On beautiful homes, cars, and wildflowers

On a recent evening, I was talking with my father-in-law, who was telling me about a new neighbor who had recently visited their home for the first time. The neighbor commented, “This is just beautiful in here, its like a museum. From the outside, people would never know just how beautiful it is in here. You should invite people in and let them see just what a beautiful home you have.”

It immediately dawned on me that that man’s words apply just as well to people. From the outside, strangers don’t know what lies inside. If they are not invited to come inside, they’ll never come to know what beauty lurks just out of view.

I think of my group of friends and how each one is such a unique person, with his or her own, distinct attributes, and how easily these would be overlooked by anybody who does not take a moment to get to know the individual. Several of my friends have various disabilities and I know how socially isolating having a disability can be, which only serves to magnify the matter of being closed off from the outside world.

Too often, life is like the world is a car speeding down the highway and not noticing the pretty, lone wildflower idly sitting there. The world will never notice if it doesn’t slow down and look.

But, maybe if there were a flagman signaling the car to stop and directing the world’s attention to that bloom, then the world might notice it.

While that wildflower doesn’t have a flagman to bring attention to it, we as people do. We can let people know who we are just by inviting them into our world.

Because the important thing to note here is that, in actuality, you are that wildflower.

Open the door to your life and say hello to people. Let them know who you are. Let the world see the beauty that lies within, the museum of who you are.

I don’t mean that you have to be an open book and talk to every person you meet, but when presented with the opportunity to have a conversation, don’t be afraid to be the person to initiate it. People are social beings and we thrive in the company of others. Its lonely without outside interaction.

Open your personal doors, invite your neighbors in, and let them see just how beautiful your home is.

No Limits to Life blog and Assistive Technology carnival

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I guess it can be called information overload. I get a little overwhelmed, read a good number of some good articles and posts and, with all good intentions, bookmark them to come back later and write about them. Then, sometimes, things happen in my non-blog life, distracting me and I get a little slow in getting the post written.

This time, my hesitation has led to me being trumped.

For over a week now, I’ve had Lon Thornburg’s
No Limits to Life
Blog bookmarked, planning to write a post here about this smartly written assistive technology resource.

After leaving a comment on one of Lon’s posts last week, he checked out Access Ability and has written a very complimentary post about my humble blog. Thanks, Lon. (He also sent me an equally complimentary email about Access Ability.)

Despite looking like a tit for tat exchange, I’m still going to rave about No Limits to Life, though. This is one of the most intelligent and realistic perspectives I’ve seen presented on using assistive technology. I feel this is a great sister site that anybody who reads Access Ability would find of interest. The issues and concerns shared on it are timely and of interest to those in the postsecondary disability services field, as well as anybody with an interest in disabilities and assistive technology.

As an extra topping on this sweet dessert, Lon has also begun the
Assistive Technology Carnival.
If you’re wanting to familiarize yourself with the carnival style presentation of ideas, do check out this site.

The way the carnival works is that different bloggers write posts related to the proposed theme by the deadline and the host site writes a brief piece, linking to each of them. Last month’s theme on the initial round was “How you use assistive technology.” I had just read that round of the carnival when the deadline had passed, so I missed out on that one.

This month’s theme is “My favorite post” and the only restriction is that it must be related to assistive technology. The deadline for inclusion is Friday, April 25, 2008.

Like the blog says, “Any level of user is welcome. This is not just for experts.” So, if you are so inclined, submit your favorite blog post (or link to it)by email to
lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

Alternatively, you can also submit your post directly to the blog carnival site at
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_3810.html

I’ve also added both the No Limits to Life blog and the AT Carnival blog on my blogroll for future reference.

I’ll see you at the carnival!