A disability can come in many forms. Some people have been dealing with one for their entire life, while others acquire them after a tragic accident.
No matter your circumstance, living with a disability doesn’t have to stop you from living a life full of love and happiness. Keep reading to learn five tips on how to overcome challenges and start having fun!
1. Allow Yourself Time
Realizing you won’t be able to accomplish all the things you may have wanted to because of your physical limitation is a terrible feeling. When you lose a loved one, the grieving process can take years. When the person you’re losing is the old image of yourself, it can take even longer.
Give yourself time to grieve. Life in a wheelchair or with a walker can still be full and rewarding, but you’re allowed to not think that right away.
2. Nurture Yourself
Give yourself a portion of every day to focus on yourself and your health. Sometimes that simply means having a cup of tea in the morning, sitting outside and spending some time thinking about the progress you’ve made.
If you had to give up one of your favorite hobbies because of your disability, pick up a new one! Accepting your disability is about finding new things you can do rather than focusing on the things you can’t.
3. Focus on the Present
The hard truth of becoming disabled is that, from the moment it happens, everything about your life is going to be different. Some of the things you thought you would achieve later in life might no longer be possible.
However, that’s no reason to give up hope. Instead of brooding about the future you wanted and the past you wish you could change, you need to focus on the present. Create new goals, and take advantage of every opportunity you get to move closer to those goals.
4. Minimize Your Disability’s Impact
Part of overcoming your disability is realizing that you don’t have to fall by the wayside, at work or in the healthcare system. Do research to find out what kind of benefits you can get, and feel empowered as you take charge of your own life.
There are also new advancements being made in technology every day, and those advancements can help you live life without sacrificing the same conveniences you had before.
5. Ask For Support
The worst thing you can do when attempting to cope with a disability doing it all by yourself. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help, but even more importantly, don’t be too prideful to accept help when it’s offered.
Coping with limitations and overcoming new challenges is going to be hard, and the emotional burden will feel a lot lighter if you let your friends and family help you carry it.
Living With a Disability
Living with a disability doesn’t have to mean living small. In today’s modern world, there are so many opportunities for people of all sorts to find jobs, make new friends, and find love.
Be sure to leave a comment below and tell us about how you or a loved one has overcome their disability. And always feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you might have.
12 comments:
sam
September 5, 2018 at 5:48 am
hai
Linwood Bowers
October 25, 2018 at 1:45 pm
Awesomely reading material. I’m a retired school counselor and special education teacher with a newly found physical disability. This article was outstanding in providing help.
Wendi
September 19, 2020 at 11:33 pm
Hi maybe we can be friends and help each other
Sandra Short
August 6, 2019 at 11:58 pm
Hi….
My Son is very smart, computer wiz too.
He was in a bad accident at 5 yrs.old.
He’s very handsome but has some peralisos on left side. He does everything on his own with use of one arm. He uses his left hand a little.
He’s lonley, needs friends and really would like a girlfriend.
He’s an adult, born in 1972, has his own Condo.
So if you can , please let me know.
Thank you
Rhonda
November 6, 2019 at 6:54 pm
Where is the support groups.?
lindsy
May 19, 2020 at 1:16 pm
Sounds great,cuz it’s not that easy for one to accept the condition that one lives, regarding the disability one has. Sincerely speaking it’s painful to see that you feel out of place,like you don’t feel secure, you feel quite different from wherever you are. And that along makes you to feel alone and frightened.
Wendi
September 19, 2020 at 11:23 pm
I was recently involved in a car accident that left me physically disabled is there any program that might can help
Linda
October 24, 2020 at 11:36 pm
It would be helpful if you mentioned the emotional aspect of anger, the why me, and to focus in the positive and the ones helping you. I am a caregiver to my daughter who is very angry and literally gets angry easy and alienates the ones helping her. How do I help her get past the anger part of her situation that left her blind in one eye, By negligence of others?
Cheryl
May 28, 2022 at 8:44 am
Same here! I have been looking for a book or professional to help me understand the depression and anger my daughter is experiencing. I know the stages of grief, which is what they go through and she is doing all the right things, but she has to deal with a permanent disability from bone cancer which limits her self-reliance. She hates the lack of control of her life. She isn’t angry all the time, but also experiences depression. She set goals for herself, but may not attain them. Her outlet is us, her parents. It is exhausting, but mostly we feel incompetent to help her with her anxiety and depression. She tries to be as active as possible, but then realizes her limitations. I am sure it is much like men/women in war with PTSD and wanting a normal life. Battling cancer or any illness is like fighting a war. We listen and try to accept her rages (which is more about her becoming silent and wanting to be left alone). She has had several surgeries because components in her leg keep breaking. She has not had a recurrence of cancer, so it is more about having surgery and starting over from square one. I know journaling may help her express her feelings for herself. Try to stay active somehow. She can do so much on her own and she tries to stay present, but when she is not actively doing things, her mind wanders on the negative and the fear of lack of control in her life, which we all have. If I find something that really helps her, I will share it. She doesn’t hate God and goes to church, but even there it can be somewhat cumbersome for her to maneuver. It is hard to trust God is in control of all of us.
Melissa
June 29, 2022 at 10:09 pm
Hi Cheryl,
I have experienced the same frustrations your daughter is going through. First, she needs to find an activity that allows her to physically expel your anger. I had tried numerous activates before I discovered boxing. My coach would modify my workouts to accommodate my disabilities. It felt amazing to channel all my anger into warmups, workouts, hitting the bags and sparing with classmates. After about 6 months, I could feel the anger getting calmer within. Boxing also gave me confidence to try other activities. I had found a means to vent my anger in a positive physical way.
Boxing may work for her, or martial arts … there are so many different activities to try. Don’t let her stop trying various methods until she finds one that works for her. Hopefully, your daughter can find a positive method to vent her anger and frustrations so that she can move forward with living a full life. Good Luck!
Charlotte Fleet
April 14, 2023 at 5:27 pm
I appreciate you mentioning the importance of letting friends and family help you carry the emotional burden of living with a disability. In my opinion, it would also be beneficial to have a mentor that has been in the same position. That way, you can learn from their experiences to help you overcome your challenges. https://madadinc.org/
Northern DS
September 17, 2023 at 11:14 pm
Thank you for sharing. It is very informative and helpful to plan Daily Living Support activities .