How to Gain Independence After a Disability

Attitudes toward people with disabilities have changed significantly in recent years, thanks mainly to the efforts of disability rights groups. The Americans with Disabilities Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. People who have a disability have campaigned to educate the public to see the realities of the barriers that disabled people face.

Instructions

• 1

  Allow time for your feelings to change. Recognize that the way you will feel in the future will not necessarily reflect the way you feel in the immediate aftermath of becoming disabled. Accept counseling if this is offered. It will particularly help you to speak to people who have learned to live with a similar illness, condition, or disability.

• 2

  Explore all the possible adaptations and aids to independent living. Assess the options of adapting your present accommodation or moving to an independent living center. Listen to the experts, as many advances have been made to assist people with disabilities. For example, there are light-weight, electronically operated wheelchairs and specially adapted cars available. Embrace technological advances. The high-tech revolution has opened many opportunities for both work and study to people with disabilities.

• 3

  Be sensitive to those close to you. They may do and say inappropriate things sometimes, in an effort to help and support you. Speak to them honesty about your need to be on your own sometimes, and to make your own decisions. Guard your autonomy, while trying to remain patient toward those whose attempts to help are misguided.