I'm Able: A Woman's Advice for Disability Change Agents

nThis book is about my life - from under my mother's desk as a child in Ghana to the hills of Vermont as a PhD holder now. As a bubbly child in my eighth year, who had all her future ahead and the love of her mom and dad, I never dreamt of waking up one day and losing my legs to polio, but that was what happened. From that point, my beautiful life began falling apart; Dad ran out and left us, never to return. My society treated me as an outcast. Outsiders looked at my condition and called me a cursed child. n nIt took the resilience of my mom, and her never give up attitude, to see me through life. She was the only one who had a vision of who I could be and identified the springboard on which I could stand and reach the skies. It was my mom who told me, It's only through education that you can become someone of worth, and from that day, we did all we could to ensure I got that education. Getting an education as a person with disability was not as smooth as I thought it could be. It was not so long until I realized that the school facilities and resources were built without me in mind. I had to compete with people who had advantages I did not have, and this eventually led me onto the fields of policy analysis and advocacy from which I have never looked back. n nAs a victim and a survivor of a system that was built to bring me and any child with disability down, I have had first-hand experience and now stand in a better place to paint a picture of the troubles people with disabilities go through to rise to the top. So, I am using this book, which is the story of my life, as a form of narrative discourse to begin the discussion of disability in our universities, colleges and even in our secondary schools. This book is a one stop shop for educators, therapists, counselors, parents, and students. n nIt is my aim to bring to the fore all the challenges students with disabilities move through, and how practically we can align policy with practices in our education system. I am not writing a book that seeks to throw a pity party for people with disabilities, but rather seeks to address the fact that disability is a limitation we place on ourselves and others. With the right kind of environment and support from the powers that be, people with all kinds of disabilities soar to greater heights and achieve whatever dreams they set their hearts on. n