Category Archives: Inspiration

Every Day We Need to give Thanks and Give Back

I have been through the worst, I’ve been through the pains, I’ve even been through many heart aches in my life with people in general. People have failed me, people have been disappointing me, but most importantly I need to remember what I do in my life and what I have in my life of the people who support me. Sometimes I feel my voice, my intelligence, and my way of being are not acknowledged and listened to. Or, is that what it may seem like to me sometimes? I know there are many people who support me in my network including my family.

Thanksgiving is a day that was started that turned around over many years. It first started as a racist holiday against indigenous people. I suppose now people are trying to save Thanksgiving because they are turning it into a day to be grateful for everything we have and will have or had already. However, Thanksgiving should not be a day just to be grateful because we should always be grateful. Thanksgiving instead should be a day for everyone as a community in the world to come together to rejoice, rejuvenate, laugh, smile, and cry together. Sometimes it can be hard to, but we need to try to be around people to show who we are.

It’s a day that the whole community enjoys each other’s company and becomes fulfilled with life. It’s a day we should cherish regardless of it’s racist roots in history because we need to imagine ourselves always being the loving person most of our families tried to push us to become including mine. Love is something we all need. We all love, we all may need kisses, we all may need hugs, and we all need someone to connect to, to be a human being striving for our success.

Traditionally on Thanksgiving, people make huge feasts of food which includes grilling, baking, or frying turkeys. For every food we have, for every drink we drink, for every food and drink leftover, let’s think about the people who don’t have food during this holiday season. What happened to these people? Are they forgotten? Are they lost? Are they gone? The people I am talking about are still human who are not forgotten, not lost, and not gone, they are just here because for whatever reason no one understood them.

Love your family no matter what. Love the incredible things you get from the people around you. Yes, sometimes people in your family may disagree with us even when both sides of the argument think they are right. No matter what there is no right answer to an argument. People differ on issues because of everyone’s life experiences, philosophies, and observations of the world. The problem is that when someone is Disabled, many Non-Disabled people just don’t understand the life of a person who is Disabled. They only guess about what difficulties the disability community feels, and there could be back and forth calling names to each other, but this does not solve solve anything except a bigger battle. We need to accept that everyone has different viewpoints and every one has different things they have to say. No one needs to be silenced while they listen to one side of a story, instead everyone needs to understand the whole side of every story.

There is a lot of unrest in the world right now because of racism, because of ableism, because of ageism, because of sexism, because of heterosexism, because of classism, because of so many other ways of discrimination in the world. Yet, we need to forget about our egos, forget about who does what to who, and just remember that we are a community. A community who loves, a community of amazing individuals in the Human race, who cherishes everything we can ever do in the world. Sometimes it can be hard to drop our guards of anger and drop our fears we may have, but it is a necessary part of being human to be able to let it go to be free and happy.

I hope you love, I hope you are smiling, I hope if you are crying you have someone to hold onto, and if you are angry you can let it go to feel joy. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s messy, and sometimes we feel we cannot let go, however regardless of what we think we can’t do, we can always make our own choices. If we choose love, we don’t fear. If we choose fear, we become hateful. Most importantly, if we choose fear and anger, then we need to take a deep breath in, to allow are happiness in, to remember what humanity is all about; having community.

I know that many parents fear for their children who may have disabilities. It can be hard, it can be rough, it can be really difficult trying to figure out how to help their Disabled child. People need to remember to look at the many Disabled people who have been successful with the many aspects of their life as a means to ask questions and reach out for support. Disabled people need to listen to these parents so that they can give advice that matters. These parents need to listen to the advice instead of seeming to ignore the words of the disability community speaking up. Disability cultures exist which includes Autistic culture.

More importantly, this happens a lot in the autism community way too much. Parents look to researchers and other professionals for help instead of looking to Autistic people for the help they need. Researchers and other professionals need to work with us by listening to the Autistic people who can really give a better understanding of what it means to be on the autistic spectrum. One can only guess what it’s like if they are not on the spectrum themselves.

We need to be grateful that some researchers and other professionals have started doing this, but everyone also needs to slow down and breathe too. All in all, everyone who isn’t listening and learning to the Disabled including Autistic people, need to start now. In return, everyone can learn about about each other if only they listen to the things to be taught from those who are different from them. Then, only then, people everywhere will understand and accept a cultural difference that is different from who they are.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!! Please listen, learn, and love the support network you have with the family that loves you no matter what. #lovenotfear

by the way…

This year is #GivingTuesday on December 2! This Giving Tuesday I hope you support The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network because A.S.A.N. really means to me the importance of community and accepting each other’s differences especially the cultural differences of Disability culture and Autistic culture. A.S.A.N. really is a breakthrough in the world because it really means that everyone who is Autistic or have other disabilities can express their voice or feelings of how they feel without being criticized. A.S.A.N. is about teaching the world what it means to understand each other’s cultural differences regardless of what they may be. It teaches everyone to be accepting even when it’s difficult to accept. Most importantly A.S.A.N. really teaches to love and educate people no matter who they are. The more people are educated, the more they will love, the less fearful and angry they become.

There are other organizations too that support Autistic people too. For example, they are Autism Women’s Network (AWN), Ollibean, Thinking Person’s Guide To Autism (TPGA), Association for Autistic Community, Autistic Community for Equality Facebook page, and G.R.A.S.P. (Global and Regional Autism Spectrum Partnership). When we think about cultures like Autistic culture, we need to think about supporting everyone without feeling like we are better than anyone else. We are all Human. We are all different and we are all learning from each other. The Autistic Rights movement only started about less 30 years ago, but we still have a long way to go.

I also trying to seek out funding for graduate school at CUNY. I started this crowdsourcing, to try to open up some doors. If anyone has any ideas for scholarship, please let me know!


OUT, J

Self-Determination is Important and Healthy for a Person’s Life

People live stronger and healthier when living with self-determination. Self-determination is moving toward independence with the support network we all need. However, many people who don’t have a strong support network need to find the inner strength to do it on their own finding people who can help them. No one needs to feel like any person with ableist attitudes will teach them that they are incapable, incompetent, and feel unwanted. Every one is capable, competent, and wanted with a mission to achieve anything they want in their life. Whether you already have a strong support network or you are trying to build one for yourself, it’s important to know that everyone in society is interdependent.

One way of gaining this support network and building your life is through self-directed services from your state developmental disability office. A lot of times self-directed services from each state’s developmental disabilities department helps create situations for people needing a way to live on their own, but with support. This program needs to be encouraged more so people with a developmental disability including those individuals graduating from high school or have been an adult struggling for a long time to receive these services themselves. It helps because as people reach adulthood, everyone lives in the community interdependently, experiencing responsibilities and respect from everyone around them.

The world needs to change by accepting disabilities in life because it’s all a part of humanity! So, when is the countries that are not accepting disability going to take the lead the United States is trying to do right now? I do know there are many Americans that are not accepting disability too. However, many Americans are leading in the fight for disability rights trying to create an inclusive community for Autistics and other Disabled folks.

Individuals in society achieve successes each day as an interdependent person no matter if you have a disability or not. So, why do many people still treat Disabled people either with an invisible disability and/or a visible disability like we are third world citizens who don’t belong with the rest of the community? Many people in the Disability and Mental Health communities live in institutions segregated away from their families and segregated away from the rest of the community without the respect from others. Many people outside of the Disability community throughout the world need to understand disability is a part of the human experience and does not need to be hidden. It’s important to improve the lives of every person in society and give support to the people who need it so no one is left in an institution for the rest of their lives. The most important aspect of our life is to create a situation where each community in society supports the individuals who are in that community.

Additionally, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States just reported yesterday that 1:68 people are Autistic in the United States. The media reported this as if Autism is a disease, however only 1 in out of every 68 people are being represented as Autistic. This is getting better, but we need more Autistic voices to represent themselves as Autistic. There is still too many people who hide Autistic people from society. Instead people need to allow Autistics to seek their own identity as Autistic, not being afraid of themselves especially the part that is autistic. Being Autistic is just as important as any other part of a person’s identity. Once we accept this as an identity, we will see the numbers increase more. Everyone in the community is here to help everyone around them. That’s a part of humanity, that’s a part of love for others, and that’s a part of the structure of the Human race. Humanity is a spectrum!! Everyone needs to accept and understand people without fearing the unknown races, religions, and cultures in their society. Thus, fear leads to much hatred, so why fear when you can love.

It’s time to give responsibility, respect, and immediate action to the Disability community young and old to be able to do things on their own by exploring their identity and working out their life with the support network when they need it to fulfill their life. This is important because it gives any person a chance to describe an identity that fits them. It’s essential for any one to have their own way of defining themselves. It also helps with fulfilling a person’s own mission to make a difference. We can all learn from each other by living in the community. There are many ways we can be supportive without doing and speaking for others, by giving choices to everyone.

Remember: Nothing about us, without us!

From The Grateful Dead’s “Uncle John’s Band”:

Well the first days are the hardest days, don’t you worry any more,
‘Cause when life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door.
Think this through with me, let me know your mind,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?

Be kind and respect everyone the way they want to be identified as. No one can be disrespected and hurt a long the way. Every one has their chance to live and be a part of the community at large 🙂

As Autism Acceptance Month approaches next Tuesday, Let’s build a strong United Community in the World!

OUT, J

Respecting and Recognizing Others is Important for Humanity

Identifying ourselves…

In order to identify ourselves, we have to remind ourselves what we do, where we came from, and who we are. The poll question on the side column of this website expresses just that. It has been asking you to figure out how you would want to identify yourself. Identity is important for our own Humanity and it is defined by diversity since we all identify ourselves differently. Identity is important!

Many able-bodied people try to define people with disabilities including Autistic people without the expressed consent from Disabled people themselves. This is unfair and does not express the meaning of someone’s life. Mostly, many people try to instill person first language on the disability community as well as pitying us to separate a part of who we are from our own humanity. Telling others how to identify themselves is not a right of any one to do to the disability community nor to any body else. It does not allow any one to identify themselves properly. Instead, it expresses the interest of eugenics to society like the Nazi’s did to many cultures in the 1930’s and early 1940’s.

Society is beginning to change, but we need more progress, a lot more progress. Society encourages eugenics as a means to decrease diversity. People don’t need this to be encouraged, but the mainstream media, corporations, and organizations like Autism Speaks does this all the time which influences the government who controls society. When are the majority of people going to understand that we have many different ways of identifying each other and that each label is a part of who we are? No one has a right to tell a person that they can not identify themselves in such a manner. Most people believe in the Medical Model of Disability which expresses to so many people that society needs to use person first language. However, to be able to truly identify yourself, you should be able to first accept everything about yourself including anything disability related.

No one should feel that their disability is seen as less than Human, after all we have many markers in our genetic make up which defines us as well as the fact that disability is a part of the human experience. There are many disabilities and mental health conditions that disable Humanity at any point in time, autism being one of many disabilities. It’s important to accept your own Humanity about what you can do and what you struggle doing on an everyday basis.

We identify not only ourselves, we also identify other people, animals, material things, and the environment we live in. We acquire different things in our life, but most importantly we always acquire different disabilities throughout our life. So, why does many people become ashamed of what makes them Human? Society has trouble comprehending and accepting every culture or religion that instills itself inside the world. We have different cultures and religions because everyone lives a certain way that creates their own unique way of life. No one has a right to tell any one that their own unique way of living and identifying themselves is wrong. People live in so many ways! In fact, if you watch the movie “Nell” with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson from the late 1990’s, you’ll see an excellent portrayal of the fight to live your life the way you know how to and to be able to identify yourself.

The problem with society is that their is too much discourse and in a lot of times, violence, because the majority of people argue over what culture is better, who should be leading, and the amount of money people have trustfully earned for themselves to create a better society. Because of the discourse, people begin hurting each other or themselves. Accepting yourself and other people will create a better society where we begin living peacefully. By allowing everyone to live their life, we begin to embark on our quest to fulfill our missions without trying to take from others, without identifying other people with a different marker to identify themselves with, and/or without trying to hurt others including the youth who are the next generation. We need to start delivering a message that Humanity is a precious commodity and that we are all here for a reason. The children of today are our next generation for tomorrow, so we need to teach children that Humanity respects, accepts, does not hurt each other, and earn a living trustfully. No matter what, if we do it right, the children of today will create a better society where no one hurts, no one crosses another’s boundaries without permission, and everyone respects any one, otherwise society will not tolerate it!

Every culture is different which is why we have a whole world to live it in. No one can decide in the world to create a society in which diversity lacks. However, we have billions of people in this world who have a mission to live their life the way they know how to, and no one can make any one in this world feel like they are any less Human.

OUT, J

15 things that Frustrate me when…

Sometimes I get so frustrated when…

1) when People think I can’t do something
2) when People take me for granted
3) when People assume my identity and don’t acknowledge how I represent myself
4) when People decide they want to Unfriend me on Facebook just because…without any reasons
5) when People who think they can trample all over me kicking dirt on my head like I am in a sewer
6) when Some people supposedly help Disabled people, but are just making it worse by using ableist language and behaviors
7) when People are dogmatic
8) when People spend their life imagining they are the center of the universe without recognizing others
9) when People want to pity me as an Autistic person or pity my Autistic peers or pity other Disabled people in the world
10) when People want to argue for the sake of arguing about nothing, hence unnecessary dramas!!
11) when People have called me a Token when I am an Activist!
12) when People are involved with Autism Speaks and those people really don’t know any better not to get involved with negative rhetoric!
13) when People just don’t get it, think they are right, and think that everyone is not equal, and treat certain people in society like they are worthless and meaningless
14) when People speak down at others and myself within the Disability community
15) when People just don’t think before they act

Bonus: People frustrate me when they try to barricade me and others in the Disability community from doing something we know we can do!

Have a great weekend always remembering to do what you love, ignore others who don’t care about you, and embrace those who do care. Nothing is Impossible, we just need to see We’re Possible (I’m Possible)!!!

These are things that frustrate me with some people I came across with throughout my life’s history.

OUT, J

Ways We Can All Matter in this World!

It’s important to realize the purpose for everyone who lives here, there, or anywhere in this world. Being able to strive for a success is important. Being able to prove that we matter in this world is so important, but why do we have to prove it to the world? It’s a question that everyone has in their mind all the time. Most people who have the luxury of earning their rewards of money have done so because they proved to the world, they matter most. However, most people who earn multi-millions or billions of money a year seem to forget where they started from and use their money for luxury beyond society’s control. They become the ones who control societies, even government. For instance, any one used to be able to become the President of the United States, but now it seems only those people with a lot of money can become President, even any government official for that matter.

When living in this world during your time, it’s important to remember what makes up a community within a society, but it’s also important to remember what makes up a life that matters to the world. Unfortunately, we do need to prove to society that we matter in this world. It’s the only way to move forward and it’s the only way to cross safely to the other side. Although getting to safety is a difficult process a lot of times. There are too many obstacles that often get in our way along our adventure to fulfill our missions. Many people do not understand what this means and a lot of times a lot of people fall into a rut or dark hole in the ground trying to climb up to the light. There are many people, in general, who don’t understand what it means to work hard for an achievement or goal.

A definition of a Goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort. Our ultimate goal is to get to the ‘other side’, but what does that other side look like to many people. Well, to many people in the world who are very spiritual, the ‘other side’ is being one with ‘God’. To a lot of other people who don’t believe in spirituality, the ‘other side’ is just making their mark in the world. What if making your mark in the world is a part of getting to the ‘other side’? We are all here to embrace each other with support of a guiding light to ensure the flame continues. Many people do not understand that they need to pass the flame around to everyone. We all have a 100 years to live our life even though a lot of us don’t cross that 100 years of life. The most important part of our life is to cross paths with other people, make a mark to make a difference for the world, and make your generation one to remember well enough.

Don’t fall in to a rut, don’t fall in to a hole, and don’t look to be inspired. Just work hard at what you know you want to do and can do to make that difference for the world. Speak up to those people who fail you and move forward in the darkness finding your direction toward the light. We only feel inspired from our inner self when we allow ourselves to see. It’s important to see what you can do for the world. It’s important to start with small goals like waking up in the morning to your stretch arms saying to ourselves “I am going to matter in this world! I am going to reach my goals! I am winning :)” Then, we sit down at our desks at home writing or contemplating everything we want to do each day to work hard to a success. Sometimes the list can be 50 things, sometimes a lot more, or sometimes it’s only just a few things, but we need to make sure we make that list toward our success. Always remembering that each goal starts out small as tiny as getting up to organize, clean, or see friends.

Living toward our success will give us the freedoms we desire like paying our own bills, using our support network, and guaranteeing that we lived a life well served. In a nutshell, being independent and have supporting people guarantees success! Finding your niche in what you know you want to do and giving yourself something to strive for is so important. A lot of people don’t get to their niche unfortunately because they become blinded by certain people in the world. Find it, use it, hold on to it, and don’t let others influence you.

Here is something I created; just look into the center of the image and think about your goals…

thrive

It’s almost paradise, but you can get to it!


OUT, J