Leadership is a great skill to develop throughout life. We all have the ability to be leaders, but, some of us take the more convenient route, follow friends around, do what they do, and never give ourselves the opportunity to be our own person.
Having a disability forces me and others with disabilities to find the leadership skills that we possess because we have to guide ourselves and the people around us through some of the difficulties that we face.
As a person with a disability, I have found that my mood, attitude, and perspective about life spreads out and impacts the people around me. The people in my life just want to see that I am happy and don’t want anything to get in my way.
Because of that, I can’t get frustrated and look at the things that are working against me and have to look at the bright side.
Even though there are people who have been with me for my whole life, there isn’t another person who knows my life as well as I do. Like anything else, you can think you know everything about my situation, but, until you actually live it, you don’t.
When people think that they know about my situation, they think that I should be going about life differently. But I have to lead myself and do what I know is going to be the most beneficial to me.
Although it would be a lot easier, I can’t just follow the other kids in my grade and have to lead myself because not everyone will accept me. What I have to do is follow my own lead while putting myself out there and letting everyone know that I am just like anybody else.
Leading myself or the people close to me also requires me to be persistent and confident, two traits that every leader must have.
I have found that those two traits are usually stuck together and tend to be contagious. If I don’t believe in myself and that I can do something, then it will be hard for me to keep fighting and trying to accomplish the goal and difficult for anybody else to believe in me.
Life with a disability has evolved and has made me and many other people learn to be people who lead a group instead of following somebody else’s lead.
…and you ALWAYS project a can-do, happy attitude! Others (with or without a disability) should emulate…well-written, Joe!