Take a good look at yourself from the outside and the inside. Keep what you like. Change what you don't like that can be changed and deal with the rest.

This entire country was built upon people that didn't fit in somewhere in the world. People who had dreams for their lives that they refused to give up, so they came here to make them happen.

Don't wait for the gods to bridge the gaps. Some things you have to do for yourself.

You are only as handicapped as you let yourself to be.

The most important person to accept who you are and what you are is yourself.

Enjoy each other now to the fullest and don't focus on the questionable tomorrow.

If you worry about what is to come you will have wasted the time on hand and missed out on all of the joys found in the little details that make your memories so sweet.

If you don't like something, say so. It's perfectly alright to get angry. but don't stay that way.

A little body doesn't make a little person. On the other hand a big mouth doesn't make a little person any bigger or smarter, necessarily.

One must learn to be assertive for oneself for one’s own respect and preservation.

Assertiveness is an art form, hard to be perfect.

I can introduce you to many so called "abnormal" people that have found more sunshine in their lives than so called "normal" people.

It's a wonderful world for anyone that wants it that way.

How does anyone deal with his/her death announcement? You make it sound like someone is standing there with a stopwatch shouting the time at you as you race around on "the great track of life".
Melodrama is not my speed, never mind dealing with death. How the hell do you deal with that sort of self-abusive attitude? The mere thought of existing under that kind of constant nagging pressure would drive me to shoot myself with the starter's pistol!

If I'm going to be hit by a train I don't want to watch it! If I'm not going to be pulled out of the way in time, shut Up! I don't need any fortune teller describing my final scene and ruining every decent night's sleep until then. When my number is up, Dear Lord, make it quick!

Go out and tackle the world piece by piece until you have seen and experienced it all – each and every wonder. There are many more than you ever know and none should be attempted with a fearful spirit. Travel in the excitement of adventure and with the desire to be thrilled to your toes.

The wonders are still there for you to see and enjoy as you travel. In the face of the greatness of the people who managed to do marvelous things in history, you and I can surely manage to figure out how to take advantage of the most modern transportation systems of today.

… coming to a slow boil while sitting on the back burner, and as always when heat is applied sooner or later something is going to burn - even stew.

I'm not a square, round, oval or triangle peg so I don't fit into any ready–made slot. I'm a different shape, the horse of a different color. I'm a puzzle. I'm – unique!

It is essential in groups of citizens such as the disabled that each and every eligible voting member of the minority registers to vote.

Of course I feel self-conscious! But after 27 years of practicing the act, the lines have become so second nature to me that even I forget that it wasn't always this easy.

Handicapped people are just people with a handicap and are subject to the same differences in intelligence and personality as anyone else.

Not every disabled person has a chip on shoulder. Not every white person belongs to the KKK.

Handicapped people can be bastards too! It is our right to be deserving of a punch in the nose as the next guy!

I'm almost convinced that "Obnoxious and Dense" are two of the job requirements for city agencies and the social security department.

No matter how well intentioned someone's intentions are you simply can't make another person live their life exactly the way that you'd like them to. All that you are entitled to is to get an ulcer are over worrying about it for them.

Whether my choices turned out to be the right or wrong ones, I was entitled to make my own whopping mistakes and to ignore or take outside advice.

U.F.O. - Unexpected Fun Outing

The metamorphosis in which a child changes from the squirming, squeaky bundle into a little independent person ready to make her very first decision and have an opinion, is pretty breathtakingly beautiful and so rapid it’s sad.

Some like to eat oysters, some like to pet them and everyone likes to wear them!

Stand your ground and speak to the members of the press you want when you want to.

Every human being has suffered from "foot in mouth" disease during some god awful stage in their life. Some poor suckers are continually plagued by it. Put yourself in their shoes and be embarrassed for them.

They want your vote. They need your vote. They will cater to you to get your vote and rightly they should.

Those prospective neighbors are frightened by ignorance. Their own ignorance of what exactly a person is like.

The ignorant soles of today are products of the societies throughout the ages who blindly continued to repeat mistakes and old customs of proceeding generations without ever known the justification of the actions they carried out. Anyone or thing that went against that order of life was not understood and therefore posed a direct threat to their sense of security. To many the unknown is terrifying.

Everyone has a fear of rejection as some time or another. It just may be that some of us are better at hiding our shakiness under the guise of an overly cocky beast.

There are some really wonderful people in this world and they come in all shapes, colors and sizes.

I have a reaction to cats (called Keep’ematadistance).

A 16-year old female is at the frustrating age of being neither a little girl nor a woman and possibly feels under-appreciated, under-estimated and misunderstood.

Do not take it for granted that the person you're talking with knows more than you do; they may, in fact, know very little about. the particular issue you are discussing.

Your vote may seem small because of our ability to use it privately it seems no one counts it. But they do! Why else do you think all those campaign funds are spent just trying to sway your opinions on the issue of the day?

Running ignorant people over with a wheelchair may sound like fun, but it will never pay off any positive benefits in the long run.

It is impossible to be middle class and handicapped today. You must be either very poor to live independently, or very rich. That's rich enough to afford an elevatored, pushbutton penthouse or able to buy yourself a human chain that can simply "pass you around through life."

Human beings are funny things, like nuts (Some of us ARE nuts) Once I strip away the outer shell of the bodies and get down to the people inside I find that every one is mushy or nutty to some degree and hiding their own secret insecurities, many times even from themselves. Those insecurities can then usually be untangled and found to fit into the same typecasted molds that someone else’s came from.

A book was taken out of the library and given to me to read. Inside I found the pages to be filled with a collection of short swatches of someone’s thoughts!

I have never been filled with the burning insecurity that would make me feel I need to be cured. I don't feel that there is not there's anything wrong with the way I was made.

I see my image as I have always recognized myself.

I have learned many new lessons. the best of which was the difference between "want" and "foolish pride."

It is amazing how deeply childhood hurts can scar personalities in the grown-up person. "Unfair" over attention to a seemingly undeserving brother or sister has caused hostilities that have started wars throughout history.

It is very easy to sit back and allow someone else to have his life circumstances hampered by needless obstacles. As long as we don't have to give up our time nor have to witness daily their struggles in dealing with the situations, which we helped to create or to perpetrate for their lifestyles.

Attitudinal barriers are perhaps the most painful. This simply means that they want to be accepted for what they are.

It can be very frightening to try and contemplate what life could be like for our children in the future. It is a constant job of reminding ourselves that when all is said and done, it will be "their own life."

I asked God for all the things that I may enjoy Life: God gave me life that I like to enjoy all things.

I'm not sorry for myself; it wouldn’t do me any good if I were.

I've had a happier and fuller life than many "normal" people and I've learned to accept myself and to know my capabilities.

It's alright to strive for dreams; I can do anything if I set my mind to it.

A curt word spoken can set your whole day off badly, so remember being an object of discrimination in some form can set your whole life off badly.

Of course I feel self-conscious, but after 27 years of practicing my act, the lines have become second nature to me and I even forget that it wasn't always easy. I am not a natural! I am well studied.

There is no feeling in the world that quite compares with the one that comes over you as every head turns and all conversation stops upon your entrance. No one alive is oblivious to that dreaded pregnant pause. The trick is to appear unruffled in to say to yourself over and over again, “I'm a damn wonderful person!

The secret of her strength was that she was loved and she knew it. The secret of her family’s strength will be that she was loved, and they knew it.

I am a product of my environment. I come from a very large and proud Irish background. I was reared with a sense of pride in who I am and where I come from instilled in me and I'm honored to bear the family name.

The trick is to appear unruffled by the experience and never let the stuff register on your face. The people who are with you will take their cue from your conduct.

Some people suffer from a self-consciousness that comes across as hostility instead of a protective shield against hurt or embarrassment.

Curiosity is not wrong. Ignorance is.

Without curiosity a person can't learn. Unless a person learns he won't grow to expand his horizons to full potential.

A person having to deal with the hardships of a disability are not given a special license to excuse them from exercising good manners.

There is a difference between having a Christian attitude and setting one's self up as a sucker. To allow an obnoxious person to get away with stomping all over your rights and feelings is ridiculous.

In this age of everyone fighting for their own equality, give people the respect everyone wants and let them feel your anger. Show them another facet of what the word equality means from person who practices it.

If at first you don't succeed, storm the Bastille!

Loneliness is no light matter. Solitary confinement can be as corrosive to the physical and mental health as any terminal disease. - (Everything not medically related falls under the benign umbrellas of a "social trip." - work, food shopping, classes, seeing your lawyer, etc.).

There are three types people on every dance floor. those who think everyone in the place is watching them, those who hope everyone in the place is watching them, and those who don't care who watches them.

The blind ignorance of continually repeating old mistakes because "that&@39;s the way it has always been done," without ever asking to understand the reasons why.

Everyone in a family is a affected by events which occur in their lives together.

Sometimes it seems as if you just get rid of one jerk and there's another. So you better get used to it because they'll always be barking somewhere.

Being given a game board. playing pieces and a disgustingly incomplete set of life instructions scares the hell out of many people.

Either find the way to deal with the public out of the depth of the love and pride you have in your child or take acting lessons.

Small children are very accepting of differences and for the most part find them desirable. I was "neat," never at a loss for a playmate.

Growing up, I was forced to wear awful clothes due to my small frame. (4 feet tall) Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh are the bane of my existence. It is impossible to be alluring with a rodent all over your fancy panties and "jammies!"

The echo of the death knoll deafens ears to all of the positive sounds in the statements like "You have six months to live, maybe more … I can't guarantee … " And they proceed to die for six months or more until the end and does come, possibly years later, but they have put themselves through such mental anguish on top of the physical discomfort worrying about what it is going to be like when it actually happens. They have also missed out on their last chances for joy and laughter, only to experience that misery.

In the end whatever methods work to make coping with existence a little easier for you is your own business. As long it isn’t infringing on anyone else’s space in time, it's fine.

If you feel inclined just try treating your attitude well instead of your ailments.

"You can't fight City Hall." I come from a long line of City Hall Mud Wrestling Champions that runs in my family.

The de-institutionalization of people with disabilities into a Group Home situation is no threat to public safety. No one unable to maintain him or her self in society would be put in jeopardy of having to deal with the rest of the crazy members of the society at large before he or she was emotionally and physically ready to deal with it. Nor will the conditions be contagious.

I want for you the Magic gift of keeping your heart young and your eyes open so that nothing beautiful shall ever escape you.

It is my wish that you see the beauty in each day so that that the longer you live the more beautiful shall life become.

I wish you all the realization that you have a heavenly gift that only God can give – a blank check for a brand-new day, 24 hours which you can fill in anyway you choose.

Most people do not fully appreciate the seriousness of the issue (of accessibility or inaccessibility) until they are personally inconvenienced by it in some way. Unfortunately it is usually a bit late by that point.

Letter writing can afford to those who choose - the comfortable shield of anonymity - as well as the time to phrase your precise thoughts, doubts and fears perfectly and in as much detail as desired. … Meetings give the benefit of some form of instant response allowing an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the personality given away through body language and facial expressions.

People should do for one another because they love one another – not because they have to.

Once an oddity becomes a daily occurrence it is no longer an oddity and an unknown phenomenon.

I didn’t get to be a cocky little trouble maker from just anywhere! I always knew that I was loved and that my family was very proud that I belonged to them.

Keep smiling! Generally you’ll be given one back.

Enjoy the many beautiful things the world can have in store for you if you are clever enough to spot the tiny buttercups under the tall weeds in life.

Everyone's voice can be heard effectively but if no no sound is uttered at all, no cause stands a chance.

Try treating your attitude well instead of your ailments.

I do things I want to do one way or the other. It just means that I'll go around the obstacles instead of over or through it and that it may take me a little longer to get there, but get there I will.

Handicapped people are just people with a handicap and are subject to the same differences in intelligence and personality as anyone else.

There're a lot of weird people on this planet and a good portion of them live in this town!

Religious beliefs are very personal and that each individual is entitled to his or her beliefs in the Lord and his ways. On that final day we'll be shown whose way was the closest to being the right one meant for us to follow.

I don't feel that there is not there's there is anything wrong with the way I was made. I was never made to feel that there was anything “wrong" with me as in bad, or defective.

The wonderful thing about little kids is that they think "different things" about people, places and things. This makes them all the more desirable, terrifically exciting and fun!

Each child will, amazingly enough, have a personality uniquely all of their own even though we could have sworn they’d all been treated the same!

Sometimes parents prepare the ground for a mansion but the child is a cabin builder, or vice versa. Encourage them to be the best he or she can be.

Being over-estimating and demanding can be as damaging as being constantly under-estimating and restricting to someone's potential talents, enthusiasm and overall confidence in themselves.

Protection against hurt is rather like shoveling sand against the tide.

It is amazing how deeply childhood hurts can scar personalities in the grown-up person. "Unfair" over attention to a seemingly undeserving brother or sister has caused hostilities that have started wars throughout history.

Just as an infection may fester until it is lanced and the infections's bacteria must be set free and then left open in the air to permit the poisonous feelings of anger or bitterness caused by something be opened up from inside of their hearts where it is only festering and infecting their whole attitude about life.

It is not uncommon for some people to take their physical agility so much for granted that they automatically assume you are referring only to an independence of attitude or political belief and a freedom of speech. The realization of physical entrapment seems absurd, "especially in America" if the entire concept hasn't escaped them already.

Some people seem to become blinded by the visibleness of disability and are unable to focus clearly on any other quality that is present.

At times the Christian practice of "turning the other cheek" conveniently becomes the furthest thing from your mind and you tell yourself that you’ll deal with the guilt … later!

Why are you afraid to volunteer? All you can catch is enthusiasm so don't be silly!

A 16-year old female is at the frustrating age of being neither a little girl nor a woman and possibly feels under-appreciated, under-estimated and misunderstood. Every woman I know was just like that at 16 and in a hurry to be an adult. Actually what I think we were desiring was the respect an individual deserves which only adults seem to receive.

Leave the bitterness behind in a box somewhere. … it is only self-destructive to hang onto it. You'll find that enjoyment can't be recaptured in full glory.

Keep smiling! Generally you’ll be given one back.

I can't make promises for the future but I can give advice for the present.

The most important person to accept is you.

There isn't person on Earth that doesn’t help know how self-consciousness feels.

Acceptability is what being a social creature is all about. That's why the designer clothing industry is so lucrative; everyone is "fitting in."

Somehow it has always worked out in the end. Not always without broken eggs in my basket and me with the telltale stains on my skirt but so what. It is only a skirt and I can change it if I want to.

Part of the procedure for dating is everyone gets into the teasing therefore everyone must go through it in his or her turn. That’s part of the rules!

Knowing how to support your own decisions well or how to state your case clearly and firmly is a definite plus for your confidence.

Proper enforcement may help those they were meant to help, the disabled, not an inept system.

Election time is the one time of the year when I can feel that at least somebody out there wants me more than the utility companies do and being sought after makes me feel so important to "the system." The first thing to fall on my head when I open my mailbox are political pamphlets, and the amount increases daily!

You can't make another person live their life exactly the way that you'd like them to. All that you are entitled to is to get an ulcer.

The main problem is that when people hear the name of some terminal condition they instantly think DEATH!!! And they proceed to die for six months or more until the end and does come, possibly years later, but they have put themselves through such mental anguish on top of the physical discomfort worrying about what it is going to be like when it actually happens.

You can talk yourself into feeling sicker than you need to be as well as distract yourself into very high spirits.

A handicapping condition does not just happen to the individual, it affects every member of the family and other loved ones in some way.

I'm every inch a proud second-generation Irishman with the exception of my little toe on my left foot dad it is French … the fault of having a French grandfather on my mother’s side.

There is no feeling in the world that quite compares with the one that comes over you as every head turns and all conversation stops upon your entrance. No one alive is oblivious to that dreaded pregnant pause.

The trick is to appear unruffled in to say to yourself over and over again, "I'm a damn wonderful person!"

I can't make promises for the future but can give advice for the present.

Wouldn't life be hunky-dory if everyone would just go about treating other individuals exactly as they would like to be dealt with in the same situation. However, this isn't the land of OZ and I don't suggest waiting for a wizard to pull an instant remedy out of his bag of tricks. The solution must come from within.

Sometimes it seems as if you just get rid of one jerk and there's another. So you better get used to it because they'll always be barking somewhere.

Believe me, you'll know when an idiot arrives. With experience you'll feel to hear them coming a mile away. With time you'll even learn the insignificance of their presence.

Once in a while we may become snagged. The trick is to not to let it shake our confidence in ourselves.

A child who feels different from everybody else doesn't always have the confidence or know how to make that declaration.

When I look in my mirror I see my image as I have always recognized myself.

Why are you afraid to volunteer, all you can catch is enthusiasm!

Search under rocks and bushes for shoes. Steal them! Whenever you see a pair, grab them and don't be talked out of the it! You'll regret every time you are.

Doctors should never become desensitized to the thousand and one warning signals that an unhappy child gives off, the ones that only his loving parents who have nurtured him could be be aware of quickly.

Public awareness, open discussions and integrated activities geared towards educating people about each other's lives will help to make mainstreaming attempts in our schools easier.

Somehow it has always worked out in the end. Not always without broken eggs in my basket and me with the telltale stains on my skirt but … so what. It is only a skirt and I can change it if I want to.

Good moods are not constant with anyone.

People smarten up when you're talking piggy banks.

No one prepared me for dealing with the "Moron" label that seems to have been given to me along with the new wheels (wheelchair).

What Joker was handing out handicap parking permits for Halloween?

Alas the plight of a little person only out to raise little bit o' hell while on this planet of giants.

There's no blue-ribboned recipe for any love potion that I've heard of lately.

Some people unfortunately are brought to a very rude awakening to reality after having invested many comfortable years in a relationship with the person they love only to find that they never really knew or understood that person at all.

A person desperate for companionship is a prime target. You might as well have the word CANDIDATE stamped across your forehead – it can be that obvious at times.

Any fisherman will tell you tails of the glorious fight in the ones that got away. Each one left them more eager to try again another day. The challenge makes it exciting!

Maybe we should all drop out of Slobs Anonymous once and for all. Think of the cleaning bills we’d cut down on!

Hearing loss is rather like listening to a radio that is on the fritz. It works enough to make sounds that will drive you away!

You have to be certain that you are interpreting a situation accurately. … If their own ideas are contradictory they might choke to death on the combination of your ideas and your feet packing them in.

What is frustrating is the half-hearted enforcement of the laws concerning handicapped parking spaces and their proper usage by our local police department.

The reward of erasing ignorance is to have people look in my direction and not see a disabled person but to instantly recognize me as a friend or enemy based on what I have said or done and not due to a quirk of genetics and the packaging I have come housed in.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses, my prejudices. I promise that then, I will live forever.

There is a sun shining outside somewhere, go out and find it!