Feeling left out or Feeling included!

What is it to feel left out or to feel included, to me?

Well here are my thoughts about the subject of feeling left out or feeling included and living with a disability.  This is part two of the blog that I wrote on my thoughts and feelings about being handicapped!!  The blog that I post it was on Aug, 3 2013.

I do not know what my life would be like if I did not have Cerebral Palsy.  If I answer that question I think it would mean I would lie to myself on some level and say the past 32 years never happened.  I am so proud of myself for what I have accomplished, so ignoring my experience with life being me would take away too much.  I realize now that I am not ashamed of my life challenges.  I am a woman who always tries to get more from life.

For a long time I felt like an outsider with my disability but now I don't feel that way anymore.  What really matters is being happy in life.  When I'm out with family and friends I feel loved and included.   Some people who I know with a disability want a relationship with a partner and it seems like that is all they want in their life. If I found someone to share my life with, that would be wonderful but it's not the end of the world if I don’t.  And I am not waiting around.  I am happy being me.

People who know me know I have goals and dreams that I want for my life. My friends make me feel included in everything we do together.  We enjoy each other no matter what we are doing, like going out to a movie and supper. But sometimes when I go out around others, there are people who look at me and then they ask my friends what I want rather than asking me. This is when I feel the greatest amount of exclusion.  I believe that many people don't know anything about someone who has a life challenge.