By Margaret Moore, PRC-Saltillo Blogger
Growing up in a family that didn’t believe in letting my Cerebral Palsy stand in the way of my enjoyment and pursuit of life’s extraordinary experiences, I have participated in many unique endeavors. I am a para athlete, using my walker to run road races, triathlons, and 5Ks as part of adaptive sports organizations. I have been ziplining, parasailing, boating, and adaptive rock climbing. I have my master’s degree in creative writing and, most exciting of all, on October 2, I will be celebrating the publication of my debut memoir Bold, Brave, and Breathless: Reveling in Childhood’s Splendiferous Glories While Facing Disability and Loss. The book follows my progress from birth to my graduation from elementary school and depicts my experiences growing up with a disability, losing my father to stomach cancer just before my second birthday, and being raised with two older brothers by a single mother who enabled and encouraged my participation in regular education, athletics, and recreational activities such as Girl Scouts. My book is the first in what will be a series of memoirs about my life. It is now available for preorder on Amazon: Bold, Brave, and Breathless: Reveling in Childhood's Splendiferous Glories While Facing Disability and Loss.
My involvement in these activities has often been noticed by heads of organizations and media reporters, and I have been invited to share my story in the hopes of helping other people. When I accept these invitations, I always ask that I be provided with the interview questions a few days in advance so that I can arrive at the interview with my responses already programmed into my AAC device. While I don’t mind preparing a simultaneous response, coming to an interview with my answers already in my device gives me the liberty to type what I would like to say in the way that I would like to say it without worrying about the time constraints of the interview.
Whether it is for an interview, a class discussion, or some other planned conversation, I encourage AAC users to advocate for themselves and request to receive the discussion prompts and questions in advance so that they, too, can fully share their thoughts on the subject.
Communicators In Action