Get Over Yourself... We're Only Disabled Part 10

 Get Over Yourself... We're Only Disabled! 

Hey my lovely readers, hope you are well. 10th chapter this week... wow it doesn't feel like I've been posting for that long! Enjoy reading. 

Chapter 10

We might need a little more time to do things

It is likely that people with disablities, may need more time to do tasks. For example, it takes me a lot longer to brush my teeth, because I have to get my hands into the right position to brush my teeth and move the brush around my mouth. This all comes with building up our independence skills. It may take us longer at first, however, it will become easier and more natural to us if we continue to work on these skills.

     

When people are learning a new skill, we all need practice and guidance to do it, like anyone disabled or able-bodied.  This can feel exciting but also worrying because we don’t know what the outcome will be.  It is good for us to find our feet and do it our own way; we might take several practices to learn what is the best way to learn the skill but once we have mastered the skill, we have this for life. It is about making ourselves feel confident and to know that we can do something on our own.  For example when I was learning to drive my first electric wheelchair, it took me a long time to understand what I needed to do to be able to drive it.  I couldn’t just jump in it and drive off.  I needed lots of practice and support to be able to drive it properly and safely. 

I like the quote “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again” from Premier League Primary Stars because it’s about being patient and keeping persevering with something you may find difficult but as you keep on with it, the easier it will get.

Let us make mistakes because when we get in a pickle with something, we need to learn what the best way is to get out of it.  We need to find our own way to be able to learn how to do things that will support us throughout life.  Going back to the toothbrush example, if we don't have practice opportunities at cleaning our teeth, we will never learn how to do it ourselves.  Let us have a go and if we need help, we will ask for it.

If we are struggling to do a task, don't leap in too quickly to rescue us.  Let us try to figure out our own way of getting around the challenge; it’s about allowing us to work out the situation and trying to work out an easier route around the task.  When we’re given guidance from others, it allows us to feel confident to work on things ourselves.  Also, being confident allows us to face more challenges with a positive head on.

People need encouragement and support from others around them.  When trying something new, people sometimes get nervous and worried about how it’ll go, if it will go wrong or say they don't want do to it.  I get nervous about trying something new and I try to my best to get out of it!

Key points that help us to keep going are praise, perseverance, patience and positivity.  If we receive these from people, this will support us to be inspired to do more for ourselves.

So therefore, we might need some extra time to do day-to-day tasks,  however, this extra time and effort allows us to be independent and makes us grow grow in confidence. It is good to take our time with tasks as we are learning new skills, making us more independent and be proud of ourselves. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, thank you for reading.

Abbie xx