By: Kelly Rouba

Now that he is Chairman of the National Council on Disability (NCD), it’s rather ironic to think that, at one time, Jonathan Young couldn’t bear the fact he had a disability.
“On a personal side, disability to me was always the enemy,” said Young, who broke his neck during a wrestling match his senior year in high school in 1986. After suffering the spinal cord injury, Young was reliant upon a wheelchair to get around and he soon realized just how much his life was going to change.

However, having been a stellar athlete, Young was determined to recover as much as possible from the injury. At that time, “not to use a wheelchair was very much a driving goal,” he said.

In high school, “I was a wrestler who finished third in my state my junior year. In my division and class, I was first in the state my senior year. I didn’t really care much about schoolwork. I was just very much…a jock/athlete,” Young said.

“All of a sudden, even though I had substantial recovery where I was able to walk albeit with functional limitations, very much my physical prowess was…striped away and, to me, I very much wanted to pass for normal as much as I could (and) to get back as much strength as I could.”

Read more: National Council on Disability Chairman Discusses Career and New Agenda

By: Kelly Rouba

Dr. Nathaniel Williams has made quite a name for himself as a successful self-help author, motivational speaker, CEO, and television and radio personality. But when someone once asked how he’d like to be remembered someday if he could only have one word written on his tombstone, his reply wasn’t any of the aforementioned titles but simply the word “strategist.”

As a child who grew up in foster care after his mother passed away when he was only five years old, Williams faced more challenges than most children his age. But at about 11 years old, he decided that he didn’t want to rely on other people to give him what he needed; instead, he wanted to achieve success on his own.

This realization came after Williams told Sister Mary Patrick, the executive director of the foster care program, how disappointed he felt when his sisters and brothers weren’t able to come visit him one day.

“She wore her compassion on her sleeve,” Williams fondly recalls. After hearing I was upset, “she went down to the store room and came up these ten steps carrying a bicycle, and she gave me the bicycle. I was just as happy as can be.”

Read more: Disability Advocate Seeks System Changes And Works To Uplift Others

A SHA Bulletin
The Supportive Housing Association of NJ

CSP-NJ Position Paper Sites Over reliance in NJ on Congregant Living for People with Disabilities

Position Paper
System Reliance on Boarding Homes, Rooming Houses, and RHCFs

Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSP-NJ) has released a position paper regarding the over-reliance on dependent living situations.

http://welltacc.org/attachments/article/208/2011CSPNJPositionPaper.pdf

This paper states a clear position:

"We continue to feel strongly that these types of living facilities are not conducive to mental health recovery and wellness. We believe that New Jersey needs to begin the process of significantly limiting the use of boarding homes and RHCFs for people with serious mental illness who are being discharged from psychiatric hospitals. Only in cases where a person makes a clear choice to reside in this type of congregate housing should it be considered, and only if the State provides the necessary supports."

Read more: CSP-NJ Position Paper Sites Over reliance in NJ on Congregant Living for People with Disabilities

By Rich Fabend

I sat in the chair looking at the piece of paper I had just dropped on the floor. I needed the paper for what I was doing so I had to pick it up. No big deal. Right? WRONG, it was going to be a problem. I couldn't bend over to get it and I couldn't get out of my chair and walk over to pick it up. You see the chair I was sitting in was a power wheelchair. Many of the simple reflex actions I used before my quadriplegia still came to me rapidly when I needed to solve a problem. Today was different and I knew it. My wife and my nurse were both gone at the time and so was the option that they could pick it up for me. I knew I had a major challenge before me the resolution of which would affect me the rest of my life.

Read more: Learned Empowerment or Learned Helplessness Your Choice