Advice - Achieving Dreams with a Disability

    You will find advice so as not to limit yourself in your ambitions and your choices despite your handicap.

    The theory

    We have 3 basic psychological needs:
    • Autonomy
    • Skills
    • The social connection
    When we have a disability, these needs can be more difficult to meet.
    • Autonomy is impacted by the reality of disability. Depending on the disability, certain tasks will require more time or require support.
    • The skills are present but prejudices dominate. Too often, it is inferred that a person with a disability is less competent. This judgment can be felt by the person with a disability and impacted on their confidence.
    • The social bond . People with disabilities can be the object of a stigmatization which impacts the social bond

    Barriers when you have a disability

    Often people with disabilities feel limited in their opportunities and choices in life. However, the majority of careers and dreams are accessible to people with disabilities. Being with a disability implies having to adapt and develop with your own particularities.
    • A person with a disability can be independent . She adapts her daily life to her particularity.
    • A person with a disability can be very competent . Some skills will be less developed because of the disability. Others will be overdeveloped thanks to the daily compensations that the handicap implies.
    • A person with a disability can have real social ties . A person with a disability is not his handicap, he is a person like any other, with his passions, his ideas, his personality, his faults and his qualities.

    Achieve his dreams

    Define your goals

    • Ask yourself questions to find out what you want to do. For the working world, the questions may be: What job would I like to do and why? In which company (or type of company) and why?
    • Identify the main steps to achieve this goal.
    • Set a deadline for each step. By setting a deadline, it pushes to finish the stage on time.

    Accept yourself

    • Accepting who we are is essential for building confidence. We cannot (or with difficulty) change the fact that we are disabled. However, we can change the way we experience our disability. Accepting yourself with its qualities and faults is a journey and does not happen overnight.
    • There are many things we can do to accept ourselves.
      • Dare to talk about your disability. First of all to his family and relatives and then to work. When we talk about something, we no longer hide it, and there is less shame. We are no longer afraid of people realizing it, because they already know that we are disabled
      • Accept that disability makes some tasks harder (and sometimes easier others). Do not hesitate to be clear with yourself and others about what you can do and what you cannot do.
      • Face your fears. Sometimes we run away from certain situations, which may or may not be related to our disability, because we are afraid. Identifying our fears and daring to do what frightens us allows us to realize that we are capable of it. However, it is important to gradually face your fears.

    Be yourself in relationships

    •  Being able to create a social bond is often something difficult. When we have a disability, sometimes it can be complicated because of mockery, judgment or the simple fact that we are « different ». However, just because we are disabled does not mean that we are unable to be sociable.
    • Be careful not to put yourself in a box. Sometimes we can justify situations because we are disabled. The important thing is not to see yourself as a person with a disability but as a person, with its qualities and its faults. The image we have of ourselves is reflected unconsciously on others. By having a positive image of ourselves, people will see us positively and that changes everything
    • Be yourself. The reality is, we can’t please everyone. In some situations, we want to adopt an attitude to be like others. This can often make us uncomfortable and it shows. By being ourselves we can be sure that we get along well with those who accept us for who we are.