Living with a disability or chronic illness can be extremely frustrating. In addition to the pain and symptoms you have to deal with there are the many barriers you face on a daily basis. Then when you try to get anything done to improve your life, you are faced with a world that does not understand or seem to care. You are left feeling invisible.
I am here to tell you that I completely understand as I have been there myself. I also want you to know that YOU HAVE VALUE. Once you learn the insider secrets the people in power are keeping from you, you will be able to
- Identify your greatest desires and dreams in life
- Make plans to successfully reach your goals
- Support yourself financially
- Find love
- Gain employment or self-employment
- Apply for disability benefits
- Advocate for your needs
- Discuss your healthcare needs with professionals
- Meet others and form relationships
- Tell your story and be heard
Please visit my website for more information and resources at
www.visableandempoweredbook.com
This book is also available in ebook and audiobook format
Geraghty-Ellis, Tara: - Tara Geraghty-Ellis wrote this book for anyone who has, or cares about someone who has, a chronic illness or disability. From her own lived experience, she knows first-hand how frustrating, limiting, and difficult life is a lot of the time. This book was written to give you, the reader, and those around you, inspiration and a path to help you move from survival and coping, to a life of abundance that you design.
As a master social worker, Tara has dedicated her life to helping break down the barriers-whether they be structural, institutional, or ideological-that keep people with disabilities stuck. While doing her first undergraduate degree at Glendon College of York University, she was asked to do a simple analysis of the grounds to identify the accessibility barriers. That request turned into a three- year campaign to expose not only the physical barriers of the campus, but what life is like for students with disabilities. This undertaking included hosting a scavenger hunt for York University administration in manual wheelchairs, in the winter. The event was televised on CityTV in Toronto and reported on by David Onley, now a former lieutenant governor of Canada. During her master's degree at Dalhousie University, Tara continued her advocacy work and focussed her research on solutions for bringing together communities to create social change.
Today, there are increasing numbers of people working for change, but our voices are being silenced or tokenized. We need all of us to assert our right to go, be, and have what we want. This book will hopefully help guide you to dream big dreams, make concrete decisions, and seek out opportunities. Ideally it will also advance the scene such that people make the accommodations necessary to ensure everyone's full and active participation in life.
Tara seizes every opportunity to attend personal and professional development events and talk about the need for these and all things to be inclusive, and of the immense power and potential that are often untapped within the disability community.
If you would like to know more about Tara, please visit: www.accessempowerment.ca or
join her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AccessDisabilityEmpowerment.
A portion of the proceeds from the purchase of each book will be donated to support and empower families raising young children with disabilities who attend the same preschool that gave her an early fighting chance, Silver Creek Preschool.
