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Visibility, Disability, Acceptance: Rejecting the labels
I almost didn’t make a post today, because my topic is too close to my blog subject of disability. I didn’t quite know what to say or how to make a post on this topic. As an author and blogger who works to bring awareness to disability, it’s often hard for me to find the words to express my experience. You can read more about who I am and why this particular blog is so important to me on my About Me page. Visibility matters. Disability is a part of me. It’s a part of what led me to take a chance on becoming an author. I’ve blogged in the…
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Remembrance and Honor
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FaithFest 2025 still has room to improve, but offers hope in the midst of struggle.
If you know me, you know that my other great love, besides Jesus and writing, is music. This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Wilkesboro, North Carolina for a Christian Music festival called FaithFest. If you have no idea what that is, allow me to explain. FaithFest is a two day music festival held in western North Carolina. Based in Wilkesboro, FaithFest’s open air venue is unmissable — you’ll know it when you arrive, because there is a giant white cross erected on the grounds. FaithFest is a great experience for Christian music lovers, and it does have some things I’ve never seen before I began attending. One…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Thriving because of technology
Your life without a computer: what does it look like? Note: This was a WordPress daily prompt last week, but it was one that I thought my readers would be intrigued by, so I’m posting it a bit late. As a writer with a disability, I’d have to say my life without a computer would look bleak. Without computers, I wouldn’t have this blog. I also likely wouldn’t be a writer. Because of the nature of my disability, it is extremely difficult (though it has gotten slightly better after years of therapy and practice) to write by hand. My hands hurt even as I type, so I’d hate to think…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Pressure and Duty
Lately I’ve been under a lot of pressure from my family as I try to put things together for my author business. It’s the beginning of October, and here in N.C. that means colder weather, fall and deadlines quickly approaching. It also means dealing with a lot of pressure and pain–colder weather affects my joints and makes it harder for me to move. I’ve also decided to start taking cranberry as a supplement to deal with intestinal issues I’ve been having that distract me from writing. I’m learning now that these things are common in people with Cerebral Palsy. According to an informational website about the disability, 32% of individuals…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Remembrance and Honor
The image above pictures a woman laying at the grave of a fallen soldier. The text below the image reads: Memorial Day – In case you thought it was national barbeque day. For those of us in the United States, today is the unofficial beginning of summer, but it’s also a much more important holiday. Today is the day that we honor those who gave their lives in the service of protecting our country. As a person with a disability, I have a particular respect for those who serve. When I turned eighteen, I got countless calls from the Marines and Navy wanting me to enlist. {Of course, they were…
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True Thanksgiving: Gratitude in Spite of Challenge
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Perils of Disability: Fixed incomes and attending concerts
Isn’t it interesting how sometimes, an idea for a new blog post just drops into your lap? At the time that I began working on this week’s blog, I was in the process of preparing to attend a concert in a nearby city with some friends. To someone who is able-bodied, this seems like nothing. It’s easy to forget that what may be simple for you can actually be difficult for someone who struggles with their level of physical ability. Anyone who knows me personally will tell you that the only thing I enjoy more than writing is music. I’ve been singing since I was a young child. My mother…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Questions
Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to thank the people who have liked my blog posts so far. This one’s going to be a relatively short post since I just did a longer blog on Nostalgia, but I realize there may be some people who read my blog and have further questions about me or about my disability. So, with that in mind: I plan to make another page on this blog very soon that will link you all to my social media platforms. I am currently on Facebook and Twitter, but also looking into Post as a Twitter alternative, since I don’t really care for how…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Nostalgia: Who I used to be vs. Who I am
What makes you feel nostalgic? So, today’s writing prompt actually proves useful. As someone who struggles with disability, I long for days when I could go back to where I used to be vs. where I am now with my diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. By all accounts, I should be able to walk– I actually did walk with the assistance of a walker when I was younger. When I see someone running to get somewhere, I immediately wish I could still walk or run. Even in my walker, at least I had that freedom. It’s not common for a person with Cerebral Palsy as mild as mine to lose their…
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True Thanksgiving: Gratitude in Spite of Challenge
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So, what is Cerebral Palsy, anyway?
It was always pretty easy for me to tell that I was a different kid growing up. Start with the fact that I attended kindergarten in a specialized school and that most of my classmates had special needs [though I was entirely too young to understand what that meant at the time], and you have the beginning of what sounds like a pretty boring autobiography. My “special needs” condition is Cerebral Palsy. Called CP for short, Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella term for a group of movement disorders that stem from a lack of oxygen to the brain at birth. Most people affected were also born prematurely. I have been…
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Remembrance and Honor
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Who I am
“You can’t edit a blank page.” This is a phrase I hear so often during November when I participate in National Novel Writing Month, that it makes writing this opening page a little less daunting. After all, if there are words here, it’s easier to go back and change what doesn’t work. So, a little bit about me: I live with a condition called Cerebral Palsy, a group of movement disorders that affect my handwriting and my ability to walk. I first fell in love with the concept of writing at age 3 when my disability forced me to begin using adaptive technology and find an escape in words. I…
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Remembrance and Honor
