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INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
Good Morning,
Some of you may know me as BaddTeddy, other may not know me at
all, but I hope by the end of this letter you will understand
that I, and my friends in the
Knights Of Kindness, take a different
approach to life. We believe that you can change the world,
one smiling face at a time.
Today, our goal,
is to help provide you with information to change your life.
It begins
with talking straight, no bull, about the problems and fears that
you may have and then offers advice on how to deal with them.
For instance, three of the greatest fears/problems you may have
encountered are "how you see yourself, how you feel that
others see you and of course - how are you going to survive financially."
This letter is to help you with all of these and much more.
We have packed hundreds of pages of information into this one
little letter by creating
hyperlinks (the little blue words)
that you can click on to find additional information on that subject.
We have created a
library of informationto help you improve your life,
some of it is general
information on just about everything and the rest is
specific information
designed to assist the disabled, it's up to you to
decide whether to use the information or not.
Let's begin
with how you might see yourself and how others see you.
Some people of course are born with a disability and for others
it comes with age, disease or as the result of an injury.
How and when you become disabled may affect your outlook on life.
If you were born with a disability then chances are you have already
learned to accept it, and deal with life. If however you became
disabled more recently, you may feel like you have run into a
brick wall. A wheel chair can feel like a prison.
You suddenly feel limited and unable to do the things you used
to do. Perhaps the most accurate description for some might
be "I have lost my sense of purpose in life" because
I don't have the ability to do the things I used to do."
Others people with a physical limitation may feel quite the opposite,
"Nothing can stop me, I don't have a handicap, get out of
my way, I have work to do". I applaud people who take
that view, you are just like the rest of us, with one exception,
you were/are probably a stronger person, before and after the
physical inconvenience crept into your life than most of us so-called
healthy people. More power to you, and I hope that you will
understand that I am trying to reach out to those of who don't
have your inner strength, and that I don't see you as disabled
at all, that instead I am trying to help others learn to be more
like you.
For those people
who feel they are alone, that they have lost their purpose in
life I would like to suggest a couple of things to you.
The first is that while you may have lost the ability to do some
things in your life, there are many opportunities open to you
that you may not have considered. For instance, our organization,
the Knights
of Kindness, is working together to change the world.
Over one third of our members are in wheel chairs, bedridden,
have some sort of physical limitation, and yet some of them are
among the most effective members of our organization. So,
whether it is here or somewhere else you can find a purpose in
your life in helping others. Maybe on the net, maybe off,
but there are millions of ways you can help yourself by learning
how to help others.
A good example
of how someone became handicapped, faced a lifetime in a prison
on wheels, went thru all the normal stages of depression, and
then found a new purpose in life is our story,
"The Chair".
This story, while fictional, is a composite created from the lives
of real people. While the character is fictional, I can
name more than a hundred people with disabilities who have found
so much courage in the face of adversity, that I and others consider
them heroes.
In fact, how
I see people has changed. As a child, I was curious when
I saw someone on crutches. When I was a little older, I
was perhaps a little unreasonably afraid (Maybe it's contagious).
A little older still and I saw disabled people as different.
In adulthood I began to see them as equals, just people.
However, since coming onto the Internet, I have found many of
them to be better, more effective and stronger people than I am.
I can't see the person (with very rare exceptions), but I can
see their thoughts (letters), I can see their work (our website
is full of it) and I have come to realize that since many of them
have decided that their new purpose in life is to use the internet
to help others and that many are homebound that they have a lot
more time to help others than I do. For the last year I
have to honestly say that when I see someone in a wheel chair
for the first time, I don't think, "Hey, there's someone
with a handicap", instead I think, "Hmmm... I
wonder if they use the Internet and if they would be interested
in helping on some of our current projects".
How you see
yourself is an emotional decision. You can see weakness
or you can see strength. How others see you is partly based
on their upbringing and their life experiences, but to those who
know you, the way they see you will become more and more about
how you handle life and less and less about crutches or a chair.
If you act afraid, angry and unhappy that is how people will see
you and they will treat you based on "your" behavior.
On the other hand, if you do the impossible, if you take life
by the horns, if you find the inner strength to fight for what
you believe in, then I and others will see you as nothing less
than heroes.
How you see yourself
is a decision. How your friends and family is also a decision.
The first couple of weeks or months it's their decision.
But how they see you in the long run, well, that's your decision.
Actions speak louder than words. Feel sorry for yourself,
and others will feel sorry for you too. If you fight for
what you believe in, that is what people will see.
Franklin D.
Roosevelt was in a wheel chair, and he is also the only man to
ever be elected president of the United States four times.
His leadership abilities and courage helped win the biggest war
in world history.
Enough said!
Let's move on
to your financial and emotional concerns in other parts of your
life. Just like the rest of us you may have
emotional issues
such as depression,
anger
and anxiety,
stress and panic. You can get help, and you can
learn to help yourself. It's a choice you have to make, all we
can do is provide information. Perhaps you have had problems
with over using cigarettes,
food,
alcohol
or drugs/pain
killers and need advice on
addiction recovery programs
and organizations
that deal with helping those who want to recover.
We all face having to make changes in our life, hopefully if you
need it this information will help.
But what about
one of your greatest concerns. Money. How will you
survive financially? Some of you may have already found
the answer to that and we congratulate you. For those of
you who haven't, we do offer information to help.
For instance
our website offers information on
public assistance programs, where
to get food,
educational
assistance, housing
and more.
There is advice for people with
medical
or disability
programs that might be specially designed for them.
We offer information on Social
Securityand much more. This is just the tip of
the iceberg.
There are thousands
of organizations out there that can help. Everything from
disability
organizations, disability
programs, advise on how to fight denied social security
claims and more.
Maybe you want to find out about existing
and proposed laws regarding disabilities. You can even contact
your governors
and Senators
and other government
offices directly from
our site and ask them to help change/enforce laws regarding disability.
Speaking of laws, if you would like information on anything from
finding a lawyer,
contacting your state's Attorney
General (the highest law official in any state), or
other law enforcement
agencies their all listed here, or you can simply type in your
city, state and the agency you want to reach on this
online yellow pages link.
My point to you in all of this
is, that if you want to change your life, you can, If you
want to learn how to save
money, you can. If you want to find low
cost medical care and
free and low cost prescription
drugs,
you can. If you need to travel there are ways to find low
cost fares and hotels. If you want to go back
to school there are all kinds of programs for the disabled, just
contact the colleges
and universities in your area for details.
There are so many ways to change your life. But it all starts
with you.
I hope that in some way we
have helped you to change your life. You can do it, if you
find "Courage in the Face of Adversity"
Great Bigg Teddy Huggs....
BaddTeddy
and the Knights Of Kindness |
