United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

What Carolyn said about State Division Vocational retaining is fact I got a degree in Animation that way. Never did become Walt Disney But I did end up Driving a Semi with birth erbs for 25 years till my good arm got ripe up driving semis. Having two mess up arms really sucks. I have plenty of dark days because of this. What did not suck was the life long training to adapt from my birth erbs to adapt now have to be left with less in my once good arm. What I hated was the time when my semi driving days were over I Love driving a semi and I end up with no accidents in 25 years of doing it Some doctors hassled me for my Physicals D.O.T ever 2 years because of my limitation of birth erbs and finding a truck line to hire me had its problem to. The positive was my years of safe driving that past my needed physical and why I end up getting Chicago local Semi trucking driving jobs. So for me the negative of not driving semis or ever working again at any job is what is, It sucks but I really believe that having the safe years of driving semi was a act of god So for me, I choose to be Positive about my life time of trying in-spite of what did not work out over time. Switching off the neg. and focusing on the positive is a life long quest to do to
There is not sugar coating for none of us it more about inspiring a person to move forwards by as you have seen by alot of caring people who really know how you fell for real The hardest thing is when we find to much Negative and no way to overcome continuing situation as new one come up. Then no matter what , when this happens you need to remember the things you did find a way to do in-spite of the limitation you have done. Giving yourself time to work on what Bugs you because of a new Neg. disappointment sucks, but you and all of us get past it to a point by how creative and the we come up with Sometimes to adapt What sucks is the time period between the problem and fining out if we can adapt or not The negative becomes a unresolved problem trying to overcome will we have accept it???? At best trys that did not work out??? if you give it your best then you never fail because you tried You can still see it as a positive You can tell this to by the post that were given to,I think
You should talk to a counseling to but if something, I, we or you may Share to help by posting is one of the best things we can share with a person of need. Its like talking to yourself in a mirror ,but the image you see is the person your posting to by our something like injuries.
There really is amazing thing that happen on this sight , Alot of times when others need help by post they end up Giving help to
That is positive in a situation of negativity we all find ourself in and the real try to move someone forward by the best answer we can share This maybe one of the most positive things you can find by posting by our experience to give a person a possible direction to adapt or a thought of coping with life challenges we face because of our limitations, We can only hope this happens by our post
Hope this helps??
Tom

I was called "One-armed Slut" when I was in Grade 3. I went home crying. My Dad said "which part are you crying about, the one-armed part, or the slut part?" I said "the one-armed part...I don't even know what a slut is!"
He proceeded to explain it to me.

My Dad is nothing, if not logical.

I never had a problem with Nemo. I use him as a facebook profile pic. It was the first time I had ever seen someone (fish?) like me on TV. I always figured I'm Nemo with my special "fin."

Interesting
The things, That challenges us over time
When I was little I was called Stud arm but I had to fight my way out of name calling .
Because I scuba dive and being a Padi master dive , Nemo stuck to
For me, I try to help my self esteem when I try to stay positive by the new thing I can adapt to over time Some do some do not But then there is the courage that grows over a life time to keep trying and trying again It that word word Courage we all have over time
We all have our post, Just like this. + courage to try and are posted outcomes here
One of the hardest thing for me was my first post here . But I found it better to share what we can by posting to share an inspire, Who we can?????
We Hope????????????
Mr Positive
Tom
PS I like faces better than periods Its fun

"yolie40",
Just a note to share,... I can testify, getting counselling was a turning point for me because i had "stuffed" sooo much in my life, I couldn't get peace and comfort on my own and I didn't want to burden my BPI(ERbs Palsy) friends with my "drama stories" and my Sibs never "go there" with me for their own reasons.
Carolyn J
LOBPI/74

I grew up in a very Latino neighborhood and got the nickname "quebrado". The English speaking kids called me "dead arm". The teasing was relentless and went from 2nd grade until I dropped out of school as a sophomore. I was beaten up and pranked. One time, as we were running in groups in grade school a kid that was running next to me tried to get me in trouble by yelling out to the teacher that I had elbowed him (because my elbow stuck way out when I ran). The teacher saw what he was doing and he was made to sit on the bench for recess but he still laughed and teased me from where he sat. Just a few years ago when, I was in my late 20's, a coworker began teasing me about it. I dont understand it. I guess some people need to hurt other people in order to feel better about themselves?

[quote][I guess some people need to hurt other people in order to feel better about themselves?/quote]

You got that right, jemorrison !
Carolyn J
LOBPI/74++++