Role Models

My aunt was a true role model for me in many ways. She had suffered tremendously throughout her life but she rarely ever complained. She married an Englishman back in the mid 1950s and while living in London she was hit by motorcycle after getting off a bus. The accident left her paralyzed on her right side so to me, we were like opposites that attract as I was paralyzed on my left side. In the midst of this suffering, she suffered from having a husband who was unfaithful to her. Yet, she had an incredible faith and she accepted her situation with complete resignation to God’s Will for her, never blaming God for her sufferings. She could have easily turned inward on herself and become filled with self-pity with all her suffering. But she didn’t. She prayed a lot and though she was a Protestant in name, she was a Catholic at heart because she used to pray the rosary and had a rosary among her possessions when she died. She also attended Mass with us whenever she came to visit. She had an enormous amount of perseverance and she spent months in rehabilitation because she had much of her physical capabilities like speaking, eating, talking and walking. But she eventually regained her speech, she could feed herself, and she could walk with crutches. She recovered remarkably with rehab because she was able to care for herself and have her own apartment where she could cook her own meals. When she went from room to room, she would often crawl as it was faster to get around and this way she would avoid falling.

My aunt’s perseverance was upheld the support of her loving parents. That is one thing she and I had in common – we both had parents who loved us unconditionally and gave us the support or encouragement to reach our highest physical, mental and spiritual potential. This is a key to living as a handicap person. It is good for our relatives to recognize that we are handicapped but then not to dwell constantly on these handicaps. What do I mean by the latter statement? I mean that they see what we can do and help us to achieve our goals with the limitations of our handicaps. Our relatives never told us we couldn’t do whatever the goal is we set out to achieve; rather they challenged us to be the best with the talents we were given. I think that is the secret to every person's growth and maturity, not just the handicapped.