When Opportunity Knocks, What Will You Say?
Did you know that the most recent unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 62%? Imagine the uproar if that were true of the general population?
People with disabilities constitute the nation’s largest minority group, making up an estimated 20 percent of the total population. This is the only group anyone, you included, can become a member at any time.
I am NOT here to speak on the negative aspects of disability. Instead, I am here to speak on not just LIVING but SUCCEEDING with a disability and how it has made my life one only a few people can dream of.
Having a disability has presented a lifetime of possibilities. It was up to me to take advantage of these opportunities. My philosophy is simple: “All I want out of life is opportunity!”
Today I am challenging you to take the word, “NO” out of your vocabulary when asked to do something new and different. My amputation was congenital so I have been wearing and walking with a prosthesis since I was ten months old. I thought every kid got a new leg each year. I was disabled and didn’t even realize it, which was a tribute to my parents.
In 1975 while in high school, playing volleyball, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Hospitalizations and missed practices forced me to look for alternative sports.
A good friend and golf professional offered to teach me the game. I played on the high school golf team that year but my education took precedence as I went on to attend college.
Over 33 years ago I met my husband while learning to ski in the Poconos. He was visiting from London, hoping to find new fundraising ideas for the British Disabled Ski Team. NO! There was NO heart-shaped tub filled with champagne!
I learned to ski in my twenties and skied throughout the world for years. Turning 40, deciding that I had the experience necessary to ski for both the British Disabled Ski Team and the Winter Park Disabled Ski Team, I set out to prove that I could ski competitively.
I have won prizes, medals and more but the greatest accolade was the confidence I gained which allowed me to meet great people while having fun.
I never saw my disability as an disadvantage but rather as a door to opportunities.
It was in the beautiful warm waters of Bermuda where I learned to scuba dive and then the cold, cold, murky rock quarries of Southern Indiana. After moving to London I heard of a program teaching scuba diving to people with disabilities called The Scuba Trust. They taught people with disabilities from thalidomide to quadriplegia to “simple” amputations. I joined their program immediately, as an instructor. I was able to dive throughout the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and the luscious warm waters of Fiji where I spent a month diving with sharks and the most beautiful sea life ever. Can you imagine being on another boat, ready to dive into shark infested waters and seeing someone, like me come up with ONE LEG?
In 2000 my husband and I moved to the US. I learned to sail in the warm waters of Sarasota Bay and was quite the sight. When sailing in a small boat, it is almost essential to have two legs to keep your body balanced inside the boat. My Sunfish was named “Wet One” with the name upside down… since that was how the boat appeared most of the time! I became well known for speed… not the speed of crossing the finish line… but for the speed I could upright my boat and return inside.
It was in Sarasota Bay (quite literally IN Sarasota Bay) that I set a goal to sail with the US Paralympic Team in St Petersburg, FL. Although I accomplished that goal I was in a car accident where I sustained serious neck injuries and I could no longer compete. One door closes and another opens.
I learned to fly a sailplane with a group called Freedoms Wings. The teacher had quadriplegia and the plane was fitted for people needing special assistance to fly. There were no foot controls so the plane was flown strictly with fingers. We sailed all around the beautiful, blue skies of Central Florida. While visiting Hawaii we decided that we wanted to fly over the island in a small sailplane. When we all tried to get into the plane we just didn’t “fit.” What do you do when there just isn’t enough room in the plane? You take your leg off and leave it on the runway!!!
After facing the dangers of skiing, scuba diving, sailing and flying, I returned to golf… trying to keep at least one foot on the ground.
I began working with an Adaptive Golf Program in Sarasota, FL. Becoming reintroduced to golf has led me to become a columnist, writing on Adaptive Golf for Southern Golf Central Magazine.
Despite the many physical challenges I have seen the opportunities. I have owned two manufacturing companies, the last a structural steel fabrication business where I was named Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year for Manufacturing.
For that I became humorously known as The Woman of Steel – as well as for the fact that I have a body rebuilt of almost 30% replacement parts! I have a left leg prosthesis from above the knee, an insulin pump, a blood glucose monitor, two titanium plates fused into my cervical spine and a spinal cord stimulator for pain….that’s an estimate of course. All of these things keep me going. There is NO stopping me while I await other doors to open in my future.
I am not a rarity in the disability community. There are many more just like me ready to go and take life head-on. Some are from the armed services. Others became disabled through car accidents or medical mishaps. They don’t seek sympathy. They are ready for life’s next exciting adventure… Are you? Get out there and MAKE life happen! It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it. The key is to take advantage of every opportunity out there. When opportunity knocks how will you answer?