Intro to Erin: Blogger, College Student with CP, and so much more…

This is the first post by Erin Breedlove, a new guest blogger on the EasyStand Blog.  Read on to learn more.

As many individuals with disabilities find, it is often difficult to discover a niche in this modern society that labels people as if they are soup cans or some such material.

I’m Erin, a college student with cerebral palsy. Though my CP is mild, I feel the social effects of it almost daily. Everything from the stares by ignorant people in the aisle of the grocery store to the frustrations of being nineteen years old and unable to drive as of right now seems to get to me. However, it’s always easier to focus on the negative when angered by an issue that can’t be controlled. I know though, that I am blessed. I have walked since I was five-and-a-half years old, and despite the doctors telling my parents that I would never learn to walk, talk, read, write, or drive, I could spell my name by the age of two-and-a-half. I also was reading on a first grade level by the age of four.

My life has been spent with the mindset that I have to defy the so-called “standards” set by this cruelty of a modern society for individuals with extra challenges. So it takes me ten minutes to put both of my shoes on, my orthotics, and my socks. Are you going to tell me you’re sick of waiting on me to do something independently? I think not!

Throughout my life, there have been many special angels who have spent countless hours dedicated to encouraging, helping, and supporting me.  All the while, they have shown me what it means to care for and to advocate for individuals with disabilities. I have turned the demonstration into passion and into my life’s work.  I have advocated on behalf of and worked with children and young adults affected by disability for six years. I will be attending Georgia College and State University beginning in August to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education. While attending GCSU, I will serve as the Vice President of Programming for ABLE Student Alliance, which is our organization for disability advocacy on campus. In the position, I will be responsible for organizing awareness activities for the campus community, disability awareness promotions, and providing necessary resources to students, faculty, and families.

Over the course of the nearly two years I have worked with the Georgia College family, there have been many instances in which I just know that the college is right for me. For example, the campus’ physical size is smaller than that of my high school and is the first college campus I have ever been able to walk completely independently, my dormitory is on main campus and the room is completely accessible. Though I don’t use a wheelchair, I do use a shower chair to take my showers, and those were the only rooms that have that feature.

More than that, Georgia College has disregarded the “soup can” mentality and shown me how to be passionate and advocate for those things in which I believe. In working with the disability services provider, I have found that advocacy is my passion. Thus, upon graduation, I will go on to receive my Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling to either serve as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state or to become a disability services provider for a university. If you’re interested in following my journey, I author a blog called Empowering People and Changing Lives that not only serves as a space for me to chronicle my continuing quest to empower people and to change lives, but it is also my goal to provide resources to students, parents, and professionals. Remember, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, we must “be the change we wish to see in the world.”

How has your disability affected you socially?  How do you defy the labels that others might place on you?

Tagged as: ABLE student alliance, accessibility, accessible college, accessible dormitory, Cerebral Palsy, Disability, disability advocacy, disability awareness, disability services, erin breedlove, GCSU, Georgia College, orthotics, rehabilitation counseling, shower chair, soup can mentality, special education, vocational rehabilitation counselor, wheelchair