary.  I freewrite and use all kinds of prompts like music and visuals.  If something is bothering me, I write it down.  I discuss problems with friends and family.  One technique that I learned yesterday to help me with my anger management is to put them in a closet and lock it or something like that or one image that I created is to throw the anger in the fire and close the door.  I used it today and it worked like a charm.  There is a lot of help out there.  You just need to reach for it.

Despite having a really devastating year, we had a good Christmas.  Christmas Eve, my father had a Christmas party at his house.  It was the first one that he had.  It was nice.  Family and friends piled on in.  One of my friends came and we caught up, talking about school and Christmas plans.  My cousins had a blast.  It was a nice way to bring on Christmas cheer.

Then yesterday, we had a nice Christmas Day.  We had a pajama party at my aunt’s house.    We were all nice and snuggly warm.  I got a lot of nice presents and so did my family.  I got my grandmother three sweaters and a pair of pajamas.  Now I opened a gift from my father and his girlfriend and I got the same exact pair of pajamas that I gave Grandma.  I laughed my head off.  I loved everything I got.  I feel that as I get older, it’s getting harder for me to tell people what I want.  And I was discussing that with my friend at the party.  I asked for very little this year but I got some nice gifts.

I hope everybody had a nice Christmas.  I hope everybody got what they wanted.  And I hope everybody has a healthy and Happy New Year.

I thought I would put a Christmas carol on here to say Merry Christmas.

I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas.  I thought today that I would blog about what our family is doing for Christmas.  Christmas Eve, my father is having a party at his house.  It’s his first Christmas Eve party and I think it’ll be fun.  One of my friends is coming so that’ll be fun.  And then, Christmas Day we are having a pajama party at my aunt’s house.  I’m wearing reindeer onesies.  That should be fun.  And then, my favorite part of Christmas is watching relatives open their Christmas presents.  I hope my gifts to my family will bring some cheer after a melancholy seven months.

Message for today:  Do something fun for the holidays because it’ll bring on some Christmas cheers.  Don’t make somebody feel left out.  Who knows, maybe they’ve had a tough year and feel depressed.  Cheer them up, invite them to a Christmas Party or New Year’s Eve party.  Get together for tea and a book club or something.  Watch a movie together.  Don’t let them just sit home by themselves.  We invited my uncle to Christmas Eve and Day because we are his only family in the area, his kids are out of state.  So we invited him to join our Christmas festivities and I hope that he comes.  So please enjoy the Christmas season regardless of your situation.

I would like to give you some advice for throughout the winter season, but it especially pertains to the Christmas season.  The first piece of advice is a lot of people have Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties and they invite family and friends.  That’s fine, but when I was younger, I was always left of friends’ parties by friends.  And I didn’t like to be left out of social gatherings.  I still don’t like being left out of social gatherings and I’m sure many other people with disabilities don’t like it either.  So please incorporate people who can’t get out or even the elderly to your parties.

The second piece of advice is as it gets colder and starts to snow, please check on the elderly and anybody with mobility issues, speech or hearing impairment or any other kind of disability.  Maybe they can’t drive and need something from the store, help them get the items they need from the store.  Maybe they don’t have anybody to spend Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with.  Invite them for dinner.  Just reach out to those people who have nobody and nowhere to go.

Thank you

I realize that my blog is to help people with disabilities, but I heard part of a sermon this morning that I would like to share.  When I was younger, I thought people had free will.  I thought that no higher power set up our lives for us.  We made our decisions ourselves and that was that.  But as I got older, that philosophy changed.  Let me put it in terms that relates to you.

I don’t want to infringe this on anybody so disagree if you want.  Let’s say I have a friend, born with no disability.  He’s a construction worker working on a building in the city.  He is working on a window.  The guy falls and gets a spinal cord injury.  He becomes quadriplegic.  A year goes by and he gets a job as disability advocate.  Did he nonchalantly get hurt or was something inevitably coming his way?

I’m experiencing the same thing right now.  Is psychology my ultimate area of expertise or was I meant to do something else?  This is the biggest question on my mind right now. Am I meant to be in the field of psychology?  I’m pretty sure I am, but I just want to explore other options just in case it doesn’t work out.

I had a really fun horseback riding lesson today.  I had about fifteen minutes of instruction and then the instructor let me do my own thing.  So I took a few laps, did the obstacle course and then I decided to trot again.  I wish I could trot independently, but I loved that freedom.  It was a wonderful feeling to really feel in control of my ride.  I hope to get better at riding independently and maybe start going to shows.

Dreams can be reached, but they need to be taken inch by inch.  That’s exactly the way that I am taught at riding.  You learn how to steer the horse before you trot.  Everything goes in steps.  That is how life is.  Take one step at a time and you’ll be fine.